A Bitcoin Core developer meeting has caught the attention of the FBI. Mike Schmidt, Director at Brink— a nonprofit funding open-source developers,—disclosed in an email to the attendees of CoreDev Atlanta 2022 that the FBI issued a subpoena for information about those who participated in the October 2022 event. This legal action is part of the investigation into the alleged theft of Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr’s bitcoins, which he claims totaled approximately $3.6 million.
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In the email, Schmidt stated: “As part of the investigation into Luke Dashjr’s announced theft of his bitcoins, I received a subpoena from the FBI wanting information about attendees […] I was legally advised to cooperate.” Schmidt explained that he was legally bound to keep the subpoena confidential for one year, a restriction that had just expired.
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According to Schmidt's email, the information he revealed to the FBI was limited to GitHub usernames, first and last names, and email addresses of the attendees.
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This FBI investigation stems from an incident reported by Luke Dashjr on January 1 of the previous year. In it, he revealed that a significant portion of his BTC holdings was stolen from his wallets on New Year’s Eve. Dashjr attributed the theft to compromising a PGP key, leading to unauthorized access to his digital assets, including both 'hot' (online) and 'cold' (offline) wallets.
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As the investigation unfolds, the potential impact of this subpoena on the broader Bitcoin development community and privacy and security principles within this space is yet to be seen.