quote:

Lamborghini-driving bitcoin trader Sam Karagiozis had the words "self made'' tattooed across his knuckles after founding Australian cryptocurrency Auscoin.

When bitcoin hit $25,000 in late 2017, the self-proclaimed "serial entrepreneur" predicted it would surge to $100,000 within a year.

But now, Mr Karagiozis has more pressing concerns than bitcoin's recent plunge in value below $4000.


On March 7, the 27-year-old from Bulleen was charged by Australian Federal Police with trafficking about 30 kilograms of drugs, including cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine.

The AFP will allege that Mr Karagiozis played a key role in directing an organised crime syndicate, which used various dark web sites, bitcoin accounts and legitimate businesses for the sourcing, payment and distribution of drugs.

A joint taskforce between the AFP and financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC raided properties linked to Mr Karagiozis in Bulleen, Templestowe and Malvern, where they seized steroids, cash and cryptocurrency related items.

He was refused bail in the Melbourne Magistrates Court last week, after being charged with 14 offences relating to drug importation, trafficking and possession.

Following the arrest, AUSTRAC suspended the registration of two digital currency exchange businesses linked to Mr Karagiozis. At the same, the AFP placed restraining orders on assets worth more than $2 million, including bank accounts, real estate, cars, cash and cryptocurrency.

Mr Karagiozis' arrest last week was linked to raids on properties in Mernda and Kew in October 2017, when AFP officers seized 15.8 kilograms of MDMA, 2.6 kilograms of cocaine and more than a kilogram of ketamine.

The drugs are understood to have been ordered on the dark web and sent to Australia in the post.

Happy to describe himself as a '"hustler", Mr Karagiozis has been an enthusiastic spruiker of bitcoin and other cyptocurrencies at investment seminars around Australia.

He has rolled out a national network of automatic teller machines that exchange cryptocurrency, while his Greek-themed restaurants in St Kilda, Thornbury and Far North Queensland allow patrons to purchase souvlaki with bitcoin.

His 'rags to riches' sales pitch would often make reference to his tough upbringing in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

"For me, being self-made means I started with nothing," Mr Karagiozis said on social media.

He left school at 15 and worked at a McDonalds restaurant, which he credits for his "relentless work ethic". He claims to have only read one book in his life - Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal.

Around the same time, Mr Karagiozis developed a passion for weight training, according to his online profile.

"Sam would often travel two hours return to buy protein powder from the Melbourne CBD and sell them to other employees at McDonald’s. The purpose of this was to cover the cost of Sam’s supplements which allowed him to train."

At 16, he started his first business, Hellas Nutrition, before moving into the security industry and later, property development.

In 2017, Mr Karagiozis founded Auscoin Group, with bold plans to launch his own cryptocurrency and raise $30 million from the initial coin offering (ICO).

He was also trading bitcoin, which peaked in value in December 2017. Mr Karagiozis joined clients Nick Kyrgios and older brother Christos in the players box at the 2018 Australian Open.

But his scheme to install 1200 Auscoin ATMs in shopping centres around Australia and Asia foundered when the offering raised less than $2 million. Around 30 Australian shopping centres currently have Auscoin ATMs.

His personal fortune took a battering, losing more than $5 million in 2018.

Unperturbed, he continued to flaunt his wealth. His stable of luxury cars included a Lamborghini Gallardo and a Bentley Continental with personalised plates "MR BTC".

Last year, Mr Karagiozis even launched his own fashion range that included hoodies with "Team no sleep" and "All or nothing" emblazoned on the back.

As the value of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plummeted, he urged his clients and social media followers to ignore negative sentiment.

"It’s Monday and I have one piece of advice for all you hustlers out there! F**k the Haters! Get out there and take what’s yours. Outwork the competition, help others, stay humble," he said in a facebook post in November 2018.

Mr Karagiozis will face the Melbourne Magistrates Court in June.

AFP Detective Superintendent Paul Hopkins said targeting assets allowed authorities to remove the profit motivation that underpins most criminal activity.


“When you take the profit out of crime, you hit offenders where it hurts most," Detective Superintendent Hopkins said.

Laserface posted:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/lamborghini-driving-bitcoin-trader-charged-with-drug-trafficking-20190310-p5134n.html

divabot posted:

The guy behind the Nakamoto Studies Institute is literally a straight-up neo-Nazi, but god forbid anyone claim Bitcoin has far-right links of any sort

Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:

Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:

"A passion for weight traning."



I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with reasons why a doughy drug peddler would want to spend time around body builders and power lifters, but I'm drawing a blank.

Nessus posted:

I would say the real commonality is that both come from a profoundly misanthropic worldview

AkumaHokoru posted:

it was. republican pearl clutchers threw up a cloud of chaff and ran away soon as it was clear the family were long time known shitheads.

Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:

I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with reasons why a doughy drug peddler would want to spend time around body builders and power lifters, but I'm drawing a blank.

revwinnebago posted:

There was a time in the history of SomethingAwfulLLC where if you posted WrongThink someone would reply with creepy comments about your place of work because doxxing was seen as a "normal" aspect of the forums. It was not fun, and no one should wish for its return.

quote:

IRS Special Agent in Charge John R. Tafur said: “This is an old scam with a virtual twist. As alleged in court documents, the cryptocurrency OneCoin was established for the sole purpose of defrauding investors. IGNATOV and IGNATOVA allegedly convinced victims to invest in OneCoin based on complete lies about the virtual currency. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to investigating cryptocurrency scams in an effort to protect the American public and bring cryptocurrency crooks to justice.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney, Jr. said: “As we allege, OneCoin was a cryptocurrency existing only in the minds of its creators and their co-conspirators. Unlike authentic cryptocurrencies, which maintain records of their investors’ transaction history, OneCoin had no real value. It offered investors no method of tracing their money, and it could not be used to purchase anything. In fact, the only ones who stood to benefit from its existence were its founders and co-conspirators. Whether you’re dealing with virtual currency or cold, hard cash, we urge the public to exercise due diligence with any investment.”

Chef Boyardeez Nuts posted:

Unlike authentic cryptocurrencies,..., OneCoin had no real value

revwinnebago posted:

Or just a distrust of the (current form of) government? The real core audience are the libertarians and the techno-utopianists. A lot of left groups have also had their funding cut off in the recent waves of defunding, and are seeking forms of payment that can't get blocked. Like all the LGBT groups that are getting kicked off along with everyone else because talking about naughty bits is not "advertiser-friendly". Some of them have started LGBT-butts.

I think this coin was not a joke even if it's inactive as of January or so? https://lgbt-token.org/


I'm not up on my Jezebel but...
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-approves-bill-make-doxing-illegal-after-covington-student-s-n980416
"FRANKFORT, Ky. — Weeks after a Kentucky high school student says he was wrongly vilified for his interaction with a Native American protester, state lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a bill that would make it a crime to publish personal information of a child online with the intent to harass, abuse or frighten."

Also the point was that internet detectives doxxed some totally innocent people during that manhunt, which so far as I can tell is not disputed. There was a time in the history of SomethingAwfulLLC where if you posted WrongThink someone would reply with creepy comments about your place of work because doxxing was seen as a "normal" aspect of the forums. It was not fun, and no one should wish for its return.

Crime on a Dime posted:

Where did you get this information?

quote:

In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind transaction, two developers working in separate countries have successfully sent a bitcoin lightning payment over radio waves.

Organized over Twitter this past weekend, the transaction was sent by Rodolfo Novak, co-founder of bitcoin hardware startup CoinKite, to developer and Bloomberg columnist Elaine Ou. The completed payment effectively moved real bitcoin from Toronto, Canada, to San Francisco, California.

While radio technology is most commonly used for broadcasting music or talk radio, it’s actually capable of much more than that. As the two developers showcased, radio can also be used to boost the resilience of the bitcoin network.

“Bitcoin is making ham radio cool again!” Ou tweeted after sending the transaction to Novak, referencing “ham radio,” the use of radio by hobbyists who fiddle with radio technology.

Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:

I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with reasons why a doughy drug peddler would want to spend time around body builders and power lifters, but I'm drawing a blank.

Razorwired posted:

The grim future is Bitcoiners mining on pedal computers and trading over radio to escape a dying earth. One by one they fall to exhaustion. Chasing a mysterious prophecy left behind by the World That Was:

"When the last Bitcoin is mined we're going straight to the moon!"

Ad by Khad posted:

Bodybuilders purchase and consume a shitload of illegal drugs

clen and clomid can be pretty profitable in the same way meth or fentanyl can, with the additional bonus of being less likely to kill your client

Knormal posted:

Bitcoin Coders Send International Lightning Payment Over Ham Radio

Currency of the future!

Razorwired posted:

The grim future is Bitcoiners mining on pedal computers and trading over radio to escape a dying earth. One by one they fall to exhaustion. Chasing a mysterious prophecy left behind by the World That Was:

"When the last Bitcoin is mined we're going straight to the moon!"

Knormal posted:

Bitcoin Coders Send International Lightning Payment Over Ham Radio

Currency of the future!

let it mellow posted:

Cool, bitcoin is now going over unencrypted and easily falsified transmissions, excellent work

Knormal posted:

Bitcoin Coders Send International Lightning Payment Over Ham Radio

Currency of the future!

Motronic posted:

I just don't see how this could be permitted in the US or Canada based on current amateur radio regulations. So, just another day for crypto.

Pham Nuwen posted:

I would think as soon as you actually start doing regular transactions to actually pay for poo poo over ham radio you're gonna run into trouble.

A proof of concept for a system that could never actually be deployed. So, just another day for crypto.

Motronic posted:

Perhaps in a very generous interpretation. But sending a payment, whether for a proof of concept or not, immediately fails the pecuniary value test of the regulators on both sides of this transaction. Now it's got media behind it. I'm hoping to see two licensees getting sanctioned.

quote:

An amateur operator may notify other amateur operators of the availability for sale or trade of apparatus normally used in an amateur station, provided that such activity is not conducted on a regular basis.

Pham Nuwen posted:

As long as the traffic is signed but not encrypted, and they're doing it as a proof of concept, they're probably fine. I would think as soon as you actually start doing regular transactions to actually pay for poo poo over ham radio you're gonna run into trouble.

A proof of concept for a system that could never actually be deployed. So, just another day for crypto.

isndl posted:

Even assuming this wasn't already in violation of FCC regulations, they'd have to devise some sort of means to prevent crosstalk as the number of participants goes up. Eventually they'll recreate cellular communications, except they'll have implemented it poorly and thrashed the public spectrums into uselessness while doing so. Par for the course with crypto.

Pham Nuwen posted:

Yeah I mean if you really want to sell your radio gear over the air AND you find someone else in the Venn diagram intersection of "ham licensee" and "buttcoin enthusiast" you could just tell the guy to send butts to such-and-such a wallet address, right?

You can't make the usual ham argument that it's a good thing to have in case of catastrophe, because why do you need to send fake Internet money from Canada to the US right now during a disaster which has apparently knocked out all Internet service?

Mozi posted:

also the backbone of my dinner

Veni Vidi Ameche! posted:

I think you'll find the transistors to be a bit crunchy.