FBI probed bitcoin core developer event linked to Luke Dashjr’s BTC hack: Mike Schmidt

The U.S. FBI issued a subpoena demanding personal information of the attendees at a Bitcoin core developer event in 2022, according to Mike Schmidt, co-founder of Bitcoin non-profit Brink. The FBI subpoena is allegedly in connection with Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr’s claim that he was stolen about 216 BTC in a hack.

“As part of the investigation into Luke Dashjr’s announced theft of his bitcoins, I received a subpoena from the FBI wanting information about attendees of the October 2022 CoreDev Atlanta event in the days before TABConf 2022,” said Schmidt, in an email screenshot posted Wednesday by mikeinspace, a pseudonymous X user. “I was legally advised to cooperate.”

Schmidt, who confirmed with The Block that he sent that email, said in the message to attendees that he had provided the FBI with their first and last names, GitHub usernames and email addresses. Schmidt also said that the FBI demanded that he not disclose the subpoena for a year, which expired shortly before he sent out the email.

“I do not have any details about the investigation or whether the subpoena was due to a targeted suspect or general information gathering as part of the investigation,” Schmidt added.

The Brink co-founder told The Block that he has not been in contact with the FBI since, and declined to comment on further details.

Luke Dashjr

Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr claimed that he lost over 200 BTC due to a Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) key compromise on Dec. 31, 2022, an estimated loss of about $3.3 million at the time. At the current market value, 200 BTC is priced at over $14 million.

Dashjr is also well known for his blatant criticism against Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens on the Bitcoin blockchain. “Inscriptions are exploiting a vulnerability in Bitcoin Core to spam the blockchain,” Dashjr said in an X post last December.

Dashjr, also the co-founder of Ocean mining pool, did not respond to The Block’s request for comment on the FBI investigation of the announced bitcoin hack.