Once a Bitcoin Miner: Scandal and Turmoil in the Wild West Cryptocurrency Boomtown

274 Pages·2021·3.337 MB·English

by  Ethan Lou

ONCE
A
BITCOIN
MINER
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Also by Ethan Lou
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O N C E
A
B I T C O I N
M I N E R
SCANDAL AND TURMOIL
IN THE
CRYPTOCURRENCY WILD WEST
ETHAN LOU

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in
Copyright © Ethan Lou, 2021 Publication
Published by ECW Press
Title: Once a bitcoin miner : scandal and turmoil
665 Gerrard Street East
in the cryptocurrency wild west / Ethan Lou.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / [email protected] Names: Lou, Ethan, author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210177675 |
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any Canadiana (ebook) 20210177691
form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
ISBN 978-1-77041-539-3 (softcover)
recording, or otherwise — without the prior written
ISBN 978-1-77305-588-6 (ePub)
permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The
ISBN 978-1-77305-589-3 (PDF)
scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the
ISBN 978-1-77305-590-9 (Kindle)
Internet or via any other means without the permission of
the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase Subjects: LCSH: Lou, Ethan. | LCSH:
only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in Cryptocurrencies. | LCSH: Bitcoin. | LCSH:
or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your Currency crises.
support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Classification: LCC HG1710.3 .L68 2021 | DDC
Cover design: David A. Gee 332.4—dc23
This book is funded in part by the Government of Canada. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du
Canada. We also acknowledge the support of the Government of Ontario through Ontario Creates.

printed and bound in canada printing: FRIESENS 5 4 3 2 1
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completecure.me
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CONTENTS
PROLOGUE ix
ACT I 1
2013 HIGH: $1,200
ACT II 25
2017 HIGH: $20,000
ACT III 63
2018 HIGH: $17,700
INTERMISSION 101
NORTH KOREA
ACT IV 117
2018 LOW: $3,200
ACT V 141
2019 LOW: $3,400
ACT VI 189
2019 HIGH: $13,800
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AUTHOR’S NOTE 233
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 236
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 249
INDEX 251
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PROLOGUE
J
onathan Edwards rarely saw the neighbors across the street,
but now he wondered if one day he’d be walking by and see
a shooting right out front. What about his three-and-a-half-
year-old boy? Why were lawmen storming that house? And
just three days before Christmas! Jonathan did not know. But
he did know this: he’d moved there for a reason. There, outside
the city, you could watch your horse run for miles on the flat
prairie grass and not see a single other person, but when you
stopped your car by the side of the road, out of nowhere would
come a helpful voice asking if everything was okay. There, people
drew their curtains before sundown. The local gas station closed
at 10 p.m. Jonathan had sought the hamlet for its bigger lots
and tranquility. He had moved, in part, because nothing at all
was supposed to happen there.
That night, inside the McMansion across from Jonathan, the
sin was stacked black and high with weapons and drugs, and
the 25-year-old gangster Real Honorio and four others were
hauled away by the law under the waning crescent moon. Real
would come to regret the pain and anguish his crimes caused,
the sordid chapter of his life so mired in gunfire and blood he
had been blind to what was important. As a boy, Real had been
interested in art and had a sense of justice, having won the local
ix
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