The USA requested the extradition of an Israeli citizen indicted for fraud and money laundering for aledgedly exploiting a security flaw in the "smart contracts" of a blockchain system to issue digital currencies without backing.
The Supreme Court held that the requested individual is extraditable. One of the fundamental principles in extradition proceedings is the "dual criminality" principle, which stipulated that the individual may only be extradited for an act that is punishable under the laws of both the requesting State and the requested State. The dual criminality requirement is examined flexibly and does not require a full overlap between the elements of the offense in both jurisdictions. Conscious exploitation of a programmer's error to generate profit constitutes unlawful computer hacking and disruption of computer material. Here, it is contended that the individual consciously exploited a security flaw in a smart contract to steal digital currencies and took various actions to obscure their source. These acts amount to computer offences and money laundering offenses under Israeli law as well. Therefore, the wanted individual will be extradited to the United States.