The Karenisation of the EU is nothing new; they’ve shown signs of Bitcoin derangement syndrome for some time and are still firmly in the fight-you stage. If they’re not attempting to ban mining in the region, it’s trying to discourage using self-hosted wallets.

And you know what? You love to see them try. It’s good for them to give it their best shot and fail so publicly because it shows how robust Bitcoin is.

Bitcoin always needs an enemy to test its resolve.

There’s no value in censorship resistance and seizure resistance if there isn’t an entity with a monopoly on violence wanting to force its rules down your throat.

While the mining ban and unhosted wallets have gone quiet, the EU has been working on a ban on coin mixing for some time. Under this bill Bitcoin and crypto transfers under €1,000, service providers need to perform basic KYC to identify their users.

While transactions are higher than €1,000, customer due diligence measures apply, which means longer-term tracking of user behaviour and identity on top of KYC.

The bill also bans tools that enable anonymity. That includes listing tokens like Monero or Zcash, only showing how weak a case for privacy on the base layer becomes.

All it does is dry up your liquidity avenues and demand for your coin, driving number go down technology further discouraging use. At least with Bitcoin, you can still grow your on-ramps and user numbers, which can only benefit privacy protocols built on top of it.

There’s no point in having a privacy coin; your choke point is that no one wants to accept it. Despite these obvious shortcomings, privacy coin bros will continue to ignore it and hold it to zero, and you know what?

I find it admirable that you’re willing to go down with the ship.

...read more at thebitcoinmanual.com