Pay the Devil in Bitcoin_The Creation of a Cryptocurrency and How Half a Billion Dollars of It Vanished from Japan
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10 Timothy, “Online-Only Currency BitCoin.”
11 Andy Greenberg, “Crypto Currency,” Forbes, April 20, 2011, https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0509/technology-psilocybin-bitcoins-gavin-andresen-crypto-currency.html.
12 Leah McGrath Goodman, “The Face behind Bitcoin,” Newsweek, March 6, 2014, http://www.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/face-behind-bitcoin-247957.html.
13 “Nakamoto-shi, bitcoin-kanyo o hitei” [Mr. Nakamoto denies involvement with bitcoin], Yomiuri Shimbun, March 10, 2014.
14 The film is based on “In a Grove,” a 1922 story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
CHAPTER TWO
1 A hosting service allows users to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Web-hosting companies provide space on a server owned or leased for use by their clients, as well as provide Internet connectivity, typically in a data center.
2 The gas lines in Tokyo are automatically shut off after a major earthquake—or at least that’s what is supposed to happen.
CHAPTER THREE
1 This part of the Internet is intentionally hidden from search engines, uses masked IP addresses, and is accessible only with a special web browser. Sometimes it’s referred to as the “dark web.”
2 James Ball, “Silk Road: The Online Drug Marketplace That Officials Seem Powerless to Stop,” Guardian, March 22, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/22/silk-road-online-drug-marketplace.
3 Adrian Chen, “The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable,” Gawker.com, June 1, 2011, http://gawker.com/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imag-30818160.
4 United States v. Ross William Ulbricht (S.D. NY 2013) [criminal complaint], https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-xl3XZpNU64Ep0zus/Ulbricht%20Criminal%20Complaint_djvu.txt.
5 The term “white hat” in the IT world refers to an ethical computer hacker, or computer security expert, who specializes in penetration testing and other methods to ensure the security of an information system. Usually with permission, a white hat hacker will attempt to breach the security of a client’s information system to find weaknesses.
6 Andy Greenberg, “An Interview with a Digital Drug Lord: The Silk Road’s Dread Pirate Roberts (Q&A),” Forbes, August 14, 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/an-interview-with-a-digital-drug-lord-the-silk-roads-dread-pirate-roberts-qa/#7859db457326.
CHAPTER FOUR
1 We attempted to contact Jed McCaleb several times to ask him his version of events. While acknowledging that messages were received, he gave no response to our questions.
2 Kim Nilsson, “The Missing MtGox Bitcoins,” WizSec (blog), April 19, 2015, http://blog.wizsec.jp/2015/04/the-missing-mtgox-bitcoins.html (emphasis added).
3 Emily Flitter, “U.S. Attorney Subpoenaed Mt Gox, Other Bitcoin Businesses: Source,” Reuters, February 26, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bitcoin-subpoena-idUSBREA1P18820140226.
CHAPTER FIVE
1 Andy Greenberg, “Here’s the Secret Silk Road Journal from the Laptop of Ross Ulbricht,” Wired, January 23, 2015, https://www.wired.com/2015/01/heres-secret-silk-road-journal-laptop-ross-ulbricht/. The September 13 entry is redacted here.
2 United States v. Carl Mark Force IV, et al. (N. D. Ca. 2015).
3 Bay City News Service, “SF: Secret Service Agent Investigating Silk Road Admits to Theft of $820K in Bitcoin from Site,” Contra Costa Times, September 1, 2015.
4 Adrianne Jeffries, “US Government Seized $5 Million from Bitcoin Behemoth Mt. Gox,” Verge, August 23, 2013, https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/23/4651926/us-government-seized-5-million-from-bitcoin-behemoth-mt-gox.
5 Andy Greenberg, “DEA Agent Charged with Acting as a Paid Mole for Silk Road,” Wired, March 30, 2015, https://www.wired.com/2015/03/dea-agent-charged-acting-paid-mole-silk-road/; Nick Bilton, “Silicon Valley Murder Mystery: How Drugs and Paranoia Doomed Silk Road,” Vanity Fair, April 26, 2017, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/04/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-drugs-murder; Bay City News Service, “SF: Secret Service Agent Investigating Silk Road Admits to Theft of $820K in Bitcoin from Site,” Contra Costa Times, September 1, 2015.
6 Olivier Janssens, Twitter post, https://twitter.com/olivierjanss/status/555889044618346498, January 15, 2015.
CHAPTER SIX
1 Andy Greenberg, “Here’s the Secret Silk Road Journal from the Laptop of Ross Ulbricht,” Wired,
2 Jonathan Soble, “Mark Karpeles, Chief of Bankrupt Bitcoin Exchange, Is Arrested in Tokyo,” New York Times, August 1, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/business/dealbook/mark-karpeles-mt-gox-bitcoin-arrested.html?_r=0.
3 This figure is according to a press release given to the Japanese media. The actual amount in October 2013, when the embezzlement allegedly occurred, would have been upward of $3.2 million.
4 “Karupuresu hikoku saitaiho e” [Police to rearrest defendant Karpelès], Yomiuri Shimbun, October 28, 2015.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1 If you want to understand more about Japan’s modified jury system, the Japanese Ministry of Justice website has a good overview (http://www.moj.go.jp/ENGLISH/).
2 Dustin Dye, “Osaka Prosecutor Pleads Guilty to Tampering with Evidence,” Foreign Policy Blogs, March 19, 2011, https://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/03/19/osaka-prosecutor-pleads-guilty-of-tampering-with-evidence/.
3 “Public Prosecutors Were Taught That Yakuza & Foreigners Have No Rights,” Japan Probe, May 26, 2011, http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/05/26/public-prosecutors-were-taught-that-yakuza-foreigners-have-no-rights/ (page discontinued).
4 Jake Adelstein and Nathalie-Kyoko Stucky, “How Japan’s Cyberterrorist Lost Game of Cat and Mouse,” Daily Beast, February 25, 2013.
5 2channel was the inspiration for America’s much-reviled discussion board, 4chan. The creator of 2channel is allegedly now the de facto owner of 4chan. Read more at Jake Adelstein, “Will 4Chan’s Shady New Owner Weaponize It?,” Daily Beast, September 26, 2015, http://www.thedailybeast.com/will-4chans-shady-new-owner-weaponize-it.
6 Adelstein and Stucky, “How Japan’s Cyberterrorist Lost.”