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Comment by wslh | Hacker News Reader

It is great then that in this case blockchain transactions are so transparent: it will take longer to research a fraud if involves standard banks around the world.

I assume that if Do Kwon was smarter he would perform transactions more difficult to trace. Not saying that he is not smart but it self-confidence kills many fraudsters.

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Using privacy tools wouldn't necessarily be the smarter move as they could be taken as the smoking gun of someone trying to hide their tracks because they are aware of the problematic aspects.

There are strategies that Do Kwon could use to cover its tracks, that was the point.

And parent was saying that if done improperly the usage of such tools might be taken as a linguistic "smoking gun". So rather than risking that Kwon might have preferred doing it overtly, hoping for plausible deniablity in doing so.

Stronger that "plausibility deniability" is being no linked to the facts.

Do Kwon had virtually unlimited resources for a good plan. My observation from the field (not knowing Kwon but other fraudsters) is that there is an overconfidence based on power. It falls like a house of cards when official prosecutors are involved. It works when everything is handled privately.

Standard fraud at standard banks is about as easy to trace, or easier, and there is no underlying utility to these crypto scam protocols. So touting the traceability is a red herring.

The FBI reports about blockchain analysis I've read contradict this statement.

Banks are only easier if all entities involved are certain American banks.

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