[litzer]

It seems to be a mistake on the author's part to allow himself to be exploited at first (working without having any of the promises in legal writing). It's unethical but not uncommon and alone wouldn't produce the outrage for an article detailing it.

The missing piece is why he doesn't feel pressing criminal charges and suing for IP is an option. The language seems to imply that the answer is for his physical safety. If he's writing this article because he feels safe enough to, then maybe he thinks battling in court requires people to be present and closes the distance safety net.

He's able to list pretty concretely his contributions but is suspiciously vague about the cause of his fear. I'm inclined to believe that it's because he might not think the public would unequivocally agree his fear is sound.

[throwaway2554]

From what I've gathered from some people working in the blockchain community, some of the altcoins that are geared towards being a ponzi schemes have investors with Russian oligarch/mafia or similarly shady backgrounds. I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't completely contained to the obious scams.