FinCEN’s proposal to outlaw all crypto privacy is a huge overreach. They apply a section of the Patriot Act on a “class of transactions” in a new precedent. Doesn’t matter if it’s custodial or noncustodial- merely using certain type of code can be an illegal act. People are caught by the potential spot ETF, meanwhile this is proposed. Now they fight you.

Replies (109)

Shocking 😱! The proposal's implications on privacy and individual freedoms are significant. The target 🎯 is always plebs
Kaizen's avatar
Kaizen 2 years ago
Good. It will suck for many, but bitcoin needs this so it can emerge even stronger on the other side.
Almost every nation state (not just US) are very obsessed with surveillance. I hope people don't get too much excited about #Bitcoin spot ETF. This is exactly where our focus should be. It seems like we all Bitcoiners will have to go for a war against nation states for privacy. Live Free or Die. #Bitcoin and #NOSTR are the only way out. View quoted note → Nation States (not just US) are very obsessed with surveillance
Kaizen's avatar
Kaizen 2 years ago
I don't think I was clear in my wording. I meant bitcoin needs this battle just like it needed the block size wars, in order to become even stronger. Central powers will try to capture it, and they will fail. Freedom will win.
Yup. So then what’s the play when we see EO6102 events or regs that prevent hold keys in qualified accounts (similar to PMs) or _____? They’re going to try to force everyone into their bolshevik banking cartel approved custodians or else. Do folks really think you’re going to have a parallel black market economy with their non-KYC stack? That seems naive. It will be pretty easy for the man to programmatically hunt and kill in the era of AI and 8k fresh IRS agents. So it seems like one either needs a side pot or a trusted custodian with a shared worldview or be faced with leaving the country or achieving second passport with a way to repatriate offshore investment earnings (assumes min level of wealth) or some other hack that I’m not smart enough to figure out yet. Or we continue to slug it out earning fiat till the inevitable rise of BTC and the USofA sees the orange light… that ain’t gonna happen until after a lot a lot a pain (GDII, war, famine, CBDC, etc). What can we do to preemptively get ahead of these possible attack vectors? Maybe high profile folks like Lynn don’t wanna go on record discussing which I understand. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Buuueler?
Bitcoin is designed to go through four phases of war against the State: 1. Non-threat honeymoon period 2. Outlaw/criminalization period 3. Hash war 4. Surrender What you are describing here is the initial phase of the Outlaw period.
Saw a report a few weeks ago that, on average, 8 of 11 (now 16) signatures in any given ring were linked to the NSA....
That's the hash war phase. It comes when the outlaw period fails. The States mines empty blocks, and the market fights back by increases fees to motivate more hashpower to come online and overpower the censor. It's a little more nuanced than that, but that's the general idea.
For sure. But like it or not…we’re out gunned both figuratively and literally. When BTC goes to 1mm demand will produce a solution to the inevitable onslaught but why not get ahead of it now and create the instrument/solution so we’re not scrambling and can include those with smaller stacks before shit gets real and economic pressure forces their hand. Do y’all really think BTC is gonna hit critical mass that will usher in such solutions before the institutional and gubment creates conditions to squeeze out the majority. I don’t wanna be part of a BTC minority when it moons. I want the masses. That’s the only way we win.
mark tyler's avatar
mark tyler 2 years ago
What would that do? It would cost about 72 billion dollars a year today to cut the tx rate to a tenth of current assuming other miners kept mining. Transactions will still confirm fees will be juicy. Ecash btw on the same mint would be untouched. Would probably explode. Harder for me to say what Lightning would do. And we’d probably see it coming from a mile away because nobody would be able to buy miners for a long time.
Aldo 's avatar
Aldo 2 years ago
First post I saw this eve gets the sats. These are for you LA
Bitcoin and the State (as we know it) can't both survive, especially the US. With suffient hashpower (of the levels that "Soft War" guy are advocating the Pentagon to acquire), mining empty blocks makes Bitcoin completely useless because transactions can't be put into blocks. The State has nuclear power plants and ASIC fabs (ask the NSA). This will not be an easy fight and it could go either way.
mark tyler's avatar
mark tyler 2 years ago
That guy is a little kookie imo. Heavy on big sounding stuff. Loose on details. How much do you think they are willing to spend to dos bitcoin? I can’t see them ever even trying knowing that the entire current US budget would still let transactions with faaat stacks of fees slip through.
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Plastycko 2 years ago
Is this where bitcoin integrates ZK proofs?
Reminder that the US government has spent 8 trillion dollars over 20 years on "the war on terror". It's not that Budget isn't relevant. On the contrary, the racket thrives on unlimited spending. 70 billion a year to "fight shady criminal superhackers sponsored by North Korea and Iran"? That's exactly the type of thing they want.
Manu BTC's avatar
Manu BTC 2 years ago
note1496e9aghe9j2wum5cqa7k0yjdxy56zz5vt7u3sgc06gjgzeh782sd0xlz0
mark tyler's avatar
mark tyler 2 years ago
I hear you and that’s a good point. I think I still disagree. 72B still lets 10% of current txs through! 8T every 20 years would only allow them to bring transactions down to ~2% of current rate. Fees would be &$$&, ecash in a given mint would still be free. I suppose the mining industrial complex would lobby for that money, but we wouldn’t have any boys to immortalize for their sacrificed lives. No football stadium flyovers cuz ASICS are boring. Just data centers consuming loads of electricity, creating relatively few jobs, costing tons. There environmentalists would be absolutely extinct over the amount of CO2 or what have you being pumped into the air/earth Maybe I’m wrong about this. Oh, hey, “they” might actually leverage it to finally commercialize fusion 😆
The state just locked us down and forced experimental vaccines on us, trying to outlaw privacy is just another day. We build the tools and don't ask for permission.
I just wanted to bring that up. My personal opinion has always been that the status quo is split between: 1. those who are too old to get on the train like Buffet and that other dinosaur partner of his all will simply be swept aside 2. the ones that even today think they can fight this, like some leftist politicians and academics who realize that Bitcoin is inherently anti-State 3. the ones that realize that Bitcoin is inherently anti-state and instead of fighting it want to coopt it. Like BlackRock and JP Morgan. I think the last faction is destined to win.
looks like the NSA is getting ready to dump their Co!ns ... ;)
Undoubtedly they want to outlaw it. How would that work in practical terms? Can they "mark" "tainted" sats?
if you aren't already at the margins of their reach at this point, you are willing to be the lamb for the slaughter. europe and north america are going to be the first to burn. View quoted note →
As far as I understand it is very broad (I listened Rabbit Hole Recap) and you can be criminal just because your Transaction has more than one inputs. It is important because of privacy but also because mixing transaction from different people could be a way to default privacy while reducing the base chain transaction fees.
We are in the “then they fight you” stage. There are no laws anymore. “Law” is gone. Don’t get hung-up still thinking there are laws. It’s everyone for themselves. The people fighting within the (now) fake Laws, matter very greatly. The people rejecting the (now) fake Laws, matter very greatly. We don’t know our future. It’s never been more uncertain. The time we live in is not a good time for people who need to know how things are supposed to work. But it’s a very good time for those who are whatever the opposite of “Sociopathy” are.
Exchanges in the US are already co-opted and their over eager KYC allows the USG to track coins that originate domestically and a weapon against self custodial uses of coins from exchanges. I think this is also is a way to bully offshore banks to not work with local Bitcoin exchanges. The complexity of if a tx does or does not fall afoul of these proposed rules will not be worth the risk of losing access to the US banking system. I still don't think most government regulators realize the peril the state (and their job) is in. These regulations are just the start of them waking up.
Next breathing air will be illegal. If RFK Jr. is elected as President, he'll put a stop to this bullshit in the USA. I'm pretty sure this is just the tip of the iceberg too, we just need to stand our ground.
MikeMonty's avatar
MikeMonty 2 years ago
So let’s start a campaign to help battered spouses escape their ordeals using these privacy coins and then accuse the fincen folks of wanting to hurt those individuals.
You mean like using any wallet that implements single use addresses (every wallet worth using) if this usage is deemed “unnatural”? “You’re only allowed to make transactions that we think you should be making”. 😂 image
With every action theres an equal opposite reaction. It goes back and forth. control-freedom-control-freedom and so on. #Bitcoin revolution
Exactly.... with every action there's an equal opposite reaction.
As long as crypto grifters like Sam Bankman-Fried exist, outlawing makes sense
Kaizen's avatar
Kaizen 2 years ago
I think we're barely beginning to scratch the surface of the "then they fight you" phase. We haven't sent nothing yet. These things take time.
Patriot act itself needs to be sunsetted (without even getting into the fraud of its development and implementation)
They just put a guy in jail for a meme. They don't care about the bill of rights anymore.
“I AM William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen, here, in defiance of tyranny. You’ve come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What will you do with that freedom? Will you fight?” – William Wallace View quoted note →
For basic necessities perhaps… even then is your local merchant or farmers market person gonna follow security protocol? Someone’s eventually gonna slip. It’s an easy programmatic hunt n kill for whatever gubment enforcement agency is deployed and it will most likely be private tech (see @Whitney Webb‘s recent article on Peter Thiels investments). They won’t even need to send an IRS agent. You’ll just get levy notice. We already know from the hearings the FBI is tracking all activity. This is easy policing especially in a CBDC existence. Outside of basic necessities, it gets even more hairy with other large asset purchases. I think there is a way to get ahead of it and it could be having a side pot with a trusted Custodian aligned in worldview (Strike or KingdomTrust perhaps) who has the resources to navigate the nonsense. Still, I feel like there are other solutions and financial instruments that could be created now so folks can continue to self custody and operate biz as usual in such an environment. Those with fatter stacks will be faced with getting a second passport in a more friendly jurisdiction (ElSalvador still has extradition) and leave the country till the dust settles and the BTC phoenix arises OR make offshore investments and repatriate back to the US for operating dough. When BTC goes to 1mm demand will create the way, but why not get ahead of it now? Anyone who is a student of history knows the mob will go to extremes to protect their hegemony. The small BTC holders are gonna cave under that pressure without options…meanwhile they seem content to go on meme-ing rather than game this stuff out together. We don’t win the monetary war that way. Doesn’t matter how good we are at homesteading and living in a blackmarket existence…which I’m all for by the way. Help me think through this.
Just realise when you want to buy stuff with the coins they force you to kyc source of funds. Except when there will be a time we can settle in btc of course. Patience is the key.
But @Lyn Alden it's for our protection, how else would we be able to live safely/securely if the government & its cornucopia of unelected bureaucratic stooges didn't save us from ourselves
You've been had, buddy. Don't worry, all of us have been there at some point. Don't hope, just Hoppe.
Ok, but this is exactly the scenario Monero was built for. "We're banning invisibility cloaks. We better not catch anyone using an invisibility cloak!" Same energy
>opt-in privacy solution 1% of bitcoiners use correctly >Already small liquidity is split between multiple protocols >degrades over time "Lol. Anonymity sets."
At least try making your FUD somewhat believable by learning how it works. You can't choose what transactions you are decoys for. That would also have zero effect on Monero's hidden amounts and receivers.
The point wasn't that they were choosing specific transactions, but that they were such a high percentage of the whole network that it resulted in that. The extent to which that participation was useful in undermining the network was undetermined.
share this with your representatives in the most persuasive manner. This among other things slowly attacks and reduces ways to flee tyrannical governments. The legal fight / stance is important.
marcvs's avatar
marcvs 2 years ago
Let's face it, if one day any government decides that crypto is illegal, there won’t be absolutely nothing we can do about it. For the moment, the crypto movement is tolerated, but if the feeling of mistrust towards a state, a currency or an institution grows, the tide may turn, and not necessarily in the right direction. It's the "anarchist" side of this ecosystem that displeases institutions, and that's damaging for the BTC project.
Took a listen to that book today. At first glance Im not sure that this dude's values would align with my priorities of being intentional about community, family, church, etc. However, I appreciated the escape hatch ideas. Im more interested with how to create financial instruments and/or align with larger financial institutions who are aligned in worldview with the aim of creating solutions to navigate the seemingly inevitable events to come so we can stay put and fight the good fight. @GulagBound and nostr:npub1zleyq5x90ssge0mjf0fquy5dd0n0z3tytqtfddzvgvh0j54e8k2sxypppaseems to be of the same mind.