Incognito Market Owner Sentenced To 30 Years For Operating One Of The World’s Largest Online Narcotics Marketplaces

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced that RUI-SIANG LIN was sentenced to 30 years in prison for conspiring to distribute narcotics, money laundering, and conspiring to sell adulterated and misbranded medication, in connection with LIN’s ownership and operation of the Incognito Market, an online narcotics marketplace that sold more than one ton of narcotics before its closure in March 2024. On December 16, 2024, LIN pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who imposed today’s sentence.

Personal Opinion

No opinion other than, don’t touch anything to do with drugs!

But what happens to law enforcement, governance, and accountability when systems eventually have no human operators? No central services at all and perhaps not even a profit‑taking entity? Fully automated, fully decentralized, dual-use utility with end-to-end storage, payments, ZKPs and maybe even “non-profit”.

Wallet of Satoshi Winds Down Custodial Service in EU. Here's The Laws That Affect It

Users of the lightning wallet application Wallet of Satoshi are reporting to be unable to access the application’s custodial wallet, and are instead being prompted to use the application’s non-custodial wallet.

Personal Opinion

Regulations in the eu have become so draconian, I now intentionally avoid all eu services, whether it’s banking, crypto or server hosting.

Regular banking often requires phone apps and increasingly government issued phone apps too. This invariably includes increased surveillance, restrictions and attestations between biometrics and physical devices.

Cash-like privacy is among digital euro's hardest political tradeoffs

Trade-offs between local institutions are expected to shape the digital euro’s final form, as debates continue over holding limits and privacy features.

Personal Opinion

It’s hilarious that so much effort has been put into a foolish belief that a digital euro is needed when everyone else doesn’t give a shit. Not least that fiat money is largely digital anyway.

And then they go to add “features” to restrict use, such as holding limits. Or a fake privacy narrative that will grant them a master key. It genuinely blows my mind.

That a bunch of unelected people can feel so vulnerable to Ethereum and DeFi in general, and scared shitless that their own economies are losing to dollarization.