I am currently of the opinion that it is likely impossible to separate money from state. I got into Bitcoin for just that. I was so hopeful and excited by early Bitcoiners who understood the mission. Now however its just a fog of KYC on and off ramps and influencers talking about stablecoins, ETFs, and Saylor. None of these allow me to pay for all my goods and services privately without permission. Yes I can do it a few niche shops or buy gift cards, but those will soon be shut down by governments, or stop due to lack of activity.
Don't fool yourself into thinking we've backdoored the government and will just use bitcoin as collateral and spend their fiat. Every conversion will soon come with requirements to prove a spotless KYC history before that is allowed. A default freeze of funds will be waiting until the risk departments at these regulated intermediaries are happy.
We've just recreated banks. Congrats.
Increased taxes will likely follow even if people do use Bitcoin as a currency hedge, effectively eliminating the nominal fiat gains.
I think Governments will never give up the power of the printer, and jail anyone who tries. Its the ultimate power to control the money. Its the ring that cannot be held or resisted.
I imagine BTC has a few years of hype gains, but the glory days are behind it. We missed our window to separate money from state. It will likely trade as a speculative token in the few thousand dollar range, but be nothing more.
A few of us will remain in the shadows trying, hoping it springs back to life. Hoping strong men and women with principles show up again
I say all of this hoping I am 100% wrong. I want people to post this 10 yrs from now laughing at me while they buy homes, coffees, clothes, fuel directly via lighting without asking permission. No intermediaries demanding ids.
Going through Tether and Banks, Coinbase.etc to spend your Bitcoin will neuter Bitcoin. If it is not spent directly via lighting, ultimately all payments will require KYC and a 'clean transaction history' and a default freeze of funds before they can be converted and spent. Likely a tax form along the way. Every payment you make will get harder and harder until you are basically using Zelle again.
Pardon me for oversimplifying, but aren’t time-lock withdrawals the easiest answer to exchange hacks?
Because you left the Gold Standard and started printing money to infinity causing endless inflation.
Because you idiots keep printing money causing asset prices to go up. You are the reason he is rich outside of normal market forces. Stop printing money and his asset prices stop increasing constantly unless his companies provide more value. It’s the governments fault.
AsyncN8 retweeted
FRANCE JUST VOTED TO TAX YOU FOR SWAPPING BITCOIN INTO A STABLECOIN.
Not cashing out. Swapping.
Today in France you pay tax when you sell crypto for euros. Trade it for a stablecoin and nothing is due.
Amendment I-3898 changes that from 1 January 2027. Swap into a regulated stablecoin and the gain is taxed at 31.4%. On the day you swap, whether you ever touch a euro or not.
It passed last Friday, 38 votes to 37. The Assembly has 577 deputies. 100 showed up. The government opposed it. It passed anyway.
Now look at what else deputies have put into the same budget.
Declare any self-custody wallet worth €100,000 or more, or face fines of up to €10,000. One version wants the threshold at €5,000.
An exit tax on unrealised crypto gains above €800,000 if you move your tax home out of France. Coins on foreign exchanges and in your own wallet included.
First they tax the trade. Then they list the wallet. Then they tax you for leaving.
And it isn't just France.
Since January, DAC8 has every crypto exchange in the EU collecting your details for the tax office.
From July 2027, EU exchanges can't touch privacy coins, and cash payments over €10,000 are banned across the EU.
Europe isn't regulating crypto. It's mapping your wealth before it decides how much to take.
None of the French measures are law yet. The full budget vote is 17 November, then the Senate.
But the people who do well in Europe now are the ones who planned their exit before they needed it. A second passport. A second residency. Keys only they hold.
Does it not bother the Bitcoiners that the protocol is completely exposed to a minor activated soft fork? AntPool and Foundry can do whatever they want? And they answer to the governments. What am I getting wrong?
Separation of Money and state fixes this.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reviewed nine of the nation’s largest banks and found all nine had policies that required, encouraged, or influenced staff to deny or limit service based on customers’ political or religious beliefs or lawful business activity.
Debanking people for their political beliefs is a threat to every American’s liberty.
Social Security. You are forced at threat of imprisonment to pay into a fund that has a negative rate of return. When you die, your family gets none of it, even if you've never been paid. That money in any other asset would appreciate in value and go to your kids upon your death.
All the influencers preparing their version of history and how they actually supported Matt all along. Get ready for it. We have the receipts.
Bloomberg is hot on the trail of Adam Back, Blockstream, and Samson Mow. I think all 3 are history (and not in the good way)
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The companies can't say it publicly, so I will: SARB's goal is to make it illegal to transact in anything but the Rand. Control over money = control over people. For the first time, tech exists that threatens that control. @PRDG_ZA @VALRdotcom @LunoGlobal @MoneyBadgerPay
There is ZERO Benefit of the Clarity Act you fools! Stable Coin Yield Removed. Developer Protections Removed. It was all a TRICK so you idots would hand over financial freedom to a corrupt government who has LEGAL PERMISSION TO ATTACK BITCOINERS AND LIGHTNING DEVs. IF IT PASSES.
TOLD YA
The updated CLARITY Act moved BRCA protections to civil only. The criminal safe harbor is gone.
Previous drafts explicitly shielded non-custodial developers from prosecution under Section 1960, the federal statute used to go after unlicensed money transmitters.
The September 10 text said qualifying developers "shall not be treated as engaged in money transmitting" under that criminal statute.
The new text drops all references to 1960. What remains is a civil safe harbor tied to BSA registration requirements. The sponsors' own summary describes the change plainly. Democratic edits "restrict developer protections to civil only."
A developer deciding whether to contribute to a wallet or privacy project needs to know where the line is. A civil safe harbor that leaves the criminal question open isn't clarity. It's the same ambiguity that's been pushing builders out of the country.
The Senate votes on cloture tomorrow. Hopefully the push to get this across the finish line leaves room to get developer protections right.
REMEMBER I SAID THIS. CLARITY WILL REMOVE DEVELOPER PROTECTIONS. I CALLED IT. They have no intention if letting DEFI or Peer to Peer transactions occur. They will go after and jail all lightning service providers if the Clarity Act passes.
For those of you rooting for passage of the #clarity act. 1 - Bitcoin doesn’t need it. 2 - If it passes, it will likely pass with a last minute rug pull removal of Developer Protections. Thats what they need to prosecute open source devs and go after lightning node runners.
AsyncN8 retweeted
We are all criminals now. medium.com/@carel/were-all-c… (2021)
