Written by Richard Greaser
In a bazar move, the FBI put out a PSA threatening Bitcoiners to comply by stopping to use Bitcoin. This has sparked protests through the Bitcoin industry from individuals and companies, "vowing to no longer follow local laws that they deemed immoral and morally depraved."
Different industry leaders from what were priorly fully compliant Bitcoin only companies, banded together to denounce the FBI. Jack Mallers went onto CNBC to address this by saying, "Prior to the FBI attacking the industry as a whole, as well as arresting software developers, Strike had been the most compliant Bitcoin company in the world. We had more licenses to transmit money, than even Coinbase. Why should we comply, if it doesn't get us anywhere. We are disrupting the world and Jamie Dimon doesn't like it."
It would seem that Bitcoin businesses now have the choice to either comply and shut their doors, or refuse to comply and continue to operate. In many ways this is reminiscent of the 2020 lockdowns which devastated so many small compliant businesses.
The FBI is now faced with either successfully destroying much of the Bitcoin economy in the United States, or a critical mass of organizations defying them, threatening the fabric of government legitimacy in the eyes of Bitcoiners and the American public.
This is a scary time in the United States, where many had thought that compliance meant safety. This is leaving many puzzled after seeing many positive press releases, as well as "BREAKING Tweet" reported positive legislation announcements by various Bitcoin lobbyist groups.
What this means for companies that complied with intelligence agencies, likely as results of threats of violence, to wash illicit funds for them, is unknown. For businesses who offer services to "the company," will they be allowed to continue operation? The Biden administration through the Department of Justice has completely redefined compliance in the same way they have redefined the definitions of inflation and recession.