Nostr Web Client

Not necessarily. You can specify which functions can be upgraded and which can't. For example some functions could be hard-code in the main smart contract, whereas others delegate to another smart contract, the address of which is stored in a variable. Ideally then those variables can only be changed by token vote, but my guess is that initially there was an admin who could do that.

However if "aspects of cryptography" could be changed, then most likely it would have been possible to brick the contract. But that would be destroying the company entirely, and so may not be an reasonable thing to demand. Plus it's rather pedantic, which itself doesn't always go well in court.

But imo the admin override doesn't matter. If it was a pure DAO then you just say "criminal conspiracy" and now all the token holders and developer are liable for the whole thing. Then all you need to do is *not* arrest the token holders (including the VC) and only arrest the developers and presto.

Sjors Provoost 2y ago

That said, the DAO didn't control the core contract. So to the extend that the core contract was used *without* any of the ancillary tools (website, DAO controlled smart contracts) then you COULD still maintain you had no control over that activity.

Unfortunately the DoJ probably just needs to prove *one* money launderer using the UI (based on CloudFlare records or something) for the money laundering charge to hold.

So then the defense in the US would have to fall back on the non-custodial side of things. At minimum they didn't need a license.

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Sjors Provoost 2y ago

And it's worse. IIUC the money laundering charge is *conspiracy*. So they needed to have the intention of someone using the UI to launder money, and take one concrete step towards it (like writing the code). If such a charge survives, even if a license wasn't needed, that's a problem.

The Netherlands doesn't even have a license system for this, so it's really just about the question whether or not this was (actual, not conspiracy to) money laundering.

Sjors Provoost 2y ago

(where "intention" is a bar perhaps as low as "disregard for the risk of")