The DOJ’s Crypto Dragnet is Bigger Than You Think

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2021-08-17 12:00:08

"With blockchain analytics the thing we say over and over is that all this activity is on this ledger forever, and if you did something bad 10 years ago you can be caught and arrested for it today. The fact that they're pulling up those transactions is really significant." – Sarah Meiklejohn, as quoted by Wired

Crypto is an endless source of fascinating material for Doomberg. I freely admit I didn’t know all that much about crypto before starting this journey – still don’t, really – but deep domain knowledge isn’t always necessary to ascertain the big picture and to have fun climbing the learning curve. Besides, I assume most readers of this Substack aren’t deep crypto experts either and are happy to come along for the ride.

I should also clarify that I’m not personally pro- or anti-crypto per se. My fascination with the topic comes from the incredible amount of utterly blatant lawlessness that seems so easy to spot by anybody curious enough to look. As a person who tries hard to follow the rules and operate within the confines of the physical society of the here and now, I am flabbergasted by the risks certain key crypto players are willing to take in the hopes of achieving the digital riches of tomorrow. This is even more shocking when one considers the permanency and public nature of blockchain ledgers.