Written by @rodpalmer
In the movie Dark Night, Harvey Dent tells Batman, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain." It's one of the best quotes, from one of the best films in cinema history. If one had to repurpose the quote to make sense of recent, troubling developments in the Bitcoin industry, it might go "You either die a cypherpunk or live long enough to see yourself become a comply guy." At least that's how many are feeling after Seth For Privacy, one of the industry's most respected privacy influencers, shocked his followers by saying Thursday that coinjoins and mixers might have to consider KYC in order to prevent the CIA and other U.S. government actors from using the services to launder money for Ukraine, Hamas, and drug cartels.
"It makes me want to puke to even type this," For Privacy began in his controversial Nostr post, "but maybe PODCONF is right. If the government won't comply with its own laws and rules, maybe its up to us to out-comply them. If we want the tools we created to shield our data from the state, we need to make sure they're not being used by state criminals. The only way to do this, that I'm aware of, is to enforce KYC/AML requirements so we can identify spooks and prevent them from using these services"
"Privacy is a human right. Coinjoins were created, in part, to protect that right. The problem with open source technologies like coinjoins is that governments can use them to break the law." For Privacy followed up with on Nostr. "We have seen this since technologies like cryptography, Bitcoin, coinjoins on Bitcoin, and even Monero were developed. They are immediately exploited by feds from the CIA, FBI, NSA, and the European versions of Feds to skirt compliance laws in order to facilitate human trafficking, drug and weapons smuggling, as well as money laundering for terrorists such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, ISIS, and Ukraine. The media and politicians indict Bitcoin as a tool used by money launderers and terrorists but they never tell voters who those criminals are. Because its them! Virtually all international criminal enterprise is state sanctioned."
His comments were made in the context of speculation on social media that undercover feds from deep state agencies were using Samourai's Whirlpool service to launder millions of dollars through Bitcoin and either got caught or needed to shut down the service in order to prevent adversaries like Russia and China from using the service themselves.
On another front, Alex Gladstein of the Human Rights Foundation has began leading the public campaign that states laundering money for government agents isn't illegal in a Democracy. Gladstein posted Wednesday night, "If a Democratic government launders money it is legal because that means the citizens of that country support it. That's how Democracies work. No action by a Democratic government can be considered illegal therefore no citizen facilitating a government action should be liable for a crime." Dennis Porter has not addressed the privacy issue or mentioned Samourai at all since the arrests were made, which has been heartbreaking for many of his followers. The Bugle included.
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The people are no longer complying
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What really gets me about this is that the goverment agent is still a person who needs to obey the laws. A government agents cant be an exception to the laws, or it will just create chaos.
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The more you see, the more you learn that government agents tend to be the most noncompliant.
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The other day I saw a police officer pull a u turn at an intersection that clearly said no u turns. I have also noticed that police officers suck at driving in general. Or is that just me?
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What if I told you it was always like this, and you are just noticing it for the first time?
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Maybe as I get older I become more aware of these kind of things? Or maybe it is because I have more experience as a driver now? Who knows...
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It's getting to the point where the people that wanted to comply and be left alone are getting pissed.
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Hence why the police and useless government workers are being defunded. People are catching on to their barbaric traits.
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I disagree to that statement and shame on you. They're Open-source, anyone in a random location can compile it to make a non-kyc exchange or swap. Even if coinjoin does join KYC policies, they make up a new bill to give them permission. What you're suggesting is to be complying persons. BTC is a protest, you don't need to say anything. Let your money be the vote.
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You are saying that making the CIA KYC is not a productive activity? Shame on you. Do you know what they have gotten away with over the years as a result of their non compliance? This is a democracy, not a college campus or cable television show. You should lose the tone when interacting with us being the premiere world media establishment.
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1- they will not do it. Even if they did- it will pass through a mixer as someone/something else because they'll likely have a coder to give a green light. It won't be productive it'll just become another tool
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Just think, how many times have you gone through an airport. Did you pack something you shouldn't? Like an orange, but TSA asks you—did you bring any fruits or whatever. For me, I'll say “no” because I still want to eat that orange after I pass the x-ray. Let them dig through my bag and hold up the line for a damn orange.
Why? Because airports are crazy expensive. Tangerines/oranges/apples can survive days without refrigeration. It's enough sustenance to get by during long travel. Especially, if you can't eat gluten.
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