Quote from: squatter on September 15, 2019, 11:25:38 PM

Quote from: Baofeng on September 13, 2019, 04:54:41 AM

Right, they going to like "flex" their muscle again, maybe ala BTC-E seizure most likely in the future. Interpol/EUROPOL also have this sort of mentality as in the case of Bestmixer.io last May.

I don't think the BTC-e seizure went at all like the US government was hoping. In many ways, it was an embarrassment. They weren't able to seize any funds up front, arresting Vinnik netted absolutely nothing, and BTC-e reemerged a month or so later. That experience probably showed the DOJ how difficult it is to target crypto services who are scattered across many borders, and who employ proper operational security. I believe the US government has wanted to take down Bitfinex for years -- the DOJ and CFTC have been investigating them since at least 2017 and probably earlier. That they haven't suggests that they can't, at least not yet.

Targeting mixers (who don't even touch fiat money) is even more problematic for governments. An honest mixer can easily recover from authorities shutting down clearnet domains or seizing servers. New infrastructure can be built within days and proper encryption would protect all customer funds in the meantime.

But the Bestmixer case -- and subsequent disappearance of BitBlender -- highlights the biggest problem for us: Law enforcement temporarily shutting down a mixer creates an opportunity for them to exit scam.

I am almost positive Ciphertrace's technology can still trace movements of transactions even after they've gone through a mixer