We live in a world with laws. I’m sure that according to those laws, some degree of prosecution is merited. But over two lifetimes arguably just to make an example for others what happens when you opt into Bitcoin and hold a mirror up to that system does seem way overkill and unjust. I hope he experiences freedom again in his life. It’s a messy situation, obviously. 

 Yeah. He shouldn’t be spending the rest of his life in prison 

 If Ross deserves this degree of punishment, they ought to imprison the guy who started Craigslist too. That website has facilitated anonymous sex work, drug purchases, and liquidation of stolen goods for almost 30 years. 

 But it didn't use Bitcoin and we all know THAT is the real threat 

 It didn’t use anything. Users were free to transact amongst each other without Craigslist even being aware of it. Kind of brilliant and that was really Ross’s downfall. He built a centralized marketplace when the payments should have always taken place directly peer-to-peer, but the technical ability to do that safely and eliminate fraud wasn’t available yet.