MIAMI, FLORIDA – Judge Beth Bloom had sent the deadlocked jurors back into deliberations, with supplemental instructions, known as an Allen charge, to help facilitate a verdict by pressuring those in the minority. The juridical device, also called the “hammer charge”, is prohibited in twenty-two states because of its coercive nature and is described as a deceptive means “to browbeat the jury into submission” by detractors.
Bloom instructed jurors to “carefully reexamine and reconsider all the evidence”, and if the deadlock persisted, she could have decided to extend deliberations further or declare a mistrial. A hung jury, at this point, would likely slow the advancement of the multiple Bitcoin-related initiatives currently taking place, such as plans for Bitcoin-backed loans by Goldman Sachs and other global financial institutions, not to mention a largely under-the-radar stablecoin project by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in partnership with a “next generation, insured asset-backed cryptocurrency“, Bitcoin Latinum (LTNM) and its sister company, Monsoon Blockchain Corporation.