US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation

Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by chrisco255 on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:30PM (#31018386)

Lol what if by spreading crypto knowledge in totalitarian states, you give people in those states a viable way to preserve their income and assets in a way that no other asset class can? Imagine someone trying to protest or escape a regime imposing capital controls on citizens such as North Korea or Canada. What if, those citizens could simply memorize or encode a 12-24 word phrase that could preserve their net worth against all forms of tyranny? What if by doing so, you create the conditions that lead to the eventual collapse or reform of said totalitarian state?

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by crispyambulance on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:46PM (#31018570)

> What if, those citizens could simply memorize or encode a 12-24 word phrase that could preserve their net worth against all forms of tyranny?

... What if, they then LOST ALL OF IT in an instant because of a scam, a random crypto-market fluctuation or because it just becomes worthless because they have no way to ever translate it into something of value, let alone actually spend the "currency".

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by Cd00d on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @03:03PM (#31018795)

You're implying that he's helping the citizenry directly and not the state itself. I think that's a dubious claim when it's a conference hosted in Pyongyang.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by AlexCoventry on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:44PM (#31018537)

That's not the case with North Korea. Most people don't have access to computers, let alone the internet, so they can't use crypto for their personal finances.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by boomboomsubban on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @03:46PM (#31019334)

Really? Most households have a cell phone, though internet access is spotty.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by AlexCoventry on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @09:56PM (#31022606)

The phones can't be used as general-purpose computers. Access to smartphone apps is tightly controlled.

https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-smartphones-2018...

> Despite having connection to an intranet, North Korean smartphone users have to download apps at physical store locations where they can get apps approved by the North Korean government.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by boomboomsubban on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @11:14PM (#31023063)

To use crypto for their personal finances, they wouldn't need general purpose computers and government approved apps could be sufficient. Though it's possible that they would be backdoored preventing the kind of economic freedom the poster was describing.

For the record, I don't think North Koreans are using crypto for their personal finances, I just disagree that they are unable to.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by petre on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:52PM (#31018645)

Yeah, sure. Guess how Kim Jong Un financed his nukes and ICBMs. Aided by people like this guy and through state sponsored ransomware attacks. Now imagine Russia using the same strategy. They're already using weapons from Iraq smuggled through Iran against Ukrainians.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-backed-militias-in-iraq-r...

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by mdoms on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:53PM (#31018660)

He was presenting his "crypto knowledge" to the totalitarian state.

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by markdown on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @02:44PM (#31018539)

You sound like someone who's never lived outside a western first world country.

Like those folk who pushed crypto as the saviour of the average Venezuelan. I mean, your next door neighbour doesn't understand bitcoin, how is someone in the third world who has never used a computer supposed to figure this shit out, and why should anyone trust crypto at all when most of it is scams?

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Re:US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea b... by MisterTea on Wednesday April 13, 2022 @03:30PM (#31019147)

> Lol what if by spreading crypto knowledge in totalitarian states, you give people in those states a viable way to preserve their income and assets

JFC. They don't have income or assets to begin with. Why TF else do you think they're stuck in those shitholes? The ones with money already left.

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