• survirtual@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    So they discovered faulty code and made some money?

    Can anyone explain to me how this is illegal?

    The code is a contract. If someone writes bad code and loses money, then write better code - just like if someone writes a bad legal contract and loses money.

    The justice system is awful.

    • shrugal@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      IANAL and all, but bad/unfavorable contracts and literal deception/fraud are two different things, at least in the legal system. Not everything that’s technically possible is also allowed, obviously.

      Compare it to using a security flaw to hack into a system. Technically you’re only using the official API, maybe in unusual ways, but still. But you’re doing it in bad faith and causing harm, maybe pretending to be someone you’re not or injecting fake data into the system, and that can make a difference.

      • survirtual@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Hacking a private corporate system, which is generally on closed nets and requires an internal actor / phishing, is significantly different from exploiting a code fault on a public network.

        Trustless systems rely on mathematics to secure their networks. This is both the revolution of them and the risk. If you build a system of value and it is on a public network, and you fail to properly secure it, that is supposed to be the risk. You lose money, hopefully go bankrupt / lose credibility, and a more efficient actor eats your lunch.

        Treating it like a traditional system with these unspoken legal safeguards when it uses a public blockchain and public network is absurd.

        • shrugal@lemm.ee
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          6 months ago

          What’s absurd is this crypto maximalist take.

          You can’t just make up your own permission and punishment system, and then expect the legal system to just step aside and let it handle all disputes, especially when it comes to fraud. That’s like founding your own city in an existing country, and declaring all existing law obsolete. I know some people think this is a real possibility, but the real world doesn’t work like that.

          • survirtual@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            The “real” world works however the people want it to.

            As it stands, it works with laws that protect the rich and elite with superior rights.

            Someday, maybe the people will decide on a more equitable system. Nature and mathematics might be heavy contributors to that system.

    • blargerer@kbin.social
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      6 months ago

      This is like saying they discovered how to pick a lock so deserve everything in whats locked by it.

      • survirtual@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        No.

        It is more like finding a gold mine on public BLM land. It is over treacherous mountains only experienced climbers can access. There are no signs or doors saying it is licensed to anyone; indeed, it isn’t officially registered with BLM. So the climbers go in and take as many gold nuggets as they can carry.

        Unbeknownst to them, it was a mine discovered by rich and connected people who have cronies in BLM. Rangers go and arrest the climbers and say that you aren’t allowed to climb, climbing is illegal, and taking gold from that mine is illegal because someone else found it and dug it, even though they didn’t properly secure it nor did they put up any signs. They assumed the mountain was enough protection.

        This is closer to the situation.

          • survirtual@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Do you know how BLM land works?

            If you find a valuable resource on it, you can register it and you get exclusive access to mine it.

            Look it up.

    • yetAnotherUser@feddit.de
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      6 months ago

      You withdraw cash at an ATM but the software has faulty code which causes your balance to remain the same after withdrawing any amount.

      You notice this and then empty the entire ATM this way, making $200,000. I’m sure once you explain to the jury that the ATM just gave you a bad contract, they will acquit you.

    • Blackmist
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      6 months ago

      Doesn’t sound a huge deal different to High Frequency Trading, and Wall Street nobheads fall over themselves to exploit that.

      • pedroapero@lemmy.ml
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        6 months ago

        Sounds to me that the difference is they exploited a bug to get private information in order to game the bots.