Crypto lawyer Irina Heaver on death threats, lawsuit predictions: Hall of Flame
“I live in Switzerland. I have guns at home. Anybody who shows up at my home with violent intentions risks being literally shot at,” Heaver warns altcoiners who send her death threats online.
Speaking to Magazine, Heaver explains that she blames memecoin founders for fueling the fiery users on Crypto Twitter.
“I mean, there’s so much responsibility on these community leaders and altcoin leaders. They’re egging on their followers to send threats and intimidate people,” Heaver declares.
As a prominent crypto lawyer in Dubai and Switzerland, Heaver has 41,200 followers — more than your average lawyer. Though not as famous as your Buterins and Heilperns, it’s still fairly impressive considering she has a care-free attitude toward it:
“If somehow they cancel me, I will continue posting on LinkedIn because I have a huge following on LinkedIn.”
Heaver is a self-proclaimed Bitcoin maxi who speaks at crypto conferences all over the world. She says that most of the threats she gets online are because she warns people to steer clear of dodgy altcoins.
When a token founder gets sued or faces legal action, she unpacks the legal jargon and spills the tea to her followers.
Most recently, she was a target of the Hex community after founder Richard Heart was hit with a lawsuit.
“I had people sending death threats against my children, saying they know which kindergarten they go to,” she says.
Heaver states she works with law enforcement to bust scammy memecoins projects.
Before jumping into crypto in 2016, Heaver worked as a lawyer in the oil and gas industry for 13 years.
“I was general counsel of the largest shipping group in the world, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t sit in the boardroom listening to that corporate bullshit.“
Heaver explains that her colleagues couldn’t believe she ditched her well-paying lawyer gig to work in the crypto industry. She recalls them telling her it was just filled with “money launderers and drug dealers.”
What led to Heaver’s Twitter fame?
Heaver brought her old Twitter account back to life around a year ago, even though she has had it for almost a decade.
“In July last year, I started posting for the first time, although my Twitter account is very old. I joined in 2014.”
“I made a conscious decision to post once a day,” Heaver says, despite not expecting to rack up any followers.
She explains that while she takes her crypto work with “governments in the Middle East and Eastern Europe” very seriously, Twitter is just a bit of fun for her.
She figures that’s probably why online threats aimed at her make the senders so furious — she just couldn’t give a damn.
What type of content do you do?
Heaver believes the crypto community gets way more pumped up for fun and easygoing content than all the heavy-duty stuff.
“Every time I post something very meaningful and very intelligent about the laws and very meaningful analysis, I get two likes. I get a lot more posting fun content and just making jokes and actually being myself.”
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Heaver says her content is pretty chill, and she likes to give insights into her interesting life, whether shooting a rifle or hiking in Switzerland.
But every so often, she will let you know about the latest person or government she has orange-pilled.
What type of content do you like?
Heaver reveals that her Twitter feed is a blend of “Bitcoin-only” accounts and various political commentators.
She explains that she finds political commentary more interesting than tracking crypto prices. She asserts that in the grand scheme of things, broader political decisions hold greater significance than coins pumping 1,000x.
“I follow a lot of political commentary. That actually interests me more than which coin is doing what, because it doesn’t matter which coin does what on the biggest scale of things. What matters is the political direction.”
She particularly enjoys content from Swan Bitcoin’s Cory Klippsten, Bitcoin Archive and the Elon Musk (Parody) account.
Heaver’s predictions for major exchanges
As for the ongoing lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase brought forth by the SEC, Heaver anticipates both “will settle without acknowledging any sort of wrongdoing on their part, and the SEC will leave them alone.”
Heaver reveals this stems from her “inside knowledge” of how the SEC operates, gained during her time in the oil and gas industry.
She recalls a specific Swiss company she worked with, engaged in business in the Middle East, that drew the attention of U.S. regulators.
Heaver explains that “the SEC and DOJ decided that they have jurisdiction over this company” and basically chased them for seven years.
The outcome was a $250 million settlement and the company denying any fault. Heaver emphasizes that it was a pretty sweet payday for regulators:
“That’s how they get their budgets. That’s how they get the money to pay the salaries and God knows what on the Christmas bonuses.”
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A former Conservative MP has said he felt “enormous guilt” when he found out he was the victim of a Westminster honeytrap scandal.
William Wragg resigned from the parliamentary party in April after he admitted giving out fellow politicians’ phone numbers to the suspected perpetrator of the sexting scam.
He said he felt threatened and pressured by the “catfish” after exchanging explicit photos with them.
Mr Wragg divulged the numbers to what he thought was a real person on a dating app, amid fears that the intimate images of himself would be leaked.
The former Tory party whip said he first saw news articles about the scandal when he was on a train.
The 36-year-old told the BBC: “My stomach just dropped.
“When I found out some of the things that had been going on, I just felt enormous guilt, enormous remorse.”
After the former Hazel Grove MP handed over the personal information, the catfish told Mr Wragg to vouch for their identity with their next potential victims, with the catfish telling their fresh targets they were a former researcher for Mr Wragg.
Mr Wragg agreed and this is what he feels “the most regret for” as it was “deceitful”.
Pic: PA
Panic attacks
After he was allegedly blackmailed, Mr Wragg started having panic attacks, with instances of yelling, crying, and swearing shocking his sleeping flatmates.
Police are investigating the scandal with at least 12 men with links to Westminster believed to have received unsolicited messages from the aliases “Charlie” and “Abi”.
The fake accounts were allegedly part of the scam to get MPs and other people in politics to send explicit images and other private or sensitive information.
Unlike others who were approached by the catfish accounts, Mr Wragg approached “Charlie” himself after spotting the profile on gay dating app Grindr.
And he thought the account was a real person before exchanging explicit photos with the catfish.
Suicidal thoughts
When the scandal broke, the humiliation and shame became too much for Mr Wragg.
He recounted photographers and the media camped outside his parents’ house, which is where he went to as he began to have suicidal thoughts.
Shortly after receiving medical attention, he returned to Westminster to resign as Conservative whip and from his posts on two parliamentary committees.
He had already announced he would not run in the next general election.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Man detained
In June, a member of the Labour Party aged in his mid-20s was apprehended in Islington, north London, on suspicion of harassment and offences under the Online Safety Act.
He has since been released on bail.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.
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