Can crypto-twitter OSINT outperform the WSJ’s chain analysis?
** Announcing $500 in BTC bounty for the 21 best open source analyses of the facts surrounding the WSJ/Warren letter. Rules and submission link below **
On October 10, following the attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians, Angus Berwick and Ian Talley of the WSJ published the article “Hamas Militants Behind Israel Attack Raised Millions in Crypto”. The WSJ followed up with “Why Hamas Uses Crypto to Raise Money” and then published an op-ed from Sen. Elizabeth Warren entitled “Cryptocurrency Feeds Hamas’s Terrorism”. Sen. Warren then wrote a letter to the White House and Treasury signed by over 100 members of Congress, reliant entirely on the WSJ claim that Hamas and affiliates had raised “over $130m in crypto” to fund their operations since 2021. Warren is now leading a campaign to aggressively marginalize the crypto industry in the US based on her provocative claim. Yet – subsequent evidence thrown cast her entire empirical basis into question. The WSJ has thus far refused to update or retract their story.
Since the WSJ article, both Chainalysis and Elliptic have cast the reporting into doubt.
Starting with the resources listed in the google form, and any other information you can gather, replicate the work done by Elliptic and BitOK, and critically evaluate either the WSJ reporting or the Warren letter. Use chain analysis tools and conventional reporting techniques. Focus on knowable ground truths. Your reporting can focus on debunking a specific detail of the story, creating an independent, more fact-based account of the events, creating a data visualization, or simply creating a meme or graphic depicting the events or the WSJs reporting.
Can Bitcoin Twitter come up with a better tally than Talley?
In one week from today (i.e., on Thursday, 11/02/23), 21 of the best, qualifying submissions will each receive $500 in Bitcoin.
Contest rules, full context, and submission here:
forms.gle/UGtyrNcgJW1vaMxn8