"May I?" "Oh, uh, no, sorry." "I'm, uh saving them." "This isn't a game, Mr. Stack." " I didn't say it was." "You're treating it like it is." "I'm treating it with the respect it deserves." "Mr. Stack?" "Mr. Dylan Stack?" " Yes." "Present." "Hi." "I'm Alicia Florrick." " We spoke on the phone." " Nice to meet you." "This is a mistake, Mr. Stack." "If you walk through that door, we can't help you." "Well, what if I walk through that door?" "What was that about?" "Posturing." "Heh." "Before we begin, Mr. Stack," "I just wanna warn you that we are a full-service firm." "We don't really take walk-ins." "Oh, well, I'm not technically a walk-in." "I called you." "Yes, ten minutes ago, saying you were walking in." "Sorry." "I don't like reservations." " I can pay." " For?" "Keeping me out of jail." "Are you in danger of going to jail?" "Yes." "The two men out there are federal agents from the Treasury." "They've been following me for the last two days." "Why?" " I won't reveal the name of my client." " Okay." "No, I mean, that's why they're following me." "Hello." "If you're agents from the U.S. Treasury and I ask to see your badges, you have to show me them, correct?" "May I see your badges, gentlemen?" "Actually, could you hold them higher?" "I practice digital information law in New York." "The U.S. Treasury wants to arrest one of my clients." "A client who asked that I maintain his anonymity." "This is a subpoena to submit to questioning or be imprisoned for 18 months." "Why have you come to us?" "To you, actually." "The rumor is you've had your own dealings with the Treasury." "Dealings in which you came out the victor." "Well, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration." "And as I was saying, we do have a pretty stable client..." "I don't like credit cards or checks." "That's a lot of money." "It is." " Is it counterfeit?" " No." "Why?" "The involvement of the U.S. Treasury would suggest" " some reason for concern." " No." "They're after my client for something else." "And what is that?" "He invented a new currency." "Really?" " How did he do that?" " He invented Bitcoin." "It's a digital currency." "It's traded and spent online." "Yes, I've read about it." "Well, according to the FBI, it is a violation of federal law for individuals to create private coin or currency systems." "I think the Treasury feels, uh, threatened." "Bitcoin?" "Online currency." "But he's not gonna pay us in Bitcoin, is he?" "No, he's got cash." "Lots of it, in fact." "I don't know." "It's the U.S. Government." "We swore off these "Charge of the Light Brigade" suits." "We swore off the ones based on idealism." "This one has cash." " And I know how that sounds." "Okay." "But let's not stick our necks out too far." "When we poke the bear?" "I'm tired." "I mix metaphors when I'm tired." "How's it going?" " Well, she sure is different." "You can always get Kurt Leventhal." "I have his number right here." " No." "I rolled the dice." "Hey, what time are they...?" " Oh, here they are." "Ha, ha." "Hello." "Here I go." "You have the right to remain silent." "You'll visit me in prison?" "Every Friday." "I'm putting on a good face." "I'm actually kind of terrified." "That makes sense." "Oh." "Ha, ha." "I thought you were gonna say something comforting like, "Don't be."" " Sorry." " I guess the truth is comforting too." "Sorry to keep you waiting." "We have agreed to take your case." "Oh, that's great." "Thank you." "But we can't receive the cash." "We need a cashier's check." "Yep." "Only in America is greater abstraction more desirable." "I am so sorry." "They found asbestos in my office." "This is fine, thank you." "Mr. Gardner, this is a proffer session." " It's completely off..." " Would you like something to drink?" "No, thank you." "It's completely off the record." " If you give me..." "How about you two?" " Oh, I'm fine." " No, thank you." "Well, do you mind if I have something?" "I didn't have breakfast." "Oh, and, um, we have blankets, you know, if anybody's cold." "Hi." "Just one morning shake, please." "Thanks." "Sorry." "Go ahead." "If you supply us with truthful information as to your knowledge about judicial criminal conduct, we'll close this investigation against you." "No grand jury." " Does that make sense?" " It does." "The name of your bookie was..." "Give me a hand with this." " Is Jonathan Meade." "Is that correct?" "Jonathan Meade was the name of a friend of mine who I invited to one of my Wednesday-night basketball games." "But he acted as a bookie?" "He acted in a lot of capacities." "At one point, he was even an actor." "Really?" "In what?" "I don't know." "I think it was a low-budget movie." " A horror movie?" "You witnessed several judges placing bets with Jonathan Meade?" "Could you be more specific?" " Regarding?" " Which three judges." "Excuse me, Ms. Tascioni." "This is Mr. Gardner's proffer, not ours." "Yes, I know, but Mr. Gardner needs to know what you're after in order to help you." "There were a lot of judges at this basketball game over the years." "How many of them talked to your actor friend?" " Quite a few." "See?" "How can we help you if you won't give us any direction on how to help you?" "Judge Winter, Judge Dunaway and Judge Parks." "Okay, now it's your turn, Mr. Gardner." "Did you see Mr. Meade placing any bets or otherwise conferring with these three judges?" "Sorry." "I wish I could remember." "That was a sham." " She played you." " Yes, thank you, Cary." "This investigator that you're cultivating at Lockhart Gardner?" " Kalinda?" " Mm-hm." "It's time to stop cultivating" " and start planting." " Okay." "We need to have a conversation about vulnerabilities." "Here's the difficulty." "I don't know where I'm vulnerable." "Well, I'd start looking, because..." "Oh, look, there's my earring." "Dollar bills can be lost, stolen, burned." "Bitcoin is here forever on the Internet." "While dollar bills are traded through a bank," "Bitcoin is traded peer-to-peer." " No bank can charge you fees." " Pretty colors." "Fun, right?" "No one can freeze..." " Thanks." "Bitcoin transactions are anonymous." "So you don't buy Bitcoin." "No, you can." "There are currency traders online." "Yeah, one Bitcoin is worth $3." "It used to be $33." "People were hoarding." "But that's not how it gets into circulation." "You mine it." "Like gold." "The guy who invented it created this program that releases blocks of Bitcoin over time." "You can mine it." " See?" "That means running software that works to solve complicated mathematical problems." "You receive a Bitcoin when your computer succeeds." "The more computer power you have, the more mining you can do." " Once you have Bitcoins..." " So you're representing the inventor?" " That's really cool." "Just his lawyer." " A bit less cool." "It's this big mystery." "The guy who invented Bitcoin." "Nobody knows who he is." "He's supposed to be this genius cryptographer." "No one's been able to break the Bitcoin code yet." "My father thinks he's a Japanese programmer." "I heard Irish." " Okay." "Well, thanks for your help." "This stuff makes me feel so dated." "Well, I have to go." "I love you." "Love you too." " Good morning." "Good morning." "You're representing the U.S. Treasury, correct?" "Yes, Your Honor." " Ah, good." "Because I have some complaints about my Susan B. Anthony silver dollars." "Oh, well..." " That was before my time." "What were they thinking?" " They feel like quarters." "Well, again, I wasn't here." " But I can ask around." " Oh, please." "Please, do." " Ah." "Mrs. Florrick, hello." " Good morning." " So, uh, money." "That's why we're here?" "Oh, yes, Your Honor." "Mrs. Florrick's client represents a criminal, Mr. Bitcoin." "Excuse me." " Mr. Bitcoin?" "Yes." "That's what we've come to designate the mysterious creator of this new Internet currency." "Do you guys at Treasury get a lot of dates?" "Yes, we do." "And thank you for asking." "Then why is this so important?" "We believe this unregulated currency is being used in a digital black market, guaranteeing anonymity to money launderers, drug dealers and child pornographers." "And Mr. Bitcoin is attempting to guarantee his own anonymity through the smokescreen of attorney-client privilege." "I don't think I would call attorney-client privilege a smokescreen." "This privilege protects communications between a lawyer and his client, not the client's identity." "Unless identity is the subject of these communications." "With one exception." "The crime fraud exception, which requires that Mr. Stack reveal Mr. Bitcoin if he's in the process of committing a crime." "Which has not been established." "You know, folks, I always wait in court patiently for these little conundrums." "That is why God made me a judge." "So that I could decide on motions exactly like this." "So eenie, meenie, minie, mo." "That's a joke, folks." "Government's motion is denied." "Thank you, Mrs. Florrick." "Now I have to go meet with some Occupy Wall Streeters." " New clients?" " Yes, but these don't pay as well." "Hello, again." "You're under arrest, Mr. Stack." "You heard the ruling." "Yes, that attorney-client privilege applies." " I don't agree, but I respect the law." " Then we're done." "No, we're not." "I'm arresting Mr. Stack for being Mr. Bitcoin." "Oh, come on." " I am coming on." "Mr. Stack presents himself as a lawyer representing the mysterious Mr. Bitcoin." "But we've come to realize he is Mr. Bitcoin." "And the penalty for creating a currency is ten to 30 years." "You're under arrest, Mr. Stack." "Your Honor, Mr. Higgs does not believe that my client is Mr. Bitcoin." "He is using this arrest to apply pressure in counteraction to your ruling." "Yes, Mr. Higgs, the timing of the arrest does seem strangely coincidental." "Bitcoin has incorporated, Your Honor." "Here are the incorporation papers." "As you can see, the only signature evident is that of Mr. Stack." "Because he's Bitcoin's lawyer, not its creator." "Bitcoin has subcontractors." "Computer entrepreneurs who supply animation or random coding." "As you can see from these affidavits, their only contact was with Mr. Stack." "Because Mr. Bitcoin wanted to remain anonymous." "Really, Mrs. Florrick?" "Must we all use "Mr. Bitcoin" now?" "Occam's razor, Your Honor." "The person signing the checks, incorporating and becoming the public face of a company is the company." "Your Honor, these documents don't prove anything." "But they are evocative." "And I must say, I am a sucker for Occam's razor." "So I will grant Mr. Stack bail and, uh, hear arguments tomorrow." "Good to see you again." "Always a pleasure." "The difficulty here is proving a negative." "How do we prove Dylan isn't his client if we can't prove someone else is?" "Does he know you're in trouble, Dylan?" "Your client?" "Can he help us?" "I'm sorry, but I can't say anything without breaking attorney-client privilege." "Okay, so hit the incorporation papers." "That's not proof of ownership." "No, play offense, not defense." " How?" "Bitcoin isn't a currency." "Now, there's no crime if Bitcoin is a commodity, just something to be traded like a bushel of fruit." "Mr. Gardner taps his inner rebel." "Good, we have our strategy in court." "And outside court?" "Was there anything said by your client that would prevent us from hunting him down independently?" "I cannot help you without breaking attorney-client privilege." " But we can do it on our own?" " Again, I cannot help you." "Well, the inventor has left a few fingerprints." "He wrote a manifesto when Bitcoin came out." "I could use linguistic analysis to run him down." "Good." "Look for contact points with Stack." "When did they meet?" "Where?" "You might try Decode-a-Con." "What, it's not on your social calendar?" "Stack is here for Decode-a-Con, the conference of cryptographers." "Good." "Maybe they were meeting there." "Okay, I'm on it." " Uh, one thing we might consider..." " What?" "It could be him." "I am vulnerable." " It's innocent, but it looks bad." " Okay." "You sure you wanna tell me?" "Subpoenas could go out." "When I stopped gambling, this friend, my bookie, Jonathan Meade, he forgave my debt." " How much?" " Eight thousand." "It's not much, but it could look like a payoff for setting him up with these judges." " But it wasn't?" " I didn't take it that way." "This guy was a friend." "My guess is Wendy's trying to tie it to a case we won." "They're looking at three judges:" "Winter, Dunaway, Parks." "Look at our cases before them?" "I wanna anticipate which one they'll hit." "Sure." "How are you holding up?" "I don't wanna go to jail." "Up until this week, I never thought I would." "It's making you more human." "That's not much of a trade-off." "Jim Cramer." "I'm a former hedge fund manager, author, and current host of Mad Money." "Your Honor, we take this case very seriously." "Obviously, Mrs. Florrick does not." "Is there an objection in there somewhere, Mr. Higgs?" "We object to the defense questioning this TV personality as an expert in currency." "Huh." "Well, let me think about that." "Overruled." "Mr. Cramer, do you consider Bitcoin a currency?" "No." "It has none of the characteristics associated with coinage and currency." " In what way?" "No central bank to regulate it." "It's digital, and functions completely peer-to-peer." " Thank you, Mr. Cramer." " You're welcome, ma'am." "Mr. Cramer, are you the TV personality who regularly shouts and badgers on Mad Money?" "Well, I think "badger" is debatable." "But, yes, I have a very, dare I say, flamboyant personality on my TV program." "And you use various beeps and honking sounds on your program and sometimes clench a knife between your teeth?" "A scimitar more than a knife." "And, yes, I do employ beeps." " Why aren't you objecting?" " Because the judge is." "So why on earth should this court take you seriously?" "For the reason you would any man." "The solidity of my arguments." "You'd ask this court to ignore the ass you make of yourself on TV?" "Excuse me, Mr. Higgs." "May I ask you, please, to be more cordial in your questioning?" "Uh..." "Thank you." "My apologies, Mr. Cramer." "I'm a great fan of your show, by the way." "Thank you." "No apologies." "Was it Montaigne who said:" ""How many valiant men can survive their own reputation?"" "No further questions." "Our software blocks both schemes, creating a preimage resistance and creating a secondary preimage resistance." "You know what?" "I'm gonna go see those..." "It was worse than '82." "Hieroglyphics were the first cryptograms." "The Egyptians, like companies today, strove to protect sensitive information." "Are you familiar with the 2009 abstract that speaks to this issue?" "Of course I'm familiar, but the methodology is completely flawed." "Is leakage inevitable?" "Leakage is never inevitable." "C++ allows for some restrictions based on the complexity of the leakage." "All right?" "Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I will be right back." "Wait, just one more question." "Hey." "Sorry." "This is the only place I can get some peace and quiet." "Oh, no problem." "It's quite a scene, isn't it?" "Oh, just wait till the Crypto-Bash." "There's nothing like a bunch of drunk cryptographers." "So you're Mr. Bitcoin?" "No." "Elaine Middleton, MIT." "You?" "Kalinda Sharma, Saint Mary's High." "I did a linguistic match on the Bitcoin manifesto, and guess what popped up." "A patent application by one of the Ten Hottest Geek Women." "God, that'll be on my tombstone." "No Nobel, no MHV, just Third Hottest Geek Woman." "Everybody's looking for Mr. Bitcoin when, in fact, they don't realize it's Mrs. Bitcoin." "You have a linguistic tic, Ms. Middleton." ""Theoretically established combinatorial properties."" "It's an odd little phrase that you've used exactly twice." "Once in a patent application and once in the manifesto." "Actually, you'll find that odd phrasing used three times." "Once by me, once in the manifesto, and once by a Chinese econophysicist from Nankai University who goes by the code name NewMint91." "Really?" "And why does NewMint91 use that phrasing?" "He has a crush on me." "And he steals things." "He?" "So you've met him?" "Yeah, actually just today for the first time, at the conference." "Bao Shuwei." "Thanks." " Hello there." "Hello, yourself." " What are you doing?" "Attending Decode-a-Con." " What about you?" " I am staring at a document you might be interested in." "I thought we could get together and talk." "Sure." "Whenever you want." "How's tomorrow?" "Yeah, tomorrow's good." "My name is Mitchell Tambor." "And I stayed at the Crestview Priority Inn on the night of November 18, 2011." "Thank you, Mr. Tambor." "This room at the Crestview Priority Inn, tell us about it." "Well, uh, it was nice." "Mr. Higgs, as much as I cherish all this time we spend together, is there some driving point you wanna make?" "Yes, Your Honor." "Uh..." "Sorry." "Uh, Mr. Tambor, uh, how did you purchase this room?" "With Bitcoin." "How much did one night set you back?" "The exchange rate at the time was approximately $25 for one Bitcoin, so I spent 4.32 Bitcoin." "Did you purchase other goods with Bitcoin?" " An in-room movie." "Good." "And what movie was that?" "That's okay." "Uh, any other incidentals?" "A Snickers bar and some peanuts from the minibar." "And you paid for all this with Bitcoin that you mined?" "You used it as money?" "As currency?" " Yes." " No further questions." "No, sir, we just need a rebuttal witness." " You're not in trouble." "Get home safe, okay?" "I will." "All right, I'll call you later." "Bye." " No, I'll hold." "So you and Nisa are getting close." " I guess so." " This was her fourth night over here." " I thought you liked Nisa." " I do." "But, um, are you getting too serious?" "Mom, we go to different schools now." "We don't see each other at school, so we see each other here." "I know, but maybe you should slow it down a little." " Why?" " Because you're young." "Because she's young." "You'll meet a lot of people." "She will too." " Did I do something wrong?" " No, no, it's just..." "She's over here a lot." " Is this because she's black?" " Oh, my God, no." " Zach, no, you don't believe that." " I don't know what to believe, Mom." " You don't want her over here." " Okay, wait a minute." "Stop." "You know it's not that, so don't try to pretend." "I heard you two saying "I love you."" "I'm just worried that it's moving too fast." "That's all." "I'll ask her over here less." "Hello?" " Yes, hello, sir." "Great." "Uh, can you meet us at court?" "Alex Krakowski." "I'm the manager of the Crestview Priority Inn." "And you rented Mr. Tambor the room in question?" "Correct." " This hotel room is taking on legendary status, isn't it?" "And you accepted his Bitcoin?" "Yeah." "It's a promotion, so, uh, yeah." "And you would also have accepted his frequent travel miles" " in trade for the room?" "Yeah." "We have a promotion going." "Priority Inn frequent travel miles." "But you don't consider frequent travel miles cash?" "What do you mean?" "You have a cash register" " with a drawer for cash." "Oh." "Yeah." "No." "Ha, ha." "We don't have a drawer for Bitcoin or frequent travel miles." "So it's more like a trade?" "Trading frequent travel miles for the room?" " Uh, yeah." "In other words, it's a commodity, not a currency." "Yeah." "We're not gonna do it much with Bitcoin." "I thought it would be cool, but it's a bit of a hassle." "Thank you." "No further questions." "Good morning, Mr. Krakowski." "If you wanted to purchase a book on Amazon, could you do it using the frequent travel miles you accept at your hotel?" "Could I do it?" "No, I don't think so." " Because they're not transferable?" " Yeah, that's right." "It says right on it." "But you could buy a book on Amazon with the cash from your cash drawer?" "Well, no, you'd have to do it with a credit card or something." "But you could also buy the book with Bitcoin, could you not?" "Yeah, I think that's right." "Bitcoin is transferable, and therefore a currency." "Okay, okay, I get it." "You know, I'd love to hear more about this saga of the Priority Inn in Crestview, but I'm ready to rule." "Bitcoin is a currency." "There." "Uh, Your Honor, Mr. Higgs still hasn't proved my client created Bitcoin." "We'll be ready with witnesses tomorrow." "Good." "I'll see the two of you tomorrow morning." "I need help on Will Gardner." "I'm getting pressure and I've been asked to give you pressure." "That's what that's about?" "Yes." "You have a choice to make." "People always say "choice" when I think they mean "ultimatum."" "This was slipped to us last week." "It's highly actionable." "Unless?" "Unless you get me something on Will Gardner." "We need to find which case makes him most vulnerable." "I like Will." "And I go back and forth on you." "Then don't do it for me." "That is Alicia Florrick's signature on what we believe is a forged document recently sent to us by an opposing attorney in a divorce case against your firm." "That's a felony." "Forging a document and perjury." "We prove this, Alicia gets disbarred." "But we don't want her." "We want Will Gardner." "I'm on your side, Kalinda." "NewMint91?" " Who are you?" " Kalinda Sharma." "Your friend Elaine suggested we meet." " Where is she?" " I don't know." " It's Bao, right?" " Yeah." "Don't you ever just wanna let the secret out and scream out at the top of your lungs, "I did it"?" "Did what?" "Invented Bitcoin." "Okay." "Oh, God." "She's getting back at me, isn't she?" "So she sent you?" "Getting back at you for what?" "I said I would leave her alone." "I found out she invented Bitcoin and she threatened me." "So I said I would drop it." " Now she sends you." " No, no, she didn't send me." "I'm not Mr. Bitcoin." "She is." "Anyway, you should check out the new embedding." "That isn't me." "What isn't you?" "The newest block of Bitcoin." "It's a statement embedded in the code." " A statement?" " Mm-hm." "And when did that happen?" "Last night." "See?" "What does it say?" ""Stack is innocent."" "The time code of the embedding on this new block of Bitcoins, embedding that only could be put there by Bitcoin's inventor, was at exactly the same moment Mr. Stack was in court yesterday." "Which means nothing." "It's the easiest thing in the world to arrange for a delayed embedding." "And in fact, if you were trying to establish an alibi, wouldn't you delay the embedding for exactly the moment you were in court?" "Or if you were trying to set Mr. Stack up, wouldn't you do the same?" "So we're back to zero." "What a familiar place." "Not exactly, Your Honor." "Yes, I was one of the subcontractors hired to do computation work." "I didn't know it was Bitcoin." " And all your dealings were with...?" " Mr. Stack there, yes." "Hi." " She's gonna set me up." " Why?" "Jealousy." "Cryptographer jealousy." " The ugliest kind." "Do you have an opinion as to whether Mr. Stack had the technological capacity to be Mr. Bitcoin?" "Objection." "The witness is not qualified to answer." "Well, she seems qualified enough to me." "Overruled." "Yes, Mr. Stack definitely is qualified to be Mr. Bitcoin." "My dad just keeps this apartment when he's working late in court." "And you're sure it's all right to work here?" "Yeah." "He won't mind." "It's better than home." "Well, look who's here." "Zach." "Hi, Grandma." "How's it going?" "Oh, and, uh, Nisa, right?" "Yes." "How are you, Mrs. Florrick?" "Very well, thank you." "I thought you two were in different schools now." "We are." "We're just working on some homework together." "We're gonna use Dad's study." "And how is public school, Nisa?" "It's good, ma'am." "We all miss Zach there." "Well, perhaps he can return sometimes and say hello." "Yeah, we hope so." "Bye, ma'am." "We're gonna go listen to some music, so it might get a bit loud." "Zach." "I'm surprised you two are still friends." "I thought you were seeing Eli Gold's daughter." "What?" "No." "I mean, she came over to the apartment once." "She's nice, but she's in college." "I see." "But, uh, she's very young, Zach." " Marissa?" " No, Nisa." "She's only a year younger than me." "Yes, but you have such different experiences now that you're in Capstone." "And you don't wanna always be driving across town." "It's not that far." "I just don't want you to get too serious." "Maybe you should slow it down a bit." "You'll meet a lot of different people." "She will too." "What?" "Did I say something?" "No, that's just what my mom said earlier." "Really?" "Well, your mother is probably right." "She just testified against our client in court." "Yeah, she's trying to deflect attention from herself." "Can't you help trace the source of her embedding?" "Mm-mm." "She would've covered her tracks." "Yeah, but if this recent embedding was done remotely, can't you trace the IP address?" "Probably can." "It won't matter." "She'll have moved on from there." "Yeah, but it'll help me get closer to her." ""One, two, seven, zero, nine, zero, one."" "What?" "Do you know it?" "It's our IP address." "Ours?" "Lockhart Gardner?" " It was embedded from here?" " Yeah." "So we think it's him and not this woman who testified?" "Yeah." " Well, he's still our client." "We need to represent him." "Yeah, but I'm gonna stop looking for Mr. Bitcoin." "Oh, I agree." "Um..." " So you're helping Will on his issue?" "Yeah." "I know Will tries to stay brave about these things, but I don't wanna be behind the curve." "You wanna know when to cut your losses?" "No, I wanna know when to help." "Okay, I'll keep you in the loop." "Thank you." "Eight thousand dollars?" "That's how much this actor paid you?" "Well, no, he excused my debt for that amount." "Okay." "What else?" "Well, we think she'll try to go after a case too." " Mm." "I think you're right." " So we reviewed all of our cases with those three judges, and we're in good shape on almost all of them." "Who does the design in here?" "It's very attractive." " I don't know." "I can find out." " That would be great." "The worst is the McDermott case." "Product tampering." "It resulted in an $8 million judgment in our favor." "The evidence wasn't with us, but it went our way." " Why is that?" " Sometimes the ball bounces funny." "Heh." "I like that." "So was it a jury trial?" "No, bench." " Which judge?" " Parks." "Okay." "I'm gonna ask this in the most friendly and objective way possible." "And just understand, this is not a prod to do anything." "Um, but is there anything in that file there, any notes or receipts or nasty little memos that could make you look bad?" " Yeah." "It can make Will look bad." " Okay." "Good to know." "I am gonna go now." "What do you want me to do?" "I can't ask you to do anything." "I know." " Yeah?" " Yeah, it's Bao." "You told me to stay in touch." "Yeah, Bao, I'm a little bit busy right now." "I did a deeper analysis of the IP address where the recent embedding came from." " Yeah?" "I had to use a large data set, because it was stored on an untrusted server and if I amortized the verifiable computation..." "Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting, Bao, but, no." "Thing is, there was no protection on the source computer." " There wasn't?" "No." "So I could trace it to the computer where the embedding was done." "Great." "What was it?" "It's your computer." "You did not embed the "Stack is innocent" code on the new Bitcoins, Ms. Sharma?" "I'll be answering for her." "No." "And yet we traced the embedding to your computer." "Ms. Sharma has nothing to do with it." "And I would like to bring the Treasury's attention to a common computer-hacking practice called ghosting in which the hacker only needs access to a parasite computer to get it to do his or her will." "In other words, Mr. Stack had access to Ms. Sharma's computer." "No, to deny that Ms. Sharma did it is not to say that Mr. Stack did." "And yet, as Judge Sobel might say, it is evocative." "Ms. Sharma has been independently searching for Mr. Bitcoin." "And in the process, she has been in close proximity to several key Bitcoin suspects." "Any one of those could have ghosted her computer." "And would Ms. Sharma like to share those names?" "No, but thank you." "This is one thing you might wanna consider." "You're representing a client who is willing to set you up for a federal crime." "That, to me, is not a healthy attorney-client relationship." " Do you know who did it?" " I have a suspicion." "That leaves us with an LR-ZK interactive proof system construction based on standard general assumptions." "And we'll have to leave it at that, because I have someone here who wants to question me." "Yep." "Someone ghosted your laptop a few days ago." "Here's the aftereffect." "Good." "Can you tell who did it?" "No, but I can tell you where it was done." " Would you like that?" " I would." "This isn't one of those Columbo-like things where you keep me doing things for you, hoping I'll slip up?" " Because I'd rather just confess." " I would rather that too." "Tell me what I should be confessing to." "Ghosting my computer." "Embedding the Bitcoin remotely." "Ah." "Ha, ha." "Here's something you should find interesting." "Whoever ghosted your computer wanted to be found out." " Really?" " It's easy to cover your tracks when you ghost." "They didn't." "It's like they're taunting you." " Who?" " I don't know." "But whoever did it recently did a search of the IP addresses you accessed." "You know who it is?" "I know who it is." "So we're back to proving Stack is innocent?" "Maybe there's another way." " What?" "Treasury doesn't really believe that our client is Mr. Bitcoin, do they?" "They're just using Stack to get to him." "Yes." " So prove that." "Prove Higgs is still looking." "That he doesn't think Stack is the one." " Right." " Good." "I'm on it." " See?" "No Nisa." " I see." "Everything okay with you two?" "Mom, you said that we should be seeing less of each other." "No, I said maybe you were moving too fast." "Yeah, that's what Grandma said." "She did?" "Uh-huh." "She said that we should slow down because we're too different." "That's what she said?" "She said that it wasn't a matter of race, just that I'm in private school and Nisa's in public school." "Hey, Nisa?" "Yeah, come on over." "No, my mom says it's fine." "Bao." " Hey." "So you did it?" " Did what?" " Come on, Bao." "You're the one who traced my IP addresses." "You ghosted my computer and you wanted me to find you." " No." " If people knew you created Bitcoin, you'd get a lot of attention." "People would talk to you." "In fact, you would be the hero of the Occupy Wall Street crowd." "Have you seen the Occupy Wall Street women?" "They're beautiful." "Are those guys with you?" " No." " I have to go." "Wait, Bao, talk to me." "Come on." "Not here." "Not with them around." "Okay, then let me get rid of them." "My room." "Upstairs. 2545." "Then join us for advanced algorithms for fast quadrupling of an elliptic curve point." "Today at 4 p.m. In Room 311." "Do you want something?" "Actually, it's what Mr. Higgs wants." "Tell him to come on down and I will give him Mr. Bitcoin." " No." "Bye." "You know, I'm really good at losing people." "So after I lose you two, call Mr. Higgs and tell him to meet me on the 25th floor of this hotel." " Hello." " Hi." "You didn't need to dress up." "Ha, ha." "What do you need?" "Mr. Bitcoin is through that door." "Bao Shuwei." "An econophysicist." " Oh, yeah?" " From Nankai University." "What's an econophysicist?" "Uh, I have no idea, but they're very impressed with themselves." "Is it all right if a, uh, Treasury official accompanies us?" "Sure." " I have a key." " Very resourceful of you." "Great." "Ahh." "Looks like your friend checked out." "It's for you." "Do you mind?" "Sure." ""Dear Kalinda." "I wish I could stay and talk, but I don't like attention." "And creating Bitcoin would probably bring me the wrong kind." "But now I have a new obsession." "I love you."" "I have one more witness, Your Honor." "Goody, goody." "I can't wait, Mrs. Florrick." "Kalinda Sharma." "And Mr. Higgs followed you into the hotel room?" " Yes." "And he stated he was looking" " for the real inventor of Bitcoin?" " Objection, Your Honor." "No, Mr. Higgs." "You may answer." "Mr. Higgs stated that he believed" "I was on the right track to finding Mr. Bitcoin." " And what was that right track?" " Bao Shuwei." "An econophysicist from Nankai University." "Objection." "This is hearsay, Your Honor." "No." "No." "Uh, I recorded it by accident." "I just got a new phone and I didn't know how to turn it off." "Thank you." " Feeling less terrified?" " Oh, much less." "Here's your cashier's check." "It only took 20 minutes standing in line at a bank to change dollar bills into another piece of paper." "Thank you." "I went online and I bought one Bitcoin last night." "Really?" "It's the future." "I don't know." "It didn't feel real." "Real's gonna change." "Just watch." " Thank you." " For what?" "Testifying." "Well, I just followed the path you set." " The path I set?" " Yeah." "There is no Mr. Bitcoin." "There's three." " Really?" " Yeah." "It's not one person." "It's three." "I looked up the Decode-a-Con logs for the last three years." "You met each other in 2009, and that's where you came up with the idea." "Elaine wrote the manifesto and Bao wrote the code." "And you got all that from, what, a log?" "Well, from a log and a lot of pointed fingers." "You were hoping to lose the Treasury in a round-robin." "I think you are overestimating my intelligence." "No, I don't think I am." "Well, then, thank you." "I'm honored." "Hey, there you are." "What do you have?" " What's this?" " You'll see." "Thank you."