[timetopay]

> one of the advantages of cryptocurrencies as the foundation of a separate financial system is that systems are, by necessity, subject to adversarial hardening

This is what the law is for.

> Perhaps it is true that Avraham committed illegal market manipulation (or some other violation of the law). However, does it really make sense to call for prosecution and imprisonment?

Yes. They broke the law. Laws should be fairly enforced.

> Furthermore, if there is any core ethos of crypto, it is one of independence from the authority of the state.

No, that's the core ethos of a lot of people in cryptocurrencies. It turns out that there are a lot of "investors" in cryptocurrencies who do not feel that way :)

[betwixthewires]

The whole point of this experiment is not to create an environment where law can be skirted, but to create a new type of environment where the law cannot be violated at all, by anyone. And of course it will attract lawbreakers, we need them to test our security. "The law" as it exists now, written in the wind and enforced when convenient or profitable, needs to go the way of the dinosaur. The law as written in self enforced, freely entered agreements that is public to all and impossible yo viate sounds like a better system to me.

[googlryas]

What law did they break?

[nl]

The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), of 1936: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wash_trade

[djbebs]

Bitcoin is nor a commodity

[pcthrowaway]

This article has nothing to do with bitcoin