Thoughts

Short thoughts, notes, links, and musings by . RSS

It’s a shame to see Sci-Hub falling for web3 hype and adding a pumpfun memecoin ticker to their webpage. Blockchain-based DNS does not automatically mean “decentralized”, and 3DNS — the company behind .box — is based in the US and would be subject to US court orders.

Sci-Hub is now available on two new domains: [redacted] and [redacted].box. What is special here is that .box domain is blockchain-based, which makes it decentralized and somewhat more resistant to censorship (hopefully!) The domain address was donated to Sci-Hub by user. The website also runs a new version of Sci-Hub with boxed design (under construction at the moment, but will be running on all mirrors soon)

Someone unaffiliated with Sci-Hub created the memecoin, claiming to be fundraising, but said only 20% of proceeds would go to Sci-Hub. Founder Alexandra Elbakyan herself condemned this.

Alexandra Elbakyan @ringo_ring Nov 16, 2024 thanks! indeed it would be much easier for me if he donated 'normal' bitcoin or ethereum. I'm not good in these new crypto tokens, and I do not understand them very well EenAir @aidooebenezer79 Nov 16, 2024 I understand that Bitcoin and Ethereum are more familiar, but the SciHub token on Solana represents our support for you and the SciHub community. It’s a way to show our commitment to open knowledge and support SciHub innovatively. Alexandra Elbakyan @ringo_ring Nov 16, 2024 if someone uses Sci-Hub name to collect donations for Sci-Hub, sending only 20% to Sci-Hub -- that's not a 'commitment to open knowledge' that's a fraud. I'm not going to participate in it. EenAir @aidooebenezer79 Nov 16, 2024 I understand the confusion! To put it simply, $SciHub is like a "meme token," but with a purpose. Meme tokens are fun and often used by communities to show support or raise awareness for a cause. Alexandra Elbakyan @ringo_ring Right now there is more harm done than help. Suppose someone reads that Sci-Hub received $4M USD in donations (which is not actually true) that would simply put me in danger
Alexandra Elbakyan @ringo_ring Nov 16, 2024 I think the offer is ridiculous. If that is $scihub token, then 100% should be donated to Sci-Hub, right? you can take commission, but it should be at least 80% Sci-Hub + 20% your bonus for collecting donations? EenAir @aidooebenezer79 Nov 16, 2024 Actually, that's not the case. The $SciHub token is a publicly sold token, similar to how Bitcoin works. No one can own 100% of the token. It is being purchased by supporters, and the aim is to show community support for SciHub. Alexandra Elbakyan @ringo_ring I did not ask you to support Sci-Hub by "publicly selling" the project. Thanks! dump.fun @dumpyfunny Nov 16, 2024 Wow u are ignorant asf. We doing u a favor. We don't need ur grifty ass

I guess things changed bc there is now a crypto ticker showing the memecoin price on the Sci-Hub front page, and the donations page also prominently lists it.

A crypto ticker below the usual Sci-Hub header, showing prices for bitcoin, Solana, and a SCIHUB memecoin

Sci-Hub has long fundraised by accepting donations of major cryptocurrencies, which makes sense. But the memecoin seems like a terrible idea, and it’s not clear what they’re even trying to do with the web3 domain.

pretty sure i could smell the panic coming off the cluster of men huddled around the empty Hallmark card display in the grocery store at 5:30pm on Valentine's Day

if i was a true entrepreneur i would be printing out some shitty cards on my inkjet right now and going back to sell them in the parking lot for $10 apiece

SEC moves to freeze lawsuit against Binance

Although early reporting suggested the SEC would likely look to “potentially freeze some litigation that does not involve allegations of fraud”, the first case the SEC has proposed freezing is SEC v. Binance: a case alleging serious fraud and knowing violation of US securities laws.

JOINT MOTION TO STAY Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and Defendants Binance Holdings Limited, BAM Trading Service Inc., BAM Management US Holdings Inc., and Changpeng Zhao (collectively, the “Parties”) jointly move to stay this case for a period of 60 days. A district court has “broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power to control its docket.” Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). A district court considers three factors when deciding whether to stay a case: “(1) harm to the nonmoving party if a stay does issue; (2) the moving party’s need for a stay—that is, the harm to the moving party if a stay does not issue; and (3) whether a stay would promote efficient use of the court’s resources.” Center for Biological Diversity v. Ross, 419 F. Supp. 3d 16, 20 (D.D.C. 2019). Here, the Parties believe a brief stay is warranted. On January 21, 2025, new SEC Acting Chairman Mark T. Uyeda launched a crypto task force dedicated to helping the SEC develop a
regulatory framework for crypto assets.1 The work of this task force may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case. Accordingly, the SEC proposed a brief stay to Defendants, and the Defendants agreed that a stay is appropriate and in the interest of judicial economy. As this is a joint motion, there is no prejudice to any party here, and a stay could save the Parties resources because, if an early resolution could be reached, it would obviate the need to continue merits discovery. Further, this brief stay will promote the efficient use of the Court’s resources, as a resolution would obviate the need for the Court to resolve Defendants’ pending Motions to Dismiss the Amended Complaint. See Dkt. Nos. 285, 287. Finally, the proposed stay is limited in duration and interferes with no current Court-issued deadlines. See Belize Soc. Dev. Ltd. v. Gov’t of Belize, 668 F.3d 724, 731-32 (D.C. Cir. 2012) (noting that stays of “indefinite duration” are disfavored). At the end of the 60-day stay period, the Parties propose that they will submit a joint status report, including whether a continuation of the stay is warranted. Accordingly, the Parties respectfully request that this Court grant this Joint Motion to Stay.
111. As Binance’s CCO bluntly admitted to another Binance compliance officer in December 2018, “we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.” (Emphasis added.)

The original complaint alleges that not only did Binance lie about trying to prevent fraudulent behavior on Binance.US, one of the primary companies involved in illegal wash trading on the exchange was controlled and operated by Binance’s founder and Binance employees.

268. In fact, wash trading on the Binance.US Platform did occur and went undetected. Much of this wash trading occurred through numerous accounts affiliated with Sigma Chain, an entity owned and controlled by Zhao and operated by Binance employees at Zhao’s direction. 269. At Zhao’s insistence, Sigma Chain became a market maker on the Binance.US Platform from the time of its launch. Sigma Chain held dozens of user accounts through which it conducted wash trading that fraudulently inflated trading volumes on the Binance.US Platform. 270. Both BAM Trading and BAM Management were aware that Sigma Chain had dozens of accounts and was an active trader on the Binance.US Platform. On June 23, 2020, for example, in discussing a drop in trading volume from market makers on the Binance.US Platform, BAM CEO A asked the BAM Trading’s Sales Director to “pull [Sigma Chain’s] data to hold them accountable too . . . they should be consistent too – we can ask for more volume but they’ve been up to 50% for us before.” On January 6, 2021, the Sales Director messaged BAM
CEO A and other BAM Trading employees “fyi these are ALL sigma chain,” and then listed 20 account numbers. Another BAM Trading employee responded, “whoa.” 271. Wash trading between Sigma Chain’s accounts occurred from the launch of the Binance.US Platform in 2019 through at least June 23, 2022. This wash trading activity corrupted the Binance.US Platform’s reported trading volume in a strategic pattern that coincided with at least three critical periods for crypto asset investors and the Equity Investors: (1) the Binance.US Platform’s launch in September 2019; (2) BAM Trading’s making available certain new crypto asset securities for trading on the Binance.US Platform; and (3) the months leading up to BAM Trading’s seed funding round starting in September 2021. 272. For example, on September 25, 2019, the day after the Binance.US Platform opened for trading, wash trading between Sigma Chain accounts and other accounts owned by Zhao and/or associated with Binance senior employees, constituted more than 99 percent of the initial hour of trading volume in at least one crypto asset. By the end of the day, wash trading by these accounts amounted to nearly 70 percent of that same crypto asset’s total volume. 273. Sigma Chain also engaged in wash trading on or around the time when BAM Trading made at least 65 new crypto assets, including crypto asset securities, available for trading on the Binance.US Platform. Between January 1, 2022 and June 23, 2022 alone, Sigma Chain accounts engaged in wash trading in 48 of 51 newly listed crypto assets.

Despite claims from the SEC’s new leadership that they intend to provide “sensible, clear rules” without providing a “haven for fraudsters”, this action definitely seems to reveal their true marching orders.

It’s likely that they will soon request to pause ongoing enforcement cases against companies including Coinbase, a company which has alone spent more than $100 million on political lobbying over the past two years.

Update on the arm I bought to hold my e-reader for me: have just discovered this enables me to knit (simple patterns) while I read

Last night I finished The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and half a sock

A half-knit sock (cuff-down) using yarn that pools into black and white stripes, intermixed with browns and yellows

“We just launched a 16TB archive of every dataset that has been available on data.gov since November. This will be updated day by day as new datasets appear. It can be freely copied, and we're sharing the code behind it to help others make their own archives of data they depend on.” Harvard Library Innovation Lab (via BlueSky)

"Announcing the Data.gov Archive".
in Harvard Library Innovation Lab.
Today we released our archive of data.gov on Source Cooperative. The 16TB collection includes over 311,000 datasets harvested during 2024 and 2025, a complete archive of federal public datasets linked by data.gov. It will be updated daily as new datasets are added to data.gov. This is the first release in our new data vault project to preserve and authenticate vital public datasets for academic research, policymaking, and public use. We’ve built this project on our long-standing commitment to preserving government records and making public information available to everyone. Libraries play an essential role in safeguarding the integrity of digital information. By preserving detailed metadata and establishing digital signatures for authenticity and provenance, we make it easier for researchers and the public to cite and access the information they need over time.

was pretty jazzed to hear bookshop.org started selling e-books, but that DRM is a bummer 😞

kind of sucks that the best way to "buy" digital books at the moment is typically to pirate the book, then buy some shitty DRM-locked e-book you never open

even doing that i feel gross, like i'm encouraging these publishers to keep selling e-books this way