'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova added to FBI most-wanted list over OneCoin scheme
lite.cnn.com
lite.cnn.com
Her scheme preceded Ethereum, so she couldn't make use of the convenient Token Scam Construction Kit like the other similarly promoted ICOs that came a bit later.
The claims of a blockchain also promised 1 minute transaction confirmation (better than bitcoin), which wouldn't have made sense for an Ethereum token.
Also, I think certain token projects can get the releasers arrested too.. I believe the Squid game token creators are wanted in a few countries
Then later they also removed the supply cap, which is a pretty fundamental change from the premise of bitcoin, so it’s no longer a trivial copy, I would say.
For decades onwards, people will remember that if you want to run a ponzi scheme or similar without getting locked up, you just gotta make it needlessly complicated.
Hence the layers of shell companies or complexity to obscure the fraud. Possibly even going as far as self deception.
If you wanna run a scheme and not get locked up, just make it needlessly complicated!
Originally people wanted decentralized finance to get away from the grifting and complications of our financial system. Yet it's all scams and companies in trouble crying for help and/or regulation.
-John Kenneth Galbraith
My first thought is: Being a bounty hunter seems like it'd be fun. How do I get started with that?
Anyone on HN who has some experience? Or stories related to people they know who became/are bounty hunters?
Thoroughly enjoyed it, it's disappointing that the presenter doesn't appear to have done any other podcasts since
If I weren't so self-conscious, I'd start an "Ask HN: lite sites?" thread.
If you're using Firefox, every site has a "lite" version, via Firefox's reader mode. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-reader-view-clu...
That said, it seems most of the sites I touch do not have a 'reader mode' option. Perhaps I should and will visit those sites less!
Who else reads lots of the internet in source, to avoid responsivity and cetera? Try reader view, it's rad!
Good advice in general though.
Is a great podcast from the BBC, detailing the One Coin saga and Ruja Ignatova
Maybe you are thinking of Ethereum? It is currently at 60% premine, the target ratio has been changed a number of times, but the ratio should be lower in the future.
Still, hard to criticize the founder for mining when no one else had interest in it.
That cryptographical proof against premining is quite interesting however. Someone must have thought the mere suspicion would have been enough to void any interest in the project. History suggests that wasn't the case, even if we can't know for sure. It might have been different.
Anyway, for what it's worth, all evidence suggests that (almost) all of that solo mining was likely burnt. That too suggests the primary risk was thought to be people losing interest in the project.
So why is she called "Cyryptoqueen"?
Ironically this question is why so many people got scammed, they couldn’t tell the difference either, despite there being obvious and relevant differences
That said, wanted by the FBI and most-wanted are aspects I'm not converse with so might be that she was wanted by the FBI for years and now been bumped up the list!
As since the beginning, its main mode of operation is extortion. In Hoover days, a secret file of offenses ensured no politician could interfere with its funding or expansion. Undoubtedly, such are still kept: a docile pol is much, much more useful to them than an indicted former pol. How many federal bribery cases are brought?
For actual "law enforcement", the extortion victims are people who can be used to entrap "bigger fish". Once someone has cooperated with the FBI, threat of exposing that is effective substitute for any evidence of criminal activity. Made-up sworn testimony is the usual demand, normally against anybody not "cooperating".
We saw how mullahs were forced to run "radicalizing" groups to keep FBI supplied with terrorist perps. Usually, all weapons are supplied directly by the FBI plant, and all violence advocacy at meetings.
Local and state police agencies have been learning from crooked FBI methods for a long time.
Among recent FBI scandals is the revelation that fingerprint matches were, from earliest days, cooked. The fingerprint lab always knew what determination was wanted, and supplied that anywhere it could be made to seem to stick.
Same with all their forensic tricks: matching bullets to guns, handwriting analyses, what have you. Unbounded numbers of false convictions on fabricated evidence are just beginning to be revealed by the Innocence Project, fought tooth and nail by prosecutors.
Probably most agents were sincere when they joined. The crooked get the promotions.