FBI Reportedly Subpoenas Brink Exec for Info on Bitcoin Event Tied to Dashjr’s Hack

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly issued a subpoena to obtain personal information from attendees of a Bitcoin core developer event in 2022.

The move came to light through Mike Schmidt, co-founder of the Bitcoin non-profit Brink, who stated that the subpoena is related to allegations made by BTC developer and co-founder of Ocean mining pool, Luke Dashjr, regarding the theft of more than 200 BTC in a hack.

Event Attendees Caught in Crossfire

Schmidt revealed that he received the FBI subpoena as part of the investigation into Dashjr’s claim. It specifically requested information about attendees of the October 2022 CoreDev Atlanta event, which took place just before TABConf 2022. Schmidt mentioned that he was advised by legal counsel to comply with it.

The subpoena requested the first and last names, GitHub usernames, and email addresses of the attendees, with the stated purpose of probing Dashjr’s allegation. Schmidt, guided by legal counsel, adhered to the demand despite including a confidentiality provision that lapsed a year later, just before the revelation.

The Brink co-founder criticized Dashjr for failing to safeguard his own Bitcoin holdings. By publicly disclosing the theft of his Bitcoin, Dashjr inadvertently exposed attendees of the conference to FBI scrutiny, resulting in their personal information being revealed to the authorities.

“The guy who wants to tell you how to use Bitcoin couldn’t even secure his own Bitcoin and, as a consequence, got everyone at a conference he attended doxxed by the FBI. Good job, Luke!”

Dashjr’s $3.3M Bitcoin Theft

Dashjr revealed that his funds were stolen as a result of a Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) key compromise on December 31st, 2022. Developed by Phil Zimmermann in 1991, PGP is a data encryption and decryption program that offers cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication and is generally used in emails, and digital signatures, as well as encrypting files.

During that time, the value of stolen BTC was worth around $3.3 million. However, with market recovery and the subsequent price explosion owing to spot Bitcoin ETFs as well as the upcoming halving event, the stash would be worth over $14 million.