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70 sats \ 8 replies \ @TheBTCManual 15 Dec 2023 \ on: Alby custodial LN goes invite-only for new users 🚨 bitcoin
I guess it is ass-covering time before you get labeled a money services business and have to face regulators, uncle jim nodes are going to be making a comeback now that the two biggest custodial zap wallets are cut off by the knees
I wonder what this increased hostility towards Bitcoin will mean for the future of apps like Fountain, Stacker News, Nostr, Wavlake, etc. Are they going to be forced to withdraw from the US or at least block lightning from US users to avoid regulation? Will the government apply pressure to Google and Apple to remove all “crypto” related apps from their app stores?
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We don't yet know, but it could be apps would be limited in the amount of funds they can hold before they need to be regulated, who knows what the cap would be?
Maybe they could look at workarounds like eCash mints where the company is blinded to funds or allow users to connect their own LSP instead of hosting wallets for users, which is a ballache and adds more friction, which might even kill these apps
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SN and Fountain could always become hidden Tor services, no?
To what degree Apple and Google suck the government's dicks shouldn't really have an effect on our freedom (and arguably on Bitcoin adoption). If it matters what they do, all it means is our tech (or our use of it) is not robust enough and needs more work.
If we're relying on the government and the Big Tech only screwing and robbing us moderately, we're doing it wrong, because it's a very fragile and disequilibrious thing to rely on.
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I'm 100% with you there, if its not resistant to attack its larping bitcoin
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You can still sideload WoS in the US, as long as your phone doesn't come from the digital prison known as Apple.
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Doesn't really help WoS, if they get caught serving US customers no? Kinda the reason all those exchanges thought having a .us domain would help but they got fined and fucked eventually
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Would such a fine be enforceable if WoS is based in Australia?
Exchanges had local bank accounts, so they had to operate within the compliant economy.
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No clue, but as far as I know Kucoin, Bittrex and Binance weren't based in the US and they got whacked, I'm just going on that precedent
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