Inside the Takedown that Shredded the Myth of Crypto’s Anonymity

They started to gather the names, deals with, and photos of hundreds of males– they were almost all men– from all walks of life, all over in the world. He was a thin, unremarkable-looking young Korean guy with wide-set eyes and a Beatles-esque mop-top of black hair.But as their picture of this administrator took shape, so too did the profiles of the hundreds of other men who had actually used the website. Offered what they understood about the mans Bitcoin payments, representatives who had more experience with kid exploitation alerted Janczewski that they might show a kind of grooming.These were men in fortunate positions of power, with potential access to victims. If that showed the man was a Welcome to Video client, they would be able to charge the entire case in DCs judicial district, getting rid of a crucial legal hurdle.As they dug deeper, however, they found that the man was a previous congressional staffer and held a top-level job at a distinguished environmental company.

He was a thin, unremarkable-looking young Korean guy with wide-set eyes and a Beatles-esque mop-top of black hair.But as their portrait of this administrator took shape, so too did the profiles of the hundreds of other males who had actually utilized the website. Offered what they understood about the mans Bitcoin payments, representatives who had more experience with child exploitation warned Janczewski that they may reflect a form of grooming.These were males in privileged positions of power, with possible access to victims. If that showed the guy was a Welcome to Video consumer, they would be able to charge the entire case in DCs judicial district, overcoming a crucial legal hurdle.As they dug deeper, though, they found that the guy was a former congressional staffer and held a top-level job at a prominent ecological company.