(Times of Israel piece. https://archive.is/qREE5)
Man, this was both inevitable, and also so goddamn sad.
“You have no idea how much you’ve put yourself at risk. Today is the most significant day of your career. You have two choices: either believe that we have the capabilities, and after you make us lose $900,000 we will invest no less than that to finish you. Or end this with money in your pocket, and also earn back the life you had until now.”
Gotta love getting messages like that. Glad I don't work a job where any prediction markets will depend on me.
Many here may be too young to remember Jim Bell, but in 1995 he authored a series of essays on the internet called "Assassination Politics".
It was basically where I first heard the idea of "prediction markets" and his point was people would bet on politicians "won't be President by X date" and then conspire to kill the politician to win the bet.
The powers that be were so freaked out by this essay they had him jailed. Complete violation of his 1st amendment rights, but as we all know there is no such thing in reality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bell
I had heard about this, but never paid much attention to the details.
Arrested...rearrested...rearrested. Sure doesn't sound on the up and up.
This just screams for someone to do a nice long post about it.
Also, wonder what the guy is up to now...
Not surprising honestly....it was one of those "oh shit" moments in the anarcho-crypto community back in the 90s - people were scared to host his essays or even publicly talk too much about him because of the fear of reprisal, so it never really got the attention it deserved, he was very much a victim of his time....had this happen 10 years later he would probably received much more public support.
It happens in any case where people use the fruits of your labor to make money. And people can get really pissy if they believe you can make them rich and you refuse to do so (even if you do it out of spite, you still have the right to refuse). It's unfortunately a fact of life that anons on the internet can become dangerous, and the level of police cooperation really depends on where you are, and your profile/connections.
Therefore, whenever I see people in the Bitcoin space quit due to being on the receiving end of threats, I mostly empathize. Even mild threats can still make you look over your shoulder and generally feel unsafe. Not many jobs are worth that.
Losers. Hope they lose their 900k and spend the rest of their sorry lives in prison too