Bitcoin was the best attempt to separate money and state.
I’m not so convinced it will succeed though.
It looks like it’s being captured from all sides.
Only time will tell I guess.
It might kill the money printer over a long enough time period.
Let’s see
Thinking about the Trump thing.
If it would have been some serious actor like the deep state, banks or other such entities, the attempt wouldn’t have failed. He’d be dead.
Just saying.
Even if it could have been planned exactly as it played out, what would be the benefit for deep state etc.? This is going to give him more votes most likely, isn’t it?
Update to my recent post about @strike
After my recent post about my rather bad experience with Strike, Jack Mallers responded again, and this time it seems he really looked into the issue.
Strike Customer Service wrote:
Hi *******,
Thank you for sharing your experience with Strike and bringing various inefficiencies in our processes to our attention.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you experienced and the poor communication you received from us while we worked through your case.
After a thorough review, we have reinstated your account. Additionally, we have provided you with a ₮50 credit as a token of our appreciation for your patience and feedback. We will use your insights to audit and improve our processes to ensure a better experience for you and other bitcoiners in the future.
If you have any further questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
The Strike Team
I'm not sure what to think about that. Yes, it's nice that Jack really did something about it now. Thank you, @jack mallers
But three things:
First, it took two posts on Nostr and several weeks to resolve this issue. I guess I have to thank the people who shared the post and complained about the treatment I received.
Secondly, they didn't answer my question about what I did wrong. How can I avoid getting flagged again when I don't know why I got flagged? Well, I guess I didn't do anything wrong. At least I can't think of anything. But if I didn't, then how can I trust Strike (a custodial service) that this isn’t going to happen again? What if next time I have more trouble getting my Bitcoin back from the service? This time that wasn’t the issue—they let me withdraw after a few days—but I've read about cases where people had to wait for weeks and months to access their money.
Thirdly, it feels a bit as if Strike is trying to buy me. Okay, $50 as an apology seems nice, and it’s probably the only thing they can do to show that they really mean it, but it feels a bit off to me. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. Anyway, I might use it to orange pill other people.
So, I'm not really sure if I can continue to use the service of Strike. I really want to because the app is pretty cool. They created a good product that makes it easy to do most things related to Bitcoin. I still have an issue connecting my bank account to the app, and I’ll try to figure that out with customer service. If they can help, maybe I’ll give it a second chance.
For a long time I wanted to get off social media altogether. First, and this is probably 10 years ago, I quit Facebook.
Then shortly after that I quit Instagram. And since WhatsApp is part of Meta, I quit it too.
So at that point it was just Twitter. That was two years ago. Twitter was actually the hardest one to quit because it's a place where people treat each other badly and it's kind of addictive. But it was also a burden on my soul.
Then Nostr came along and more than a year ago I decided to quit toxic Twitter.
I've only been on Nostr ever since. It lacks a lot of the good things about Twitter, but it also lacks most of the toxicity.
But the problem of doom scrolling wasn’t solved yet.
So two weeks ago I decided to limit the amount of time I spend on Nostr every day.
I decided that 10 minutes a day would be enough. And it is.
I don't waste time scrolling anymore. Even if I do, after 10 minutes it's over.
Effect?
When I go to Nostr, I check notifications and reply to comments. Much more effective and less time on my phone.
Ps: I did the last step because I have a daughter and I found myself on the phone too much in front of her. It solved the problem to a large extent.
https://m.primal.net/JETF.jpg
My Experience with @strike
**TL;DR Strike is garbage.**
I started using Strike in the middle of March this year.
My first impression was that it was a great app. It had Lightning integrated, on-chain withdrawals were free, and the setup was pretty easy, even though I had to do a full KYC. After all, they are regulated and that is to be expected.
I began using Strike to send and receive BTC and buy gift cards directly within the app. I was pretty amazed at how easy everything worked. I loved the app. I even recommended it as an onboarding app for pre-coiner friends. Well, not anymore.
One day in May, about two months later, I wanted to send some BTC to an exchange or buy a gift card (which was basically all I did with the app in those previous two months). However, the app denied access to my BTC. All I got was a cartoon lightning bolt saying, “We need to review your account. Contact support.”
At first, I was shocked. I didn't have my life savings in the app, but it wasn’t a trivial amount of sats either. So, there it was, right in my face for the first time: Not your keys, not your coins. I got angry with myself and with Strike too.
I contacted support.
Support wrote that to comply with regulations, they needed additional information (remember, I already did full KYC), like a pay stub, signed employee agreement, or tax statement.
This was my response:
Hey, the Bitcoin with which I funded my Strike account are savings from the past. I don't work currently, and I also have no tax statement because I just moved to Brazil last year. What exactly is the problem? I didn't do anything illegal or wrong. I expect this issue to be resolved immediately or you will lose a customer. I already regret using your service. I'm very disappointed.
Yeah, I was really pissed because I couldn’t access my sats. They locked me out. Just like that.
Strike answered:
Dear User,
Upon careful review, we have determined that your account has engaged in prohibited use. We regret to inform you that we can no longer provide you with access to our service.
At this time, your account has been permanently disabled. Please withdraw all remaining assets from your account within one week from receiving this message, and confirm with us when the withdrawal has been completed. After this timeframe, the account will be closed permanently. Please be advised that this decision is final.
Best regards,
The Strike Team
Okay… So now Strike accused me of “prohibited use” of their app.
I asked them to be kind and specify what prohibited use I engaged in. Because obviously, I don’t want to get in trouble or do anything illegal.
Their answer:
This decision is based on an assessment of different qualifications. Our customer support team can only confirm that we sent this message and assist with technical issues only. Support cannot reverse this decision, nor can they share any more details related to this matter.
Thank you for that great answer. I can really see you care about your customers and their experience. But I guess at that point, I wasn’t their customer anymore anyway.
Still, I sent them another message and asked who I could talk to. If there was anybody who could clarify what I did wrong. Remember, all I did was send and receive BTC and buy gift cards.
Their answer? Well, they never answered again. Just like that. That was it.
After this beautiful experience, I posted about it on Nostr.
And guess what? @jack mallers answered.
Woohooo!
He said I should send him a DM and he would happily look into the issue.
Cool! Now that’s what I call customer service.
So, I did. No answer.
I sent him another one. Again, no answer.
I sent another one or two. Still no answer.
This was 5 weeks ago.
I guess he is very busy.
What a joke Strike is.
Yeah, that is the big question. I would like to know the answer. My best guess is that the sats I sent there were coinjoined. That would also explain why they don't want to answer because they wouldn't look like the cool Bitcoin app anymore but rather like a subservient fiat whore. But who knows. Maybe it was something different.
1. Coinjoined or not. Until today there is no law that I am aware of that makes it illegal send coinjoined sats to an exchange. At least not in Brazil where I am. I‘m doing the same with more volume for a much longer time with Binance and never had a problem.
2. I guess when he answers to my post he sees my DM too, right? I‘m paying for nostr wine and I guess he is too.
Oh, and I didn’t lose any sats. As they said I had to withdraw the rest which I did. I’m bothered by the treatment as a criminal without explanation.
Yeah, I get that. But in Brazil, you can convert about $7,000 per month from Bitcoin to fiat without paying tax and without even informing the Ministry of Finance. I was below that limit. And as far as I know, there is no law yet that makes coinjoins illegal. So, I don’t see the regulatory risk they were taking; hence why I asked. And not answering my question about it is just not cool.
Jack positions his company as the "cool Bitcoin company," whereas in reality, it looks like they are proactively compliant cowards.
I was using Strike for two months already when this happened. I‘ve sent Bitcoin there from cold storage (conjoined), I‘ve sent from the app to Binance and I’ve bought gift cards.
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