Crypto community’s curious link to Proud Boys sedition trial

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The Proud Boys sedition Trial currently underway in Washington, D.C., has revealed an unlikely connection to the Florida digital asset community.

According to a New York Times report, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sent a document titled “1776 Returns” a week before the riot by someone with links to the Florida digital currency community.

This damning document outlined a plan for storming the Capitol, including occupying key government buildings, and is a crucial piece of evidence in the prosecution of Tarrio and four other Proud Boys members demonstrating the attack was planned sedition and not a spontaneous, unorganized protest gone wrong.

Text messages introduced as evidence in the trial purport to show that an “Eryk-A” transmitted the document to Tarrio around 12:50 p.m. on December 30, 2020, along with the message:

“If you don’t like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere. But I want you to be the executor and benefitor of my brilliance.”

Eryk-A allegedly also told Tarrio that “the revolution is more important than anything,” shortly after sending the insurrection plan.

It’s not known exactly who the mysterious “Eryk-A” is, but a possible source of the 1776 Returns connects the individual to the Florida digital currency community.

Authoring a riot

Samuel Armes, president of the Florida Blockchain Business Association, testified before a congressional committee on July 18, 2022, that he believed the 1776 Returns plan was derived from a “war-gaming” document that he shared with an acquaintance he knew through the Florida digital currency community.

This acquaintance could well be the “Eryk-A” who allegedly sent the document to Tarrio—which is now a core component of the seditious conspiracy charge against him.

Armes, a former analyst for the U.S. State Department and trained intelligence operative, claimed his document was a thought experiment in what would happen if a sitting president refused to leave office, and told the committee that someone had taken his ideas as “an inspiration” and then “turned it into 1776 Returns.”

It’s yet to be confirmed who exactly the mysterious transmitter of the document is who turned Armes’ experiment into a plan and then sent it to Tarrio, but considering the potential prison time Tarrio and his fellow proud boy conspirators face, it’s understandable why “Eryk-A” might be keeping their head down.

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