They needed a case to promote and make an example of, to justify further mass surveillance. It doesn’t matter to them that what he was doing was legal. It only matters that they can present this as a fearful situation that needs to be controlled.

The actual threat is tiny, almost nonexistent.

Typical gov shit. Someone does something you don’t like that’s not illegal, you just make up crimes.

They’ll probably criminalize the private transfer of funds as a whole. All monetary transactions must now be declared to the govt.

This is in Brazil, fwiw. It’s unclear what the charges were. Anonymous crypto currency and 3D printed firearms are both possible targets.