Crow Brother Interprets the Telecom Incident in the Beautiful Country
In simple terms:
1. What did this person do?
Programmer Eisenberg discovered a vulnerability in a cryptocurrency platform and, with a flurry of operations, directly “scooped” 110 million dollars (equivalent to the programmer's “code robbery”).
2. How did the court rule?
Originally, the jury said he committed three crimes: telecom fraud, commodity fraud, and market manipulation. But the judge recently dismissed the latter two charges, stating that “the evidence is not strong enough,” for example, his actions of profiting from the vulnerability may not be considered “fraud” or “market manipulation” in the traditional sense. Only the telecom fraud charge stands (which could lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years, but the actual sentence might be much lighter).
3. Why was the ruling changed?
The legal loopholes are even bigger than the platform’s vulnerabilities: The judge felt that the existing laws regarding “making money with code” are too vague, especially concerning new concepts like decentralized finance (DeFi), where the law has not kept up with technology. Is “shearing sheep” considered a crime? For instance, if the platform has a vulnerability and users exploit it to earn money, is it “reasonable arbitrage” or “fraud”? The law is still debating.
4. What are the implications?
Be careful, retail investors: In the future, using technical means to “shear” DeFi platform profits may be scrutinized, but whether it is considered illegal depends on the court's mood. Platforms should not play dumb: Projects like Mango Markets, if their code is poorly written and are hacked, may have to bear the consequences themselves. The law needs to catch up: It is expected that the U.S. will speed up the introduction of new regulations targeting cryptocurrencies to avoid making judges struggle every day.
To put it bluntly: This ruling is a cry from the judge — “This set of laws is inadequate! You tech folks and lawmakers need to get your act together, so I don’t have to be a water dispenser next time!”