[HN Gopher] Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a New Hampsh...
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       Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a New Hampshire town, feds
       tore it down
        
       Author : haswell
       Score  : 59 points
       Date   : 2021-08-02 17:00 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.theverge.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.theverge.com)
        
       | bawolff wrote:
       | I don't object to arresting them, seems like they deserve that,
       | but the raid sounds like it was unnessarily violent for a non-
       | violent crime.
        
         | Accujack wrote:
         | I noticed that as well. Typical for the Feds when they deal
         | with technology, unfortunately. Read about the old "operation
         | sun devil" raids way back when to see how long they've been
         | overreaching.
        
       | superkuh wrote:
       | As Rage Against the Machine say, "Turn the power to the half
       | notch, and then comes the shot."
       | 
       | It seems like distinction here is that their church was not
       | afforded the regular protections and leeway that churches for
       | popular mass religions are.
        
         | klyrs wrote:
         | Secularists may hope that this is the beginning of the end for
         | that particular tax loophole...
        
       | cochne wrote:
       | Here is a more to-the-point article.
       | https://www.unionleader.com/news/crime/free-keene-leaders-ar...
       | Feds allege it was a money laundering operation.
        
         | zozbot234 wrote:
         | They were misrepresenting their enterprises as "churches" and
         | telling their customers to report their transactions as "church
         | donations". So it looks like the fraud, wire fraud etc. charges
         | might stick.
        
         | ekianjo wrote:
         | > Feds allege it was a money laundering operation.
         | 
         | Feds also routinely mislabel anyone they don't like.
        
         | Accujack wrote:
         | Feds allege that about every unregulated crypto exchange of any
         | kind.
         | 
         | It does seem like this particular business was relying upon
         | legal hacks and obscurity more than following the established
         | rules for financial firms, probably for ideological reasons.
        
       | joelbondurant wrote:
       | Tungsten core bullets are needed to address the USA terrorists.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-02 23:03 UTC)