Quote from: deisik on July 27, 2017, 08:16:35 AM

Quote from: Quickseller on July 27, 2017, 05:40:34 AM

It seems that it is pretty much confirmed that was the btc-e operator, and I have read no reliable reports about that being related to bitmixer.

Interestingly enough, the indictment was filed under seal on June 21, and bitmixer was announced to be shutting down two days later. It makes me wonder if either bitmixer was either somehow involved (meaning they were being run by the US Government), or if they had advance knowledge about the indictment (meaning they received requests for information from the US government, and were potentially provided information about their service they did not like).

Thinking about it a little bit, I think it is more likely to be the latter. Blockchain analytics companies have the ability to trace (larger) amounts of bitcoin that flow through most mixers, and it is possible that, as part of a request for information from law enforcement, they were provided with certain stats about their service regarding how much flows through their service from things like DNMs and ransomeware.

A little bit less likely, but it is also possible that bitmixer was in fact part of this. The indictment has a couple of paragraphs redacted, one of which is regarding a related company to the Alex guy. I suspect that some of btc-e servers were seized by law enforcement, causing them to go offline, and it is possible that some of bitmixer's servers were also seized.

Conspiracy keeps thickening

I'd rather say it would be naive to consider these events as completely unrelated but we still don't see the whole picture here. And seeing the whole picture is of primary importance to any Bitcoin user here or anywhere. If it is just a train of events which is in fact about tracking down some criminals (or what the US government thinks as criminals, for that matter), that would be one thing, but if it is only a small part of a bigger plan aiming at bringing Bitcoin down and ultimately destroying it, that would be a totally different thing. In the latter case, what we have just seen is only a beginning of the whole show, and more events should follow soon

I don't exactly believe the whole thoughts about the conspiracies behind all of this vey serious matter here, but despite on of that the person arrested has his own will and rights to be sue for a case. There is no court decisions yet and maybe he could appeal for his rights as a human being, and those issues to bring bitcoin down well criminals will not be into that worst situation if there is desired regulations of botcoin to those laundering of money. Well lets do hope that this challenges is only a part of some critics to really wanted to take down bitcoin.