The story of James 🧙♂️
The Georgia man who pulled off a heist that could make even Danny Ocean and his crew jealous. Pouring NFTs - Doodles NFT by Adidas. NFT Rivals game by NFL and Michelin 3xplorer Club NFT series.
Hello, y'all. Dispatched wanting to ask everyone - how much is a lot of money to you? 🤑 👽
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James Zhong, the Georgia man who pulled off a heist that could make even Danny Ocean and his crew jealous. Zhong managed to steal over 50,000 Bitcoin from the infamous Silk Road drug-trafficking site back in 2012.
So how did he do it? Apparently, he stumbled upon a glitch in the system and exploited it to his advantage. After accidentally double-clicking the withdrawal button, he received twice the amount of Bitcoin he had originally deposited. He repeated this process several times, quickly amassing over 50,000 coins.
At the time, it was only worth $12 per coin. But fast forward a few years later and Zhong's stolen stash was worth a whopping $3.35 Billion!💸💸
Zhong used "mixers" to make it harder for authorities to trace his transactions. He even stored the bulk of his stolen Bitcoin in a safe hidden under the floorboards of his Georgia home, along with a single-board computer stowed away in a Cheetos popcorn tin 🍿(not taking notes)
Zhong was eventually caught and forced to face the music. Federal agents seized the stolen Bitcoin from his home in Georgia, along with $661,900 in cash and gold and silver bars.
The court drama
Now, after almost a decade of covering up his theft, James Zhong has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for wire fraud. The prosecution also noted his youth, autism, and his help in recovering the stolen crypto.
Also, he had a pretty dark past with bully friends, not so loving divorced - parents. So no harsh punishment.
In court, Zhong expressed "shame and remorse" and said he always knew what he did was wrong. And mentioned his dog Chad, his one and only friend🐶 It was kind of moving.
In the end, Zhong agreed to forfeit $42.7 Million as well as additional Bitcoin and property.
Silkboard the victim
Zhong's lawyers are arguing that stealing Bitcoin from the infamous Silk Road marketplace doesn't actually make them a victim.
They claim that even though Zhong had no right to take the loot, neither did Silk Road. Apparently, Silk Road's founder, Ross Ulbricht, even reached out to Zhong asking him how he pulled off the heist. He never asked for the stolen coins back!
For those of you not in the know, Silk Road was the sketchy online marketplace where folks could buy and sell all sorts of illicit goodies like weapons and stolen credit card info. Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind behind it all, got the slammer for life in 2013 without the possibility of parole.
Anyways this message goes out:
"Cyber-criminals should heed this message: we will follow the money and hold you accountable, no matter how sophisticated your scheme and no matter how long it takes," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Why not sponsor us, eh?
TTD NFT 🐝
Adidas and musician Pharrell Williams have released a collection of digital clothing for holders of the Doodles NFTs. The collection includes a range of virtual jackets, pants, and shoes that can be worn by the Doodles avatars. The Doodles NFTs are a collection of 10,000 unique hand-drawn characters that were created by anonymous artists and sold as NFTs earlier this year.
The NFL has launched an NFT game ahead of the 2023 draft day. The game, called "NFL Rivals," allows fans to collect and trade digital collectibles featuring top draft prospects.
Michelin will launch the NFT series Michelin 3xplorer Club, a 5,000-piece NFT collection, depicting the famous Michelin Man in 5,000 unique versions. Owners of membership cards in NFT format will have privileges in them.
TTD Numbers 🔢
$9 Billion
The value of Binance Labs assets, up from $7.5 Billion last year. It's one of the crypto sector’s most active investors.
Binance’s chief business officer Yibo Ling says the venture and incubation unit is global in scope, undeterred by regulatory pressure in the United States and elsewhere.
TTD Blockquote 🔊
Brian Quintenz, the head of policy at a16z crypto and a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission [CFTC] commissioner.
"A war involves two sides, and right now, I think there's one side that's on the field that's running down to the other end and spiking the football…”
Quintenz believes that Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] Chair Gary Gensler's approach to regulation is causing confusion and uncertainty for market participants, and that the SEC needs to provide clear guidance on how it plans to regulate cryptocurrencies and digital assets. He also called for a more collaborative approach between regulators and the industry to ensure that innovation is not stifled.
TTD Scam ⚠️
Polygon-based lending protocol 0VIX has paused its protocol after an exploit. The attackers manipulated the price of Aavegotchi's native token, before looting relevant lending pools for at least $2 Million on 0VIX.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has won its largest-ever fraud case involving Bitcoin, ordering the offender to pay a $3.4 Billion penalty payment, according to an order from a Texas judge.
Cooper Morgenthau the former chief financial officer of African Gold Acquisition Corporation (AGAC), embezzled $5 Million from three different companies. Cooper has been sentenced to three years in prison after which he used to trade cryptocurrencies and meme stocks.
TTD Surfer 🏄
Elon Musk introduces Twitter subscription, monetisation avenue for content creators on the platform.
Polygon Labs and Google Cloud has announced a multi-year partnership to boost Ethereum scaling protocol’s tools and infrastructure.
Mauritius plans to launch the pilot phase of a digital rupee by 2023 end, Bank of Mauritius Governor Harvesh Kumar Seegolam has announced.
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Ha! I love the opening story, I didn't know that story!