[jklein11]

If you were going to take the money and run you would be better off doing it sooner rather than later. A law enforcement agency probably isn’t going to do too much investigation for $20k but $10 million might get someone turning over some stones

[trcollinson]

Really? I mean, do smart contracts actually hold any legal standing at all? If it does, under what jurisdiction? Who are the victims?

If it gets big enough I can imagine some anti terrorist groups like the NSA or FBI making sure the money isn't used for that. I can definitely see the IRS potentially looking into it. But deep down, if the person who takes the money shows there was no real contract and he was just collecting it, what more could be done?

[jklein11]

That is exactly what I mean. For $10,000 I don't think anyone is going to be looking for the answers to those questions. For $10,000,000 people might start asking these questions.

I definitely do think that what was described would be illegal in most districts in the US. Forget about the implementation. The organizer says "Hey bid on the jackpot, the last bidder gets to take the whole thing." and then they walk away with the jackpot. The question is who's laws did the organizer break?

[quickthrower2]

Gambling, lotteries, investing, money transmitting, nyc, aml and banking are subject to regulation and laws in most countries.