#cryptocurrency

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replied to Molly White's status

But shortly after this testimony, crypto sleuths discovered that the scam victim’s funds likely never were laundered through Tornado Cash at all.

Not only that, the “crypto recovery” service used by the victim may have been one identified by the FBI as a scam known for producing “incomplete or inaccurate tracing report[s]” (though this may be a separate company sharing a name, or impersonating a legitimate business).

September 11, 2024 FBI San Diego Seizes Cryptocurrency Recovery Websites SAN DIEGO — Special Agents with the FBI San Diego Field Office have seized websites belonging to three cryptocurrency recovery services. The seizures come as the FBI continues to crack down on an emerging scam tactic aimed at further defrauding cryptocurrency scam victims. The web domains were from the following cryptocurrency recovery services: MyChargeBack, Payback LTD, and Claim Justice. These companies claim to provide cryptocurrency tracing and promise the ability to recover lost funds. Representatives of these companies often advertise strong success in recovering victim funds but have no track record in doing so. They often charge significant upfront fees and ask for a commission should funds be recovered. These companies use extensive social media advertising, including false reviews, to convince victims of the legitimacy of their services. Potential ways to identify this type of scheme: Recovery scheme fraudsters charge an up-front fee and either cease communication with the victim after receiving an initial deposit or produce an incomplete or inaccurate tracing report. They may also request additional fees to recover funds. Fraudsters may claim affiliation with law enforcement or legal services to appear legitimate. Scammers may reference actual financial institutions and money exchanges to build credibility and further their schemes. Tips to avoid becoming a victim:
This all sounds very heartwrenching, but there was one slight issue, apparently first noticed by crypto sleuth Taylor Monahan as she followed the trial coverage: the money stolen from Lin may never have gone to Tornado Cash at all. Monahan said her interest was initially drawn based on her experience tracing transfers from thousands of victims like Lin. “Those scammers don’t use Tornado Cash ... and they never have,” she wrote, explaining that “it’s nothing compared to their existing laundry networks” that can launder massive sums.7 Although no transaction details were mentioned in Lin’s testimony, Monahan was able to track down the transactions between Lin and the scammers from separate court cases involving seizures of funds from the same scam group. She repeated the tracing supposedly performed by Payback, discovering that no transfers ever went to Tornado Cash or to Coinbase, and that Payback apparently made an incredibly rookie mistake: by mishandling tracing of a chainswap transaction that batches together many unrelated deposits, they may have erroneously identified completely unrelated transfers to Coinbase and Tornado Cash as made by Lin’s scammer. Fellow crypto sleuth zachxbt later wrote that he’d repeated Monahan’s analysis and agreed with it, writing: “Idk how you mess up the tracing that bad ... It’s unfortunate these predatory firms come up as the first search results on Google when victims look for help.”8
Worse still, Payback may well have been one of three companies named in a September 2024 press release from the San Diego FBI office announcing the seizure of websites connected to scam crypto recovery services — although it is possible that the firm Lin used merely shares a name with a scam service.9 According to the FBI: “These companies claim to provide cryptocurrency tracing and promise the ability to recover lost funds. Representatives of these companies often advertise strong success in recovering victim funds but have no track record in doing so. They often charge significant upfront fees and ask for a commission should funds be recovered.” In other words, the prosecutors may have chosen a scam victim to put on the stand based solely on claims from a crypto “recovery” service the FBI has specifically named as charging fees to “produce an incomplete or inaccurate tracing report”.10

‘up year’ is 2026, and the four-year cycle is dead

> the four-year cycle “is dead” for several reasons, including the halving becoming “half as important” every four years, and the cycle being positive for ... a potentially bullish catalyst for , as lower rates make traditional assets like bonds and term deposits less appealing to .

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-upside-2026-four-year-cycle-dead-bitwise-invest-cio

> has begun the rollout of payments to merchants on its network.

> The -founded company has begun onboarding the first sellers enabling them to accept -powered payments from customers.

> Square plans to make the service available to all merchants using its sales terminals by next year.

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/07/23/square-begins-rollout-of-bitcoin-payments-for-sellers-targets-full-availability-by-2026