Since we're all busy celebrating that Ross will be free Day One, did you know that the US Government is using Ross' conviction to go after Tornado Cash?

In the Tornado Cash case, the government directly cites the Silk Road prosecution, arguing that neither Ross, nor Roman Storm, needed to have conspired with the users of their software to be held accountable for the crimes they committed.

The Government calls Storm's and Ulbricht's cases "analogous" – and its the same argument applied to convict Roman Sterlingov.

Unless Ross' conviction is overturned, anyone developing software that the Government doesn't like is fair game.

The dangerous precedent his conviction set will continue to be used to be used by the US Government to overstep its boundaries and hold software developers accountable for crimes they did not commit.

Ross Ulbricht should never have been in prison. And neither should others prosecuted under the same flawed argumentation.

Freeing Ross is not enough. Overturn US v. Ulbricht day one.

https://m.primal.net/MCRz.png


Oh man thank you! Means a lot! ✊🏽


Your silence will not protect you.

Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals, 1980

nostr:note1d6ejca9pz2hhykdg08qaeamumvn2rgkn2m6f9x495dplzr7jp7fqkmemua


If you don‘t collect data on false positives, you can‘t tell if it was a false positive - follow me for more engineering advice


peculiar as in i am very tired pls dont ask confusing questions


Unfortunately the answer to that question seems to be overwhelmingly yes.


Roman Sterlingov, the alleged operator of the Bitcoin mixer Bitcoin Fog, has just been sentenced to 12.5 years in prison.

The government is now seizing the little Bitcoin he has left (hint hint that's how your strategic bitcoin reserve gets built), while the Billions of Dollars he allegedly made operating Bitcoin Fog continue to remain unaccounted for.

Here's a primer on the wild story of his prosecution and why it shook the chain analysis space – full story coming when more info on the sentencing is available.

https://m.primal.net/LxGX.png
https://www.therage.co/bitcoin-fog-sentencing/


This is the energy I am here for


Yeah I redirected it to my btcpay server and now the zappers are all borked 🫠  Will try to fix over the weekend!


Keep fighting.

https://m.primal.net/LxDO.png


Copy/Pasting this conversation here since it seems important to understand how exactly a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will be financed.

Bailey points out that Lummis' Bill notes that nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize the gov to seize, confiscate, or otherwise impair any property right in the >>>lawfully acquired Bitcoin holdings<<< of any person.

To Lummis, as she lays out in both her amendment to the 24 NDAA and the Responsible Financial Innovation Act I cited in my previous post, lawfully acquired Bitcoin holdings are Bitcoin acquired in adherence to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws and IRS compliance.

Lummis' Bill does not need to authorize the confiscation of Bitcoin as the confiscation of Bitcoin is governed just like the confiscation of any other asset, namely forfeiture law. This is how the government has acquired the Bitcoin it already owns.

Lummis' NDAA amendment plus her introduced Responsible Financial Innovation Act will greatly expand the Bitcoin the government is able to seize by increasing KYC/AML/OFAC requirements, codifying IRS compliance, and outlawing privacy, i.e. "combating anonymous crypto asset transactions."

Bailey also points out that Lummis plans to finance the reserve with the Fed's surplus fund. But the Fed's surplus fund only generates a surplus when the Fed buys securities. When the Fed buys securities, it expands the money supply. When the Fed expands the money supply, it increases inflation. When inflation increases, purchasing power sinks, resulting in an involuntary tax.

The secret ingredient to the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve continues to be ✨stealing✨.

https://m.primal.net/LxAK.png https://m.primal.net/LxAM.png


Banger


Glad to see that the incelverse is alive and well on Nostr too.

nostr:note17509xxxqd3m0c2j56pqv8g6gpu5cfnkrjaj2nud4z2m2v9hrwc4qpkakhd


Okay mate


Have you met the US Government


Hate to be the one to shit on the Parade, but a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve *will* be built through confiscation and taxation.

Here's Senator Cynthia Lummis already hard at work to make it happen:

Cynthia Lummis teamed up with Elizabeth Warren to propose the regulation of Bitcoin under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing laws to "combat anonymous crypto asset transactions".

Cynthia Lummis also re-introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act "inspired by Senator Warren", which introduces higher penalties for "crypto asset crimes", regulates "mixers and tumblers", and increases KYC requirements.

For the amount of time Bitcoiners have claimed to be of peculiar intelligence, you are all getting played *incredibly* hard right now.

https://m.primal.net/LwoC.jpg https://m.primal.net/LwoD.png


If you seriously believe that its possible to use any digital device anonymously in the face of the US Government you have clearly not been paying attention for the past 15 years.


Former presidential advisor Pippa Malmgren on the legalization of Bitcoin:

"If you make crypto and Bitcoin legal [...] you can't hold them anonymously, you have to declare them."

"You're not going to be able to escape the reach of the US Government. [...] And because we're in the data age, you can't have Bitcoin accounts that nobody knows about."

"It's on your phone, its detectable, and again, we've got a government now full of tech bros that know how to read your digital twin incredibly easily."

Legalization always has been a Trojan Horse for censorship.

https://m.primal.net/Lwlz.mov


More miners chiming in on censorship.

If we want Bitcoin to remain a tool for freedom of transaction and humanity, IEEPA and the Bank Secrecy Act need to be abolished – or at the very least drastically reformed.

This is not the time to sit around and wait how things play out.

https://m.primal.net/Lwjc.png


GM
 https://i.nostr.build/tTfrkicADTs8rTks.jpg


Probably some SEC stuff but I dont find that particularly interesting


Same shit different bag


I wrote a whole fucking article on why miners should brace for the application of sanctions law under a Trump administration but the TLDR is you're all fucking retarded

https://www.therage.co/trump-2025-sanctions-are-good-for-bitcoin-2/


Sure grandpa, let's get you to bed

https://m.primal.net/LuYv.png


Very bullish on the next four years making Bitcoin a fully compliant asset, congrats to everyone involved ✨

https://m.primal.net/LuVI.png


thank you! 🫡 ❤🔥


Governments take the security of your financial data very seriously. That's why they use email to send it around the internet. *squints*

https://m.primal.net/LocW.png


Never a dull day

https://m.primal.net/LoOG.jpg


Cool thank you!


How is everyone doing these gifs!!!


Write about miner centralization but make it punk 🤘

https://m.primal.net/LhlF.png


SCOOP: In an alert issued yesterday, FinCEN finds cryptocurrencies are not a preferred financing method for Hezbollah.

Who would have thought.

https://www.therage.co/fincen-alert-hezbollah-financing-cryptocurrencies/


its called state capitalism


The arguments made are very specific to Chainalysis' flagging, not to code per se. It's a damn smart defense unfortunately, just a shame that the judge let this fly as Anti-SLAPP laws are usually intended to protect journalists from billion dollar corporations.


I've heard that it might but needs further assessment


Just when you thought US courts couldn't be any more retarded, a New York Judge just dismissed the defamation suit against Chainalysis because he says the software enjoys free speech protections.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/chainalysis-defamation-dismissed/


Apparently lol


lol i know right


🫡
https://m.primal.net/LZlD.jpg


The Rage needs a social media person. Has to strike the right balance between writing nasty punchlines and not getting sued. DM me on Matrix.


Yesterday was the first hearing in a defamation suit filed against Chainalysis for describing a crypto project as the second largest scam of 2022.

But Chainalysis did not argue that its statements are true. Instead, it argued that the suit was designed to prevent the firm from public participation, seeking a dismissal on NY Anti-SLAPP laws – designed to protect free speech.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/chainalysis-defamation-lawsuit-yieldnodes/


Lol


So the  nostr:npub18mmgvu4457x8yrsr3djhhnfp8uhp5swj6fed6jyrd3cpu0vwfcfs3mwg7n has managed to sign up to fucking NOSTR but still can't manage to build a fucking website that works. What a time to be alive
nostr:note1tjlhrf00ksmd8hmdyexagjj9hht5x3e45gvu9yr7kz0064v9hc4skur9c2


TD Bank's plea is an interesting read for anyone who believes that justice has been served in the US banking industry.

If its “historic fine” tells us anything, it's that that crime pays when you're a banker.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/untitled-2/


Last month, we followed up with the NCA on its extraordinary claims deeming crypto & E2EE a risk to UK national security - but the NCA continues to refuse to corroborate its claims.

Today we reported the NCA to the Information Commissioner‘s Office for violating the UK Freedom of Information Act. With Freddie New & Bitcoin Policy UK

https://m.primal.net/LWiu.png https://m.primal.net/LWiy.png
https://www.therage.co/uk-nca-national-risk-assessment-2024/


Well, in this case x wasn't judged at all, it was negotiated. Sentencing in the US is based on guidelines that score crimes between 1-43 so that everyone *should* get around the same amount of time for the same crimes; the more severe the crime, the higher the score and the higher the sentence.

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/about/overview/Overview_Federal_Sentencing_Guidelines.pdf


You mean facing decades in prison  vs paying a fine? Idk seems hard to tell. But the fine is def „historic“. Publishing a write up tomorrow.


SOUS LES PAVÉS, LA RAGE https://image.nostr.build/54d81f6e8d2a7ecdb6206e87952133bb98ad80eaf5c0e65d2d45d308b61ac3a9.jpg


Code is speech. Privacy is not a crime. nostr:note1ym4su6uwnf24s80lf2ua5lyv394vlj96avlh9k30ev3raa9e0epq04djxt


*screams in white supremacy*


yes, thank you!


Mh no should be fine on my end


*screams in Lightning*


Imagine two Klu Klux Klan white nationalists had access to your personally identifiable information for a "private investigation", handed to them on a silver platter by the government's financial surveillance database.

That's exactly what happened in Tennessee, and why the Bank Secrecy Act needs to be abolished.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/finchem-fincen-tennessee-bank-data/


"Of all of the types of speech to consider [...], Storm’s Tornado Cash software actually seems the most likely to advance the values served by the First Amendment."

Updated article to include CoinCenter's analysis of Judge Failla's opinion to deny the dismissal of the Tornado Cash case:

https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-code-not-speech-non-custodial-msbs-knowledge-not-required/


Shitting on a person for not knowing the time and place to complain about their shitcoin is a very different thing from shitting on a currency I use myself. Your inability to understand the difference unfortunately doesn't give me much hope for your community.


Are you losing your mind and business to the US’ regulation by enforcement approach?

The WEF is here to tell you not to worry. In its new report on digital asset regulation, it has found that industry players see the US’ “tough approach” a “positive for the industry”.

It also finds that the EU’s reserve requirements for stablecoins are too strict, and that we should all be using digital identities and the blockchain for AML/KYC.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/wef-crypto-regulation-report/


Now Hitlary Clingon wants to get rid of Section 230. Trump tried to get rid of Section 230 for much of his last presidency.

“We should be in my view, repealing something called Section 230, which gave platforms on the internet immunity … Whether it‘s Facebook or Twitter or X or Instagram, or TikTok, whatever they are, if they don‘t moderate & monitor the content we lose total control,” says Clinton.

Section 230 of the1996 Communications Decency Act is "a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity," says Trump.

They're the same picture.

https://m.primal.net/LMyT.mp4
https://m.primal.net/LMyU.png


I like your thinking. Very good question.


I read the just introduced Saving Privacy Act so you don't have to, and it's pretty fucking badass. If passed, it would completely reform financial privacy in the US.

The Bill removes SARs and CTRs filing requirements, makes financial information only accessible via a search warrant, specifically introduces fourth amendment protections, bans the creation of central databases holding personally identifiable information without the establishment of a dedicated law granting a US agency such right, bans the US Government from creating CBDCs, and introduces criminal penalties for any US official violating your financial privacy rights.

Yes, please.

https://m.primal.net/LLSl.png https://m.primal.net/LLSm.png https://m.primal.net/LLSn.png

https://www.therage.co/untitled/


The World Bank and the IMF have created a system
Of modern-day colonialism that make the people
Of the developing world poorer
And the multinational corporations richer
And take the power away from all of us
It's time to take back control of our lives
And tear apart these monuments to greed
And build our new world from the broken pieces

Leftöver Crack, Super Tuesday, 2004

https://m.primal.net/LLDD.mp4


i don't know how the data sharing takes place technically, but afaik there are only a few exceptions on which FIUs may refuse an information request. For the Israeli FIU that may be related to Israel's "investigation" of NSO.

The big question will be if Colombia's FIU was notified and who else knew since allegations that Pegasus was being used to spy on the opposition had been floating around since 2021 – if they knew and didn't flag it with the authorities that would be a pretty big deal. https://egmontgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Egmont-Group-of-Financial-Intelligence-Units-Principles-for-Information-Exchange-Between-Financial-Intelligence-Units.pdf


They may have sent requests to several FIUs, maybe Switzerland was the first (or only one) to respond. Whatever the connection is, hopefully more of Egmont's dirty laundry will get aired in the course of the investigation


I think my favorite part of this story ishttps://m.primal.net/LHut.png


When $5.5 Million in cash are flown into Israel on a private jet, declared at customs, and shortly after placed in an NSO Group bank account, Financial Intelligence Units may just forget to launch an investigation, or so the story goes.

Colombia has publicized a suspicious activity report obtained via the Financial Intelligence Unit of Switzerland, and is now investigating how much FIUs knew about the alleged sale of Pegasus Spyware to the Colombian Police under its former government.

Don't you try to go and spend your cash though. There's rules for us, and rules for them.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/colombia-investigates-financial-intelligence-unit-in-pegasus-scandal/


The Dutch government released a memo about their stance on #ChatControl

The cabinet is worried about the impact of these measures on fundamental rights, and is not convinced the new "compromise" fix that.

> ... the Cabinet believes that there is currently insufficient clarity about the impact of the proposed measures. The Cabinet's concerns about the protection of fundamental rights at stake, particularly in the area of privacy and the confidentiality of correspondence and telecommunications, and the security of the digital domain have not been sufficiently addressed at this time.

So that's good.

> The cabinet has therefore decided to refrain from taking a position and to actively make this known. The Netherlands will therefore be counted among the countries that do not support the general orientation.

This seems different to me than a no vote, which could be problematic? cc nostr:npub1j970xxntqmx8d986lpndhy2p0ccefczx8teahqvz4uwzt9x8p8zs7j50h9

There seem to be multiple shades of "no" in EU politics which is thoroughly confusing.

The memo goes into more detail about why they're not happy with the proposal:

> Only with regard to the detection of already known material can such an order be executed in a proportionate manner (via hashing technology). Because the government does not support measures that make end-to-end encryption impossible, the only way in which this order can be executed for end-to-end encrypted services is via client-side scanning. The previous government explicitly communicated with the House that it saw this as an option.

I've said before that I consider the previous Minster of Justice Yeşilgöz a threat to democracy and this confirms that.

The letter continues to explain the new administration initially wanted to continue this positive attitude towards client-side scanning. However it seems the intelligence service AIVD intervened:

> Last week, following a new advice from the AIVD, the position regarding the compromise proposal was reviewed. The AIVD warns that ‘introducing a scan application on every mobile phone with an associated infrastructure of management systems results in an extremely extensive and complex system. This complex system also has access to a large number of mobile devices and the personal data on them. This ultimately results in a situation in which the AIVD considers the risks to digital resilience to be too great.’

"digital resilience" is roughly defined as (different government website):

> the digital resilience of government, companies and social organisations. This concerns the ability to reduce risks to an acceptable level by means of a collection of measures to prevent cyber incidents and, when cyber incidents have occurred, to detect them, limit damage and make recovery easier

The memo continues:

> If a detection order is imposed on a service provider that uses end-to-end encryption, the AIVD estimates that detecting child pornography material through client-side scanning poses too great a security risk to the digital resilience of the Netherlands.

> What is clear is that the security risks mentioned by the AIVD with regard to client-side scanning mean that it is very questionable whether the infringement of fundamental rights can be justified, because with regard to this method there is no proportionate measure.

Quotes are Google translated. ht nostr:npub1xtmjmagwqqwcunas89zk8a0da6tkdp3dsw07g9jgvvrnwxrt3lqqrplxd5

https://berthub.eu/tkconv/get/2024D35955


Speaking to the Council of Europe, Julian Assange today highlighted the risk of European Arrest Warrants – a mechanism meant to target terrorism first used by Sweden to pursue a person for a traffic violation. A law that is targeted at minorities will soon be used against all.

The UN Cybercrime Convention is one of those laws that pose an immense danger to civil society, allowing any UN member state to obtain information on individuals from other UN member states under the guise of fighting cybercrime.

For your financial information, this means that any UN member country may request information on you overruling bank secrecy protections, so long the crime you are accused of is a also deemed a crime in the country requested to hand over your financial data.

Today, the convention is meant to be used to prosecute cybercriminals. Tomorrow, Israel may request the bank records of European citizens speaking out against its genocide.

The UN Cybercrime Convention is a threat to democracy and the supposed rule of law.

https://www.therage.co/un-cybercrime-convention-bank-secrecy/


Julian Assange addresses the Council of Europe
https://www.youtube.com/live/Mq85IZMeigc


Last year, 58 Congressmen sent a letter to Secretary Yellen asking for clarity on the scope of Hamas' cryptocurrency financing. But Secretary Yellen's response was never published.

Today, I filed a FOIA Request with the Department of Treasury for Yellen's response.

We already know that the dollar amounts published in the media were inaccurate and that cryptocurrencies are not a popular tool used by Hamas and the PIJ in their terror financing efforts.

Yellen's official response could still be instrumental in combating the current alarmist narrative that cryptocurrencies pose a threat to US national security to demand tighter regulation and increasingly unproportionate AML/CFT measures for the entire industry.

https://m.primal.net/LGph.png

Questions asked and link to the full letter:

https://m.primal.net/LGpm.jpg https://m.primal.net/LGpn.jpg  https://m.primal.net/LGpo.jpg
https://emmer.house.gov/_cache/files/3/d/3d43d8c0-a0a8-40ed-864d-059ba2b5a681/CBF7D1BC15D13A231C7270CDD161308D.te.pmc.fh.rt.letter.11.15.23.pdf


Sorry I'm not reading all of this


How ironic that the entirety of privacy tech is on the line and all you can think about is complaining that no one uses your dumb fucking shitcoin


You can donate #bitcoin to Roman Storm's defense.

The Tornado Cash trial will set dangerous precedents for the entire industry and greatly affect arguments made in the Samourai Wallet trial. Defending Roman means defending us all.

https://m.primal.net/LGRM.png
https://wewantjusticedao.org/donate


Simply saying a thing doesn’t make it true.

But that doesn’t mean they can’t put you in jail anyway.

https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-code-not-speech-non-custodial-msbs-knowledge-not-required/


That's a really smart comment because they totally chose to be charged by the DOJ


It's the weakest argument the judge made, and probably the last one you should be worried about.


Yesterday, Tornado Cash judge stated code is not speech, non-custodial software providers can be money transmitters, and specific knowledge of criminal activity is not required to be charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

A breakdown of all the arguments:

https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-code-not-speech-non-custodial-msbs-knowledge-not-required/


Tornado Cash judge says code isn't speech and control isn't needed to qualify as MSB. Article coming tomorrow. GN 🫂

https://m.primal.net/LDHC.png


Computer says no

https://m.primal.net/LDHC.png


Im pretty sure the SEC could call your mom a security if it wanted to, though there may be precedent with dropping the ETH investigation
https://consensys.io/blog/sec-closes-ethereum-2-0-investigation-will-not-pursue-ethereum-enforcement


Pretty sure the SEC is not going to care that the CFTC doesn't classify Bitcoin as a security when people start selling NFTs on Nostr
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/08/28/opensea-gets-wells-notice-from-sec-calling-nfts-sold-on-platform-securities/


Swan employees allegedly coordinating an epic takedown of Swan's mining operations coordinated via *checks notes* their Swan email accounts somehow has me skeptical of the criminal mastermind allegations

https://m.primal.net/LDEC.png


lol. true


Why do I get the feeling that you wont be telling the DOJ „nostr dgaf“ when they knock on your door


Gensler says he does not classify Bitcoin as a security (he apparently reiterated this today), but that doesn't mean that the next administration won't. It also doesn't keep devs working on comms protocols safe that people may use to negotiate trades. You know, like the one we're chatting on now.


I'll look forward to you telling that to the guys with guns coming to your house to pick you up, lmk how it goes


Faster than me 🫡


Tornado Cash? Needed a banking license. Samourai Wallet? Needed a banking license. WhatsApp, Apple, X, probably all need licenses too.

Sounds retarded? Correct. That's why the SEC has proposed a rule to formalize licensing requirements for communication protocols.

In a speech at the annual U.S. Treasury Market Conference, Gensler announced to rule on proposed amendments to the Exchange Act by November, which expand the definition of the term "exchange" to mean "systems that bring together buyers and sellers of securities [...] (i.e. "communication protocols")."

Critics argue the rule may be weaponized to criminally indict software developers given the already hostile environment for crypto- and privacy devs.

If this rule passes, we are fucked beyond comprehension.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/gensler-to-rule-on-licensing-requirements-for-communication-protocols-2/


Good morning, Keir Starmer wants to spy on your bank accounts

A bill proposed yesterday would enable the mass surveillance of financial transactions beyond AML/CTF regulations to "stop benefit fraud"

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/keir-starmer-wants-to-spy-on-your-bank-account/


Oh yeah def!


This looks super cool, thank you!


Can def be better, feel free to contribute https://github.com/L0laL33tz/PrivacyIndex


💚Say hello to Privacy Index: a guide of guides for all things digital privacy.💚

I started working on Privacy Index in the beginning of the year because I was frustrated by the one-fits-all solutions I was being sold by other privacy projects.

Privacy Index is the opposite: it's a resource for resources, so you can choose what tips, tools and tricks best fit your needs.

I would love for this project to grow and encompass all content others have found helpful on their own privacy journey – be it stories that inspired you, books that you read, tools that you use, or guides you found helpful – some of my favorite additions are highlighted below.

Privacy Index is by no means complete. But it's free and open source, so anyone can contribute on github. And the more people contribute, the better it will get 💚

s/o to @HRF
 for funding this work 🤝

http://privacyindex.net
https://m.primal.net/LBAV.jpg


Big shout out to the person who donated 1.7M sats to The Rage – donations like these are what make this work possible 🩷

Support independent journalism via our Geyser Fund so we can keep reporting on financial surveillance for you:
https://geyser.fund/project/therage


The Rage is looking for an intern to support research in US policy developments relevant to financial surveillance.

If you or someone you know want to break into investigative journalism, apply via jobs@therage.co 🩷

This is a limited position but may expand to a full position if funding allows. For the full job description, see
https://www.therage.co/jobs/


Good morning! Lots of talk yesterday about the German government's new security package enabling mass biometric surveillance & suspicionless searches.

But the proposed law also drastically expands the surveillance of bank accounts.

According to the proposed law, banks are to be alleviated of the suspension of accounts under investigation for AML/CTF violations, enabling the prolonged and undetected surveillance of bank accounts via the German federal police.

In 2023, the German FIU received 337,000 suspicious transaction reports, of which roughly 63,000 had little or nothing to do with AML/CTF violations.

Under the proposed law, close to 20% of accounts under investigation for AML/CTF violations would be subject to increased and unjust spying on their financial activities through police.

Full Story:
https://www.therage.co/german-government-plans-expansion-of-bank-account-surveillance/


GM, the German Government just flat out lied denying the use of chain analysis software.

In an answer to a inquiry made by MPs, the German Government denied the use of chain analysis software for asset seizures – but procurement records show contracts with Chainalysis for German federal agencies, which directly advertises its software for the use of asset seizures.

Questions on the use of mixers to conceal criminal activity were classified as secret citing risks to national security, while the Government responded that the German FIU and customs had received merely 27,000 reports regarding crytocurrency transactions on suspicion of money laundering between 2020-2024, compared to over 280,000 suspicious transaction reports overall in the year 2020 alone.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/german-interior-ministry-dodges-questions-on-chain-analysis-software-mixer-risks/


Four weeks ago, I sent the UK National Crime Agency a Freedom of Information Request to disclose the data used to deem crypto & E2EE a risk to national security. The request remains unanswered to this day.

Today I'm teaming up with Freddie New and Bitcoin Policy UK
 to remind the NCA of the law. Governments must be held accountable for their actions.

https://m.primal.net/Kvkd.png

nostr:note1xac74w8ypa6ww0vxlt4enh7h30m8cefark976x3se95cn40rhvrsusasnq


To be honest, maybe you should do some due diligence before running your mouth on social media.


Geyser is fully self-custodial. With governments going as far as attempting to criminalize the building of UIs (see Tornado Cash), this is not a question of self custody. Any project building software to interface with the Bitcoin network utilized to send money where governments don't want to see it is at risk.


First they came for Bitcoin projects funding aid in Palestine, and I did not speak out, because I was not Palestinian.


Geyser Fund has shut down the crowdfunding project Bitcoin for Palestine, citing regulatory uncertainty.

Let this be your reminder that you cannot code faster than the state can invoke arbitrary penalties. Permissionless money is under massive threat by the global AML regime. It's time to wake up.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/geyser-bitcoin-for-palestine/


Know any writers?

In partnership with RightsCon, Strange horizons + CompostMag - over the next 2 months, we're calling for short stories that speak to depictions of centralized surveillance tech.

More deets on Submissions/prompt  👉 (🔗 in bio).

Spread the word and let’s make some art that’s also resistance!https://image.nostr.build/a79d9eb650386ec2997e82934c6c937b5759e89e468b9def19859dfdc5f24e7a.jpg  https://image.nostr.build/4cebfac2804a832e7e98c4661b541008d6adf78819015b92813bccb1d4639e9e.jpg


BREAKING: Judge Richard M. Berman has denied a motion by Keonne Rodriguez to remove home detention as a condition of his bail ahead of his trial.

Government prosecutors presented the court with documents retrieved from Rodriguez' home detailing plans to flee the U.S. - though defense counsel pointed out that the document did not specify that the plans were meant to be enacted in response to law enforcement.


Updates from the Samourai Wallet hearing:

December 17th has been set for the hearing of pretrial motions.

Motions will include a defense motion to dismiss on the basis of what Hill's lawyer described as "extraordinarily unusual" facts of the case.

The defense plans to argue that even if all claims made in the initial indictment were true, they would not "meet the bar for the charge," and that "this is not how Congress intended the [money laundering] statutes to be used."

Prosecutors said they had seized 44 electronic devices from Rodriguez, but had only been able to access access and extract the contents of 15 of those devices. Of 27 devices seized from Hill, 25 have been accessed and extracted.

According to the Defense, the full contents of discovery, including business records and social media archives, amounted to as much data as 75% of the entire Library of Congress. If printed out and stacked, the documents would extend from Earth to the Moon and back, 22 times.

The court will resume shortly and hear arguments about the conditions of Rodriguez' bail.


Theres no stream for the hearing but well try to update here asap


On the way to court to cover the Samourai Wallet hearing starting at 1pm EST with David Z Morris. Watch this space for possible updates and a full report 👇


According to the US Government, all three of these services have violated sanctions law. One was just kindly asked to revise its AML program. The founders of the other are facing tens of years in prison. Spot the difference.

https://m.primal.net/Kptx.png


s/o to  nostr:npub1t8a7uumfmam38kal4xaakzyjccht4y5jxfs4cmlj0p768pxtwu8skh56yu


GM, the OCC has issued an enforcement action against Wells Fargo Bank for AML violations – no fines imposed.

When banks fail to implement efficient AML programs, they get a slap on the wrist – but when developers fail to implement efficient AML programs, they get charged as criminals. Let this be your reminder that there's one set of rules for them, and another set of rules for us.

https://m.primal.net/Kprf.png


Oh nice, thank you!


A Kraken spokesperson has issued a correction of statements made by Kraken Support attributing the halting of Lightning Network support for German clients to regulatory changes. Updated story 👇

https://m.primal.net/KpDP.png
https://www.therage.co/kraken-germany-lightning-support/


It's most likely their new banking provider doesnt want to deal with LN + their AI customer support chatbot pretending to be a person telling people that this is due to "new regulations" and "regulatory issues".

There's no EU regulation outlawing LN in effect (yet) that I'm aware of. MiCAR only affects tokens and the Travel Rule has been in effect since AMLD5. Reporting requirements are getting stricter with the AML6 package, but that's also not in effect yet. The EU has issued some reports mentioning LN, but none of that has been drafted into proposals yet.


Kraken Germany removed support for the Lightning Network due to "new regulations that came into effect on September 10th".

The only problem: German banking authority BaFin says it doesn't know anything about new regulations taking effect on that day.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/kraken-germany-lightning-support/


Land of the free!


On Sept 11th 1973, the democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA back coup to install Augusto Pinochet's military regime that would go on to kill, torture, and imprison tens of thousands of opposition members – including the musician Victor Jara, who was rounded up in a soccer stadium and killed by 44 bullets in one of many of Pinochet's extrajudicial executions.

If the world was a just place, the US would be on every terrorist list that exists on earth. RIP Victor Jara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvGthike3-o


Let's also remember that the US has killed 124 times more US Americans since 9/11 than the 'most significant' terrorist attack on earth with an average of 44 (!) veteran suicides PER DAY. 🇺🇲

https://m.primal.net/Kmvo.png


The Dutch foundation HRIF is suing the Dutch Central Bank for failure to enforce human rights protections in "criminal" AML program ran by the Netherlands' five largest banks.

According to HRIF Chairman Simon Lelieveldt, the Dutch Central Bank sees no need for enforcement against a transaction monitoring outsourcing program which ceased operations in July, but amassed over 10 Billion data subjects – violating Dutch law according to a commissioned legal opinion.

"It's the same as after speeding with 200km/h I tell the police officer, well, I've stopped the car, I am no longer transgressing the law so you no longer have to enforce with any ticket or fine."

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/hrif-dutch-central-bank-lawsuit/


Curious that just when Monero announces a PR for FCMP++ Chainalysis leaks a video claiming to be able to trace XMR. Coincidence? I think not


Short break from research camp bc the White Stripes are suing Donald Trump 🤘

https://m.primal.net/KlQA.png


Interesting, this is exactly how I feel about audio info – might as well be speaking Chinese to me. I hear the words but they don't compute.

The other day I asked someone for the results of the Eurocup games, and they read the stats off their phone to me. Had to ask them to repeat it four times. They thought I was retarded.


This is interesting bc I find music theory to actually be very logical (at least for guitar). Everything you do happens in scales, and what happens within a scale usually sounds good together. Hendrix mostly played pentatonic scales, so did John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're essentially playing the same thing, just approached differently. Which goes to say that once you see the fret board in terms of scales – not disconnected notes – you'll know what comes next!

Anyway I cant process auditory information so people who enjoy podcasts are an absolute mystery to me


The amount of bankers pissed with AML that are afraid to speak out against it publicly are a good indication of where we’re at with our ‘democracy’.


I know I saw! and it's re-introduced based on a non-public document. gotta love yourself some EU democracy.


The Dutch Foundation Human Rights in Finance has formally requested a human rights evaluation from  the European Commission on the EU's 5th Anti-Money Laundering  Directive, citing privacy infringements and procedural abuse.

"The right to privacy, the right to a fair trial, the innocence presumption, the right to property, the right to not be discriminated/profiled and the right to access to health care, universal services (via a the right to a bank account) are violated due to the excessive regulations and policy initiatives initiated and driven by the European Commission".

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/hrif-human-rights-evaluation-amld5-european-commission/


I have been chasing this story since October 2023.

I spoke to sources in Gaza whose Binance accounts had been frozen – The addresses they provided were not listed in Israel's official seizure orders.

https://m.primal.net/KRqe.jpg https://m.primal.net/KRqf.jpg

I was then put in touch with Turkish and Saudi Arabian nationals whose Binance accounts were frozen, who were allegedly told to contact Israeli police.

https://m.primal.net/KRqm.jpg https://m.primal.net/KRqq.jpg

The claim that Binance is freezing all Palestinian accounts, to my knowledge, is not correct. And this is what kept the story from being published.

Palestinians in the Westbank appear to be unaffected, while Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were only affected so long they had a certain balance in their account. But we couldn't figure out what that threshold was, as communication into Gaza was effectively cut off.

So I reached out to other news outlets hoping that I'd get help investigating the story. I reached out to CoinDesk editor in chief Kevin Reynolds, both via email and on the personal phone number he gave me – and got ghosted.

I reached out to Forbes, who were initially interested in the story, but Forbes refused to let me publish under my pseudonym.

Just recently I reached out to Bennet Tomlin
 and Cas Piancey of Protos and got ghosted there too.

In November 2023, a journalist from Reuters contacted my source to write about the account seizures, but dropped the story as well.

Binance owes us an explanation under what legal framework it seizes the accounts of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not listed in official seizure orders, and under what legal framework it seizes the accounts of foreign nationals on behalf of the Israeli government.

nostr:note17enuy4tf30nw094wstpytlm287tp3h6z3mve36sgxk8lteu9ntws8x8f89


German party Die Linke just filed a formal inquiry into the use of blockchain surveillance software with the German government.

It wants to know the government's minimum requirements for error rates and verifiability of the software used. It directly references the use of Chainalysis Reactor, the accuracy of which was recently questioned in the trial of alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Die Linke states that:

"In the view of the questioners, there currently seems to be no apparent evidence that the methods used for the forensic analysis of virtual payment flows meet scientific standards".

But that's not all. Die Linke wants to know how many cases have been filed with Financial Intelligence Units on suspicion of money laundering, and how many cases actually resulted in criminal prosecutions – noting that, in light of a total estimated volume of more than €100 Billion laundered in Germany each year, the portion of cryptocurrency value contributing to overall money laundering volume is expected to be "negligibly small".

And here's the best part: Die Linke also wants to know how the government distinguishes between legitimate use of mixers and criminal use of mixers, and whether the government is planning a potential mixer ban or other forms of regulations.

Die Linke states that "coinmixing" and other anonymization software "corresponds to a widely held need to protect one's privacy in times of ubiquitous technological surveillance by digital corporations and government authorities".

Bullish af on financial privacy today.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/german-parliament-faces-questions-on-blockchain-surveillance/


The French government's press release on Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is completely unhinged. It not only references complicity in CSAM, money laundering, organized crime and drug trafficking, but also seems to state that Telegram did not acquire a license to provide "cryptology services".

This is interesting because France apparently *does* have regulations which require licenses for the distribution of cryptology unless used for authentication purposes, as governed by the Code de la Defense.

[Not a lawyer, just researching my way through this hot mess.]

https://m.primal.net/KOUE.png
https://m.primal.net/KOSz.png
https://m.primal.net/KOTJ.png

Full press release:
https://www.tribunal-de-paris.justice.fr/sites/default/files/2024-08/2024-08-26%20-%20CP%20TELEGRAM%20.pdf

Full regulation on cryptology:
https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000000801164


Nooooo you cannot undermine my completely made up political philosophy with coherent arguments ***shrieks in Hoppe***


Independent Journalist. Bylines in too many places. "Anonymous Internet Commentator" –US Department of Justice. Writes therage.co. DMs on Matrix only: @l0lal33tz:bitcoin.kyoto


Already done! Gogol's Dead Souls is one of my faves. The Brothers Karamazov I could never get through somehow.


nice!!


m'am this is a Wendys

https://m.primal.net/KMsY.png


Oh no, it sounds like everything by Kathy Acker will now have to go on my reading list 📚 Thank you!


'Readers also enjoyed: Mark Fisher, Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari' – vibe check complete 🤝


nice this sounds like a vibe


Interesting, do you know how this compares to Foucault? Will check this out!


Cynics are def an interesting exception


Greeks and Romans were statist cocksuckers, sorry not sorry


fuck yeah

https://m.primal.net/KMnQ.png


nice!


Supremely bored by bitcoin Twitter's book recommendations. It's always the same thing – Hayek, Mises, Rothbard, Ayn Rand, that sovereign individual, yawn, yawn, yawn.

I want books that make me think, not books that reinforce what I already know. Give me niche post-structuralists, anarchists and revolutionaries. Give me poets and weirdos and outcasts, not CIA funded neocon thinkbois. Escape the echo chamber, anon.


Mental illness https://image.nostr.build/84e35a2932079cc35d3bb99a5ec4e304d8ffd8c1dc379c9a9bdf25970007d5f7.jpg


This is awesome, thank you for sharing!


Deutsche Bank has terminated the account of a UN accredited human rights activist.

AML/CFT laws are routinely weaponized to silence dissent without any recourse or due process. It's the outsourcing of policing powers to private institutions without democratic oversight, where the presumption of innocence and right to fair trial do not exist.

AML/CFT needs to be abolished today.

https://m.primal.net/KJFG.png


The National Crime Agency is making some pretty bold claims on cryptocurrency and end-to-end encryption, but provides no data to back up its claims. I filed a freedom of information request to find out how it came up with its conclusions.

Make FOIA your self care routine 🤝 https://image.nostr.build/ca035847523e43058be6f98059ca968ac77fc24efa0af6541497c7f0811e0247.jpg


Oh boy. The UK National Crime Agency's latest Risk Assessment finds "cryptoassets are increasingly used to launder non-digital proceeds of  crime" and names increased risks to children through end-to-end encryption.

The only problem: the assessment provides no concrete data to backup its claims and stands in direct contrast to industry findings.

You will be surveilled and you will be happy, even though we are terminally incapable of publicly demonstrating a need for increased surveillance at all.

Source: trust us bro.

https://www.therage.co/uk-nca-national-risk-assessment-2024/


"So how's it going with your Bitcoin thing"

https://m.primal.net/KDPD.mp4


It's where the boomers battle over who has the most retarded lingo

https://m.primal.net/KAis.png


But can it get any worse?

https://m.primal.net/KAic.png
https://m.primal.net/KAig.png
https://m.primal.net/KAij.jpg

nostr:note15w8dvzftljsa7alf9rutjl2k06yfecch98lx6kucw7utpmuyudkshmlghw


You dummies are getting played like a fiddle

nostr:note15w8dvzftljsa7alf9rutjl2k06yfecch98lx6kucw7utpmuyudkshmlghw


"I watched the Crypto4Harris town hall, let's make bitcoin bipartisan!"

lol, lmao

https://m.primal.net/KAhC.png
https://m.primal.net/KAhF.png


Hi! Not an expert in monopoly breakups, but cory has some good thoughts on this https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/07/revealed-preferences/


🤝

nostr:note1zt4rwuqptz7pn83ktled5k5q9fp8v3x4krjv4trwh6xsnequ6qdq4q7nhj


I need a nap and 2 million dollars


See ya there


While you were busy making fun of the UK for criminalizing free speech, the UN finalized its Cybercrime Convention which will overrule bank secrecy and criminalize hacking, whistleblowing, and security research.

The convention, which was finalized last friday, drastically expands government surveillance powers and enables the widespread sharing of personal data between UN member states.

The convention mandates the identification, tracing, confiscation and seizure of "proceeds of crime, property, equipment or other instrumentalities" and the collection of real-time traffic and content data on behalf of requesting member states.

It further mandates member states to establish criminal offences for "the concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement or ownership of or rights with respect to property" and  "the conversion or transfer of property [...] for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property" when committed intentionally.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains, the convention includes "documents saved on personal computers or notes stored on digital devices. In essence, this means that private unshared thoughts and information are no longer safe. Authorities can compel the preservation, production, or seizure of any electronic data, potentially turning personal devices into spy vectors regardless of whether the information has been communicated".

While the treaty defers most articles to the governance of local laws, it states that states "shall not decline to act [...] on the ground of bank secrecy".

Full story:

https://www.therage.co/un-cybercrime-convention-bank-secrecy/


The US just recommended a 30-year prison sentence for alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov.

Sterlingov's case became known as the case to "put cryptocurrency tracing on trial", as much of the evidence presented was collected using Chainalysis' blockchain analysis software Reactor – The prosecution "haven’t pointed to any smoking-gun digital evidence retrieved from Sterlingov’s possessions or devices", as WIRED reported following Sterlingov's arrest.

Chainalysis described Sterlingov's guilty verdict as setting precedent for "Chainalysis blockchain analytics being used by prosecutors as evidence when they take criminals to court", arguing that the verdict "affirms the ways in which our solutions have become the industry standard, made possible by our partners in government who use our tools everyday to fight illicit activity".

The only problem: experts believe that the government's got the wrong guy, and that the jury has convicted a user of Bitcoin Fog as its operator – arguing that Chainalysis' tools are "flawed" and "shouldn't be trusted to convict defendants when they face decades in prison".

2024 is the year of dangerous precedents in which not just your right to privacy is on the line, but the very question of how much science matters in a court of law when it comes to BTC.

All the tea:

https://www.therage.co/bitcoin-fog-sentencing/


hahah no its SP – the scanning works fine, it just stops as soon as i close the app even though background sync is turned on. The UI toggler is also super sensitive for SP scanning so sometimes it turns off by accident, if you can link me to the github repo happy to make a bug report


I'm on a friend's server so that shouldn't be the problem, but my background sync doesn't work on iOS 😞 not sure if thats a known issue, lmk if there's a fix


I wake up ♻ More blocks to scan

https://m.primal.net/JsPk.jpg
https://m.primal.net/JsPm.jpg


I want to very sincerely thank the anon that donated +1M sats last week to The Rage. Your contributions are what make independent journalism possible.

We are currently fundraising to be able to cover the Samourai Wallet and Tornado Cash trials in September and December in NYC.  If you value independent reporting, please consider donating to our Geyser Fund.

https://geyser.fund/project/therage


Yep, for every Euro:

https://m.primal.net/Jnrr.png

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/how-financial-surveillance-threatens-our-democracies-part-2


🤔 does it work now?


As the democrats are jumping on the bitcoin train, let's look at the relationship between AML and social justice.

Power asymmetries emerge more easily where consent is easiest to coerce. As long as we can manufacture opinion to an extent that serves our needs – such as the widely held belief that dragnet financial surveillance is necessary to maintain liberal democracy – dominance is imminent, particularly when it goes unnoticed.

This ignorance is AML’s superpower - so much so that a party vowing to end inequality can reconcile its commitments to policies that exacerbate the divide it allegedly aims to overcome.

AML is the systematic rounding up of entire groups of people for collective punishment for the doings of a few; in political philosophy, we call this fascism. AML is the opposite of social – and it definitely isn’t just.

84% of people view homelessness a very or fairly serious problem - but if you don’t have a home, you can’t get a bank account, and if you can’t get a bank account, you can’t get a home. Yet democrats continue to rally behind increasing AML/CFT regulations.

Last year, US financial institutions reported compliance costs of $85 Billion. Eight in ten democrats believe that efforts to ensure racial equality have not gone far enough, but the reason for racial inequality in banking – and therefore much of the rest of life – are increasingly exorbitant compliance costs raising minimum account requirements, keeping millions of households unbanked.

Politicians talking about Bitcoin may excite you, but we shouldn’t lose track of why we’re excited about Bitcoin.

Subscribe for free or read all issues online:

https://www.therage.co/rage-weekly-on-aml-and-social-justice/


https://m.primal.net/JlLh.png
nostr:note13hxu9zvjkt5htrx9yf9wvht9pmkgxmndlv00m5kyzm0trhnecr3q9kev8a


GM, FATF has issued a new report claiming that „Virtual Assets are increasingly used by terrorist groups“.

The only problem: Their statement is directly contradicted in their own report and lacks any corroborating data to back it up, while highlighting that *a lack of data* – particularly for peer-to-peer transactions – remains a main challenge to FATF compliance.

Of course, that doesn’t stop FATF from recommending that all jurisdictions „act rapidly“ to implement the FATF Travel Rule, which requires ‚VASPs‘ and financial institutions to „obtain, hold, and transmit specific originator and beneficiary information immediately and securely when transferring Virtual Assets“ to address the „emerging and increasing risks“ which, again, cannot be corroborated by the report itself.

It is unbelievable that an organization with *such* low standards is being taken seriously at all, never mind allowed to guide the implementation of AML/CFT around the world.

Full Story:

https://www.therage.co/fatf-report-finds-virtual-assets-increasingly-used-by-terrorist-groups/


In case you missed it,  nostr:npub1tr4dstaptd2sp98h7hlysp8qle6mw7wmauhfkgz3rmxdd8ndprusnw2y5g did a great interview with Andy Yen of  nostr:npub18q57qr3t07qljnapzqldaqa7ru2qwfpfnjdrwvhk327n3sc82f0qqwrs6f discussing the design decisions behind Proton Wallet. Check it out:

https://optoutpod.com/episodes/protonwallet-andy-yen/


"Independent research has shown"

https://m.primal.net/JirB.jpg


Congratulations to the CIA for winning the elections in Venezuela! https://video.nostr.build/64b09c279faa6c03144d26c6e68a4d7a734e03f0b6fb11c67c142a000dc80dfd.mp4


GM fellow money launderers, let’s start the week with some great news.

The House has passed the „Financial Technology Protection Act of 2023“, which will establish an „independent working group“ consisting of representatives from the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI as well as representatives from „Blockchain Intelligence“ to report on and propose regulation and legislation to combat the use of „digital assets and other relating technologies“ in money laundering and terrorist financing.

The Bill aims to „provide a forum for engagement between federal law enforcement and intelligence professionals, and private sector technologists and researchers“ – It’s primary concerns lie "with digital asset platforms that have 'substantially deficient' anti-money laundering programs that operate outside of the U.S.".

In case it isn't clear, the Financial Technology Protection Act is the fox guarding the hen house. If the Bill becomes law, we should all get ready for some extraordinarily „independent“ findings on the use of Bitcoin in money laundering and terrorism.

Full Story:

https://www.therage.co/house-passes-bill-to-establish-independent-crypto-working-group-feat-cia-dhs-blockchain-intelligence/


In my educated opinion your presidential elections are a joke


Those of you who have paid close attention to Trump's speech at Bitcoin 2024 may have noticed that the former President – accidentally or intentionally – appears to have given away a lot more on his plans for the future of Bitcoin than meets the eye.

Despite his assurances to protect open source development and self-custody in the US, Trump is first and foremost a national security president, highlighted by his remarks on terrorism and immigration. A loosening of AML/CFT laws, which currently see several open-source developers under indictment, seems unlikely (though a democrat law enforcement officer in the White House may arguably not do us any better).

During Trump's past presidency, the US passed the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which increased penalties for AML/CFT offenses and established beneficial ownership requirements for LLCs to FinCEN.

While Trump vetoed the NDAA, it appears that he did not do so due to the AMLA2020, but rather because the NDAA kept Trump from his crusade to repeal Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which protects Internet Service Providers from liability for information hosted and transmitted.

According to Trump, Section 230 is a "national security risk" which "will make our intelligence virtually impossible to conduct".

If you had hoped that a Trump presidency would reduce the risks of developers being held liable for "illicit activity", you may do best in thinking again – "Broadcasting" 'illicit transactions' is precisely what Samourai Wallet currently stands accused of, which would hardly be arguable under the striking of Section 230.

Between incoherent ramblings on god, AI, and electric cars, Trump essentially used his 50-minute speaking slot to introduce The Bitcoin Dollar between the lines: a CBDC alternative to expand US hegemony beyond the petrodollar system directly into consumer wallets across the planet.

Don't forget that the vast space between your ears is intelligence's field of play. For Trump, Bitcoin is merely a tool to "extend the dominance of the US Dollar to new frontiers all around the world", and if his speech showed us anything, its that you are nothing more than another pawn at the end of the identity politics chessboard, where a banner hangs that reads: Congratulations, you’ve been played.

This Rage Weekly is out featuring a full opinion on the much anticipated Trump speech at Bitcoin 2024. Subscribe for free or read all issues online:

https://www.therage.co/strap-in-for-the-bitcoin-dollar/


That's a really good point. I wonder if the state isn't already effectively outsourcing penal law to financial institutions – since the closure of an account is effectively a penalization, and in the case of AML without due recourse for the consumer – and what laws/legal exceptions would govern the export of government duties to private institutions.


Hi, thank you! Afaiu whats novel about their suggested approach is that they propose for this data to be fed into a ML algorithm shared across institutions (and likely jurisdictions) to build a „behavioral map“. Something like Palantir‘s Gotham comes to mind, which has been penalized/ruled unconstitutional in several EU jurisdictions as it recycles data  collected for specific purposes. If you ever want to talk, my DMs are open ;)


Bitcoin 2024, summarized: cheering on politicians wanting to confiscate private property and build Billion dollar bitcoin reserves financed by your tax money. Who's the communist now, dumbfucks.


We all need to be very aware that what  nostr:npub1sn0wdenkukak0d9dfczzeacvhkrgz92ak56egt7vdgzn8pv2wfqqhrjdv9 is describing here is not some distant dystopian future. It's our dystopian reality.

In May, Elliptic, together with researchers from MIT and IBM, developed a dataset to identify "the shape of money laundering" on the blockchain.

This dataset attempts to predict money laundering activity that has "not yet been labeled" by distinguishing between what the dataset defines as "anomalous signatures" and Bitcoin transfers between "licit services".

Falling out of these clusters deemed normal by intelligence financed corporations already leaves you penalized. Avoid KYC services? Flagged. Can't tie your transactions to a bank account? Flagged. Frequent user of coinjoins? Flagged.

You are already being debanked because a computer program has decided that you are a money launderer – not because you did something illegal, but because your transactions are deemed abnormal – and you have no legal recourse as suspicious activity reports swear financial institutions to absolute secrecy.

It's the full on criminalization of privacy in finance. The future is here, and it's Orwellian.

https://m.primal.net/JgAW.mp4


oh hi!


Back to our regularly scheduled content, here's your daily reminder that not even the Financial Crime Enforcement Network is convinced that AML measures are useful.

"I don't see how you store that much data securely, let alone analyze this amount of data. In this committee's conversations with former FinCEN leadership, they agree the data is overwhelming, and they called into question whether the Bank Secrecy Act reporting framework is useful at all."

You will be surveilled, and you will be happy.

https://m.primal.net/JfIY.mov


Thank you! 🫡


Oh hello! 🐸 🪄


Nostr nuked my following list, pls drop some 🧡 if we are friends


water's warm 🤝


Playing around with this new Alby Hub thing and honestly its incredible to me how far we've come in Lightning.

Six years ago I was running a RaspiBlitz in my bedroom that almost caught fire, today you can zap me straight to my self-custodial wallet where I can manage my channels in two clicks from my browser. Bullish that Lightning self-custody can be this easy.

https://m.primal.net/Jdzo.jpg


I figured it out, needed to restart my Alby Hub after update 🫠


With Proton's plans to build a Whirlpool client, it seems obvious that their decision on whether or not to follow through will hinge on the outcome of the Samourai Wallet trial – But the Tornado Cash trial is arguably much more important to Proton's potential coinjoin plans.

Samourai Wallet stands accused of conspiracy to money laundering – in part thanks to their rather entertaining Twitter posts – and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money service business – mainly pertaining to the operation of the Whirlpool coinjoin coordinator.

This should effectively only minimally influence Proton's decision on whether or not to build a Whirlpool client, as a client and a coordinator are technically different things, and obviously you can't just be arrested for writing a user interface... or can you?

One of the main arguments made in the Tornado Cash trial is that TC maintained a User Interface that enabled people to access the Tornado Cash protocol. In the Tornado Cash trial, the prosecution is deliberately attempting to equate control over a UI to control over the software itself, trying to paint the development of UIs for privacy software as a conspiracy to commit multiple alleged felonies.

These allegations stem directly from FATF recommendations, which attempt to classify anyone as a money transmitter who is "a central party with some measure of involvement of control," such as "developing user interfaces for accounts holding an administrative "key".

If Roman Storm and Roman Semenov are found guilty of conspiracy to money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed MSB, and conspiracy to commit sanctions violations in the US on the basis of the prosecution's claims, then *anyone* building user interfaces for self-custodial privacy software could be next – including Proton if a Whirlpool client is built.

Learn more about how your rights are at risk in the Tornado Cash trial, see both cases from a FATF perspective, and consider donating to Roman Storm's defense (in ETH) (dumb comments on shitcoins will be ignored as this is not the time for your retarded tribalism):

https://juicebox.money/@defend-roman-storm
https://www.therage.co/why-your-rights-are-at-stake-in-the-tornado-cash-trial/
https://www.therage.co/meet-fatf-the-financial-bullies-memberclub/


I'd imagine that the plan is to do something similar to what WW is doing today, offering an interface to connect to a third party coordinator. Since the SW coordinator is down we'll have to wait and see whether they'll flock to WabiSabi, if the SW coordinator comes back online after trial (in case running software is still legal then), or whether other coordinators for Whirlpool will pop up. I'd imagine that this also depends strongly on how the Tornado Cash trial turns out where they're trying to criminalize building UIs for privacy services.

For WabiSabi there are already a few coordinators with decent liquidity, which imo is the better choice as its easier to protect your xpub in a lightweight client but bullish nontheless

https://wasabist.io/


They removed all TBD for the release today, not just the Whirlpool TBD. Def questions regarding legal risks with both the TC and SW trials, but bullish nontheless


They removed all TBD before release


 nostr:npub18q57qr3t07qljnapzqldaqa7ru2qwfpfnjdrwvhk327n3sc82f0qqwrs6f planning a rust Whirlpool client LFG

https://m.primal.net/Jcml.png
https://github.com/ProtonWallet/andromeda/blob/ed40ce30615d1f39cbecbf6b40a22310cc8562b4/README.md


This is the way  nostr:npub18q57qr3t07qljnapzqldaqa7ru2qwfpfnjdrwvhk327n3sc82f0qqwrs6f

https://m.primal.net/Jcji.png


What's interesting is that the majority of their proposal (access to IP addresses, device IDs, data retention) is completely illegal under EU GDPR  🥰


Imagine actually believing this is about money laundering.

nostr:nevent1qqsz5dj22hnkzq20fs6h957q6rgk2x7tp8l6nsf4stwl6ff20sx4prspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygxc5mk0psuka2500xjyjllfka7ujamrx3gl8jjuvd8zppjez9ny0vpsgqqqqqqsz7wxd9


Hm thats prob a cache issue, I added the geyser address to nostr already... thank you for supporting 💪


hmmm i just updated the LN address to the Geyser address, I wonder why that's not working


Does it work now


Just updated the LN address, but we also have a Geyser Fund: https://geyser.fund/project/therage


does it work now?


Imagine you had to verify your social media profiles in order to get a bank account. This is what the world's biggest banks are proposing in order to combat the complete ineffectiveness of their own AML programs as found in a statement by the AML/CFT consortium Wolfsberg Group.

Full story: https://www.therage.co/banks-aml-inefficient-access-to-social-media/


The Tornado Cash trial against Roman Storm is not a trial against one person. It is a trial against us all.

Is the right to financial privacy protected by the US Constitution? And will code remain classified as free speech? Will we turn the law on its head by arguing that those seeking to keep their private life private must be guilty until proven innocent, and that any person aiding in such undertaking is deemed guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime, because criminals want privacy too?

Who is criminally liable for the anonymizing of funds taking place via Tornado Cash today? Does money equal speech?

The questions posed by the Tornado Cash trial are as broad as they are significant and will define how the US Constitution is applied to the digital age.

Full rundown of the case by David Z. Morris 👇

https://www.therage.co/why-your-rights-are-at-stake-in-the-tornado-cash-trial/


The reinterpretation of common sense began when we started to assume that common sense is not a sense which constitutes a shared world around us but a capability which we have that anyone is able to act on. This capability is the capability of logic, the fact that we may say in unity: two plus two equals four. But this capability, even if we all possess it, is completely incapable of guiding us through the world or capture anything at all. It merely underlines the most outer subjectivity, even if we may assume (unjustly, of course), that all subjects are the same.

By this line of thinking we must arrive at the idea of the 'normal person' – the normal people who are all the same, because the world which they could share is missing. And because this is impossible you'll end up in a situation in which everyone who is 'not normal' needs a psychoanalyst or a god who knows what they need so that they can become like the others, meaning like somebody who is nobody in the literal sense of the word.

Hannah Arendt, Letters to Mary McCarthy, 1954

https://m.primal.net/JSps.png


Block 852152: Important News of the Week

GM. It's summer. Nothing is happening in Bitcoin. No one follows the news. And you don't have to—we're here to fill you in on the latest happenings in Bitcoin and freedom tech.

So far, we have raised 14 million sats since November 2022. We're grateful for each one of you who has donated to our publication. If you want to help us continue our operations, consider sending some sats.

https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/852152/


Completely separate case unfortunately. Sterlingov is accused of having operated a custodial mixer, which has always fallen under KYC/AML/CFT law.


We are going to scoop every single one of your retarded shitcoin publications until they get their fucking act together, and if its the last thing I'll do.

Donate here to bankrupt the establishment:
https://geyser.fund/project/therage


Scoop: Judge grants delay of Tornado Cash trial

Arresting software developers for building software is absurd. The good news for Tornado Cash – and by extension Samourai Wallet - is that the judge does not seem convinced on the US Government's argumentation.

“If [Tornado Cash] has 1,000 customers and 1 is a bad actor, are they criminally liable?”

Full story 👇
https://www.therage.co/roman-storm-judge-grants-delay-of-tornado-cash-trial/


TDev's first hearing started today 12pm EST.

He's provided $3M bail, will be subjected to a curfew, GPS tracking, and must report to SDNY every 3 months. Wish them luck

https://m.primal.net/JMTb.png


🌞
https://m.primal.net/JMHt.png


Fixed, thank you!


FedEx trucks are now spying on you.

https://m.primal.net/JKyr.png


Retards

https://m.primal.net/JLEE.png


There's some links here

https://primal.net/e/note1e0h4ysn5nlp0y0m58w5umux44qjqm23zz88pnykgh2tz85ku8htq90zwp3


Rough estimate is 2-5% of global GDP, of which 99% goes unconfiscated in the EU – don't know about US but I expect those are similar numbers https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2021/698862/EPRS_BRI(2021)698862_EN.pdf

https://m.primal.net/JKrg.png


Financial privacy isn’t always about the government or corporations. Sometimes it’s simply about peers. Here’s an anecdote.

In Egypt, people born into lower socioeconomic statuses often don’t have a lot of flexibility for their life path. It’s often largely set by family and tradition, especially for women. And so, it’s kind of the luck of the draw how constructive their family is.

In certain social circles, a girl is generally considered the responsibility of her father. If she dates, has sex, doesn’t wear hijab, etc, then it is considered to reflect badly on him.

Once she marries, responsibility over her is transferred to her husband. He will usually control the main income, he will often control the family finances even if she does have an income, and he will often control most major decisions. And divorce is structured in favor of men here. Initiating a divorce as a woman comes with more limitations and consequences.

Many fathers push their daughters to marry pretty early so that they can relieve themselves of responsibility for her, even if she’s not thrilled about the prospective husband. She can be pressured socially, economically, and sometimes even physically. And at that socioeconomic level, she likely isn’t fluent in other languages, likely has not been exposed to outside ideas very much, is likely surrounded by people who would take her father’s side against her, and so the direction and pressure from her family is mainly how she contextualizes her role in the world.

So in many cases, someone goes from a girl with little power to a wife with little power at a young age, and with limited economic, social, or legal recourse if it ends up not being a good path. A decent percentage of fathers and husbands are abusive, unfortunately. In theory there are safeguards against this, but in practice it’s easy to fall through the cracks.

I know a family that owns an apartment building in Cairo, and they employ a husband and wife as live-in assistants to oversee the property and their family, like a casual butler and maid basically. He cleans, runs errands, and provides security, while she cleans and cooks. The husband and wife come from a low socioeconomic background, and have both been working for the family for 15 years, and are heavily trusted. They make like $4k/year USD equivalent combined, plus receive free basic shelter and a used car.

The husband and wife do not have bank accounts, so they just save in physical Egyptian cash that quickly devalues. Inflation in Egypt hurts people like them the most. With their extended family, they also own a unit for themselves in an apartment building in a poor neighborhood. It’s an unfinished raw brick building that they don’t live in. Their extended family all contribute to the shared building structure and underlying small land lot, and they own their unit within the structure and can choose to invest in finishing it with electricity and plumbing and flooring and furniture to live in, or just leave it as an empty brick hull. Many remain unfinished like that indefinitely throughout Cairo; it’s basically treated as illiquid savings and optionality.

Anyway, one day when the wife was getting a raise from the family that employs her, she asked that her raise be kept private from her husband. She wanted to have autonomy over that portion; their combined income is otherwise mainly under his control. Her husband is by all accounts a nice guy, but that is the common way of doing things in their socioeconomic circle. A private raise would let her keep a tiny bit of pocket cash in her own control. One of the things she wanted to do with some of her own money was send a tiny bit each month to a family member that needed help. So the family agreed to keep her raise private.

As her pocket cash eventually grew a bit, the next challenge arose: how to keep it safe and secret while living in a 250 square foot living area with her husband and daughter. She went back to her employer and asked if she could keep her private savings with them as an informal bank. They agreed to do that for her as well.

As is the case for many people like her, even though she doesn’t have a bank account, she does have a smartphone. Over time, certain types of mobile wallets and their widespread adoption could improve her ability to save privately and in less debase-able ways, and that don’t rely on the particular helpfulness of her employer. And if not her, then maybe her daughter one day.

A shoutout to all the devs working on such wallets and their ease of use; there are certainly plenty of people in the world who could benefit from them!


AML/CFT laws make you less safe. Not more.

In 2022, 78% of European banks experienced a data breach. Yet AML/CFT laws continue to attempt to mandate increasing amounts of data collection, from IP Addresses to social media activities. This data is routinely targeted, exploited, and sold on dark markets.

In honor of gigabrain takes like "We NeEd SuRrVeiLlAnCe To FiGhT CrImE", this Rage Weekly I compiled a list of 40+ recent data breaches involving the leak of personal data – just in case anyone tries to tell you that increased surveillance leads to an increase in security.

Full list 👉 https://www.therage.co/rage-weekly-data-breach-special/


🟠

https://m.primal.net/JKgE.jpg


Good morning. Today is a good day. The US Government has agreed to release TDev on bail according to a letter filed on July 3rd.

TDev's defense makes incredibly smart arguments, stating that the US Government's prosecution is as "aggressive as it is expansive, akin to charging Apple for  cybercrimes commited with MacBooks. And like such a charge, it impermissibly uses criminal law to affect policy change. He is facing  charges he can, should, and will contest at trial."

Putting the charges in context, the defense states that "to stop Bitcoin wallet providers from providing privacy and security services, or to  force them to police their customers as banks must, the government has not sought to change the law, or even FinCEN’s guidance on it."

The letter states that the US Government "has prosecuted individuals operating a service they had every reason to  believe was legal, and stretched to decorate the charges with  decontextualized quotes that attempt to sketch out their agreement to  criminal transactions the government does not allege they knew about in  advance or explicitly agreed to".

Full article:
https://www.therage.co/william-hill-release-on-bail/


Julian’s first birthday in freedom in fourteen years. https://image.nostr.build/fbe6bb8fade32607000b35a0595ccf65236935ca4e54c0823eeb5d8fd2593ad0.jpg


I don't think either of you knows that there's other forms of democracy besides representative/majority democracies


Not sure how this contradicts my statement


In _representative_ democracy


GM, AML/CFT is the illicit activity 👇

https://m.primal.net/JFTm.jpg
https://www.therage.co/weaponization-of-fatf-standards-rusi/


gigabrain move, gotta admit. props man. that's some impressive cognitive abilities.


yeah, i can see that. you tend to talk a lot without saying anything when it comes to these topics.


read before commenting. always helps. follow me for more practical life advice.


So we're still not talking about it. cool cool. thanks for clarifying where your organization stands on protecting opposition leaders comparing muslims to cockroaches and making promotional videos of shooting them though. priorities, i guess.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9blsyFzpqDI


Fake News: Assange Plea Deal Did Not Order Deletion Of DNC Emails

https://m.primal.net/IzCF.jpg
https://www.therage.co/assange-plea-deal-dnc-emails-deleted/


So is now the time to discuss how HRF has made no statements on Assange's persecution besides defaming him on Twitter or no

https://m.primal.net/IzBy.png


thank you!


Lots of posts going around that Wikileaks has deleted the DNC Email leak as part of Assange's plea deal.

This is incorrect information. 👇

It is being reported due to a lack of context of the Saipan hearing published by the Australian newspaper The Age.

The Age's live report states that "The court hears the US lawyers are satisfied that Assange has undertaken  a requirement to have WikiLeaks destroy the classified information."

This statement only pertains to unpublished classified information as well as to the extent it is in the control of Assange to evoke the destroying of such documents according to the plea agreement.

The DNC Email leak has been widely unavailable returning an internal server error since at least 2023. WL has had numerous server issues over the years - this is nothing new.

(Lots of people also conflating the DNC leak with the Clinton Email leak; these are two separate things.) Let's normalize to always check official sources.

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https://m.primal.net/Iyrr.png


❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

https://m.primal.net/IyZA.png


Oh lord, thanks for pointing this out


Rage Weekly 08 is out! We cover:

- Germans limit withdrawals for migrants to 50€
- Richboy Sunak wants your bank accounts
- Larry Fink wants stablecoins
- Brock Pierce campaigns against Tether
- Someone please check on Michael Saylor
- Background on Warsaw Ghetto currencies

and more 🧡

Subscribe for free or read all issues online:
https://www.therage.co/its-always-the-fucking-germans/
https://m.primal.net/IvNt.png


Is in description on geyser 🤝


If the EU had its way, self-custody, the Lightning Network, and any type of transaction obfuscation - including coinjoins - would soon be illegal in the EU.

https://m.primal.net/Iqig.jpg

#ChatControl is the first step in building compliance for a totalitarian mass-surveillance regime, in which none of your digital communications can be kept safe.

Chat Control is set to be greenlit by the EU tomorrow. It aims to establish the voluntary-in-name-only scanning of all digital messaging, from dating apps to E2EE messengers on your phone to automatically report suspicious activity to the police.

If providers choose to opt-out of chat control, users will be prohibited from sending  photo and video content – because think of the children – Greatly impacting our freedom to communicate without having all of our messages scanned.

Here's what you can do. Sway votes for Chat Control include Italy, Greece, Portugal, Finland, Slovenia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. Contact your EU representatives today and let them know what you think of their mass-surveillance plans (you can do so by email).

Chat Control needs to be stopped, or it will only get worse from here.

Find your contacts:
https://op.europa.eu/en/web/who-is-who/organization/-/organization/REPRES_PERM/REPRES_PERM

Read the full article:
https://www.therage.co/eus-going-dark-takes-aim-at-self-custody-mixers-and-the-lightning-network/


Absolutely overwhelmed by all the positive feedback from you guys.

Anyway, don't forget to register for ecash hackday happening this week! 👉 ecashhackday.github.io
https://m.primal.net/IqYj.jpg


Thanks for letting me know, should work again now!


Bitcoin journalism is fucked.

I started The Rage because I'm tired of investors and advertisers telling me what to do for below minimum wage compensation.

What we need are publications willing to let journalists investigate the crap out of the companies, representatives and people enabling the building of surveillance tech behind the scenes.

What we get are publications selling out to corporations, startups and politicians writing public relations puff pieces to keep their returns on track. The point of journalism is to hold power to account, not to become its bedfellow.

There is no lack of talented, experienced, investigative journalists covering bitcoin. The problem is that they write what the powers that be don't want you to hear – so many are out of a job, dabbling away at the next press release for mainstream media, or doing below-minimum wage contract work to pay the bills.

I'm incredibly overwhelmed by all the positive feedback we've been getting for The Rage. In just 8 weeks we've scooped major publications and drove discussions around AML, Samourai and Tornado Cash together with your help. We've even made enough to cover operations with almost 400$ raised, thanks to all the zappers out there.

But here's the thing. I didn't come here to write a good piece every once in a while leaving stories untold left and right because I can't afford to focus on investigations full time. I came here to fuck up the financial surveillance complex. That's why The Rage now needs your help.

We're trying to raise 0.25BTC so we can contract the best investigative journalists in the Bitcoin space to tell the stories that major publications can't afford to print.

If you value your financial freedom, please consider donating via our Geyser fund. We cannot do this without your help.

https://geyser.fund/project/therage

https://m.primal.net/IpWO.png


My toxic trait is being convinced that banks shouldn't be allowed to collect any information from you to let you open an account, GM 💅


To the lil anon zapper that has figured out why The Rage is called The Rage: little older, little wiser, but happy to see you 🧡


Good Morning, it's been almost 2 months since the Samourai Wallet
 arrests and there is still no sign of TDev in the justice system.

I want to know why there is no public case filed against TDev (cross-referencing United States v. Ver whom the US is also seeking to extradite), so I sent the SDNY and PJ some more questions.

https://m.primal.net/IoBN.png
https://m.primal.net/IoBO.png
https://m.primal.net/IoBP.jpg
https://m.primal.net/IoBQ.jpg


Rage Weekly 07 is out: a Racist, a Eugenicist, and a Stablecoin Issuer Walk into a Bar. We cover:

🧨 Stablecoins eye end of petro dollar
🧨 SBF may have funded eugenicists
🧨 Binance intern makes questionable tweet
🧨 SEC closes offices for lying
🧨 Mastercard to introduce biometric login
🧨 Consensus OFAC Panel
🧨 Trump says dumb stuff ab #bitcoin
🧨 Biden does dumb stuff w #bitcoin
🛫 and more

Subscribe for free or read all issues online 🧡

https://m.primal.net/InTI.jpg

https://www.therage.co/a-racist-a-eugenicists-and-a-stablecoin-issuer-walk-into-a-bar/


The EU's latest mass-surveillance initiative Going Dark is taking aim at the Lightning Network, 'mixers' and self-custody in its latest encryption report, but still lacks fundamental data to back up its claims that more surveillance does equal more security.

The EU's apparent regulatory strategy of "we'll just say things and hope no one notices" now seems to continue to manifest in its evaluation of financial privacy services.

https://www.therage.co/eus-going-dark-takes-aim-at-self-custody-mixers-and-the-lightning-network/

https://m.primal.net/InJa.png


"As long as autocrats hope to use computers to surveil or control the rest of us, cypherpunks will find a way to bring resistance money to the world."

https://www.resistance.money/


Must read on Samourai Wallet pointing out the DOJ's inconsistencies in argumentation and the dangers of the case for all Bitcoin businesses. 👇

https://blog.ronindojo.io/freesamourai/
https://m.primal.net/IkcK.png


A lot of people seem to see voting for trump as „the lesser of two evils“,  wondering what else they can do to protect their bitcoin from regulatory overreach.

But the US isnt „the greatest country in the world“ because of its presidents - if anything, it is *in spite* of them.

The US government consists of more than the presidency. It has a fairly well working judiciary in place, which exists to help the people hold the government accountable and ensure that no laws will be passed infringing on your rights (doesnt always work but often does).

From a legal perspective, the US is a great place for bitcoin due to its laws around free speech and enterprise, which enshrines the use and ownership of bitcoin not just as property, but as a tool for communication.

The problem ergo isnt the politicians. The problem is your own complete political apathy when it comes to anything other than elections.

If you want to protect your bitcoin, stop spending millions of dollars and thousands of hours supporting political candidates who will say anything to get your votes only to drop you like a hot potato once elected. Instead, use that time and money to boycott and organize - its what the system was designed for.

There are enough grounds to sue the US government, private citizens, companies and institutions if the right to own, use or interact with bitcoin was to be infringed, and its how the majority of civil liberties were established.

Ending racial segregation in schools didnt happen by presidential decree - it happend through Brown vs. Board of Education. The right to an attorney: Gideon v Wrainwright. Interracial marriage: Loving v Virginia. Burning of the US flag as speech: Texas v Johnson. Right to abortion (though now overturned): Roe v Wade. Same sex marriage: Obergefell v Hodges. Porn on the internet: ACLU v Reno.

You have rights, and you need to stop thinking that you are powerless without some babbling politician to enforce them. Spend the time and money on grassroots organizing, which is much more in the spirit of bitcoin anway. Politicians hate this trick.


"When your morals can be bought, you are not a patriot – you are a sell out."
ORANGE MAN GOOD: SELLING OUT ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL by  nostr:npub1mznweuxrjm423au6gjtlaxmhmjthvv69ru72t335ugyxtygkv3as8q6mak

Read out loud on  nostr:npub10qrssqjsydd38j8mv7h27dq0ynpns3djgu88mhr7cr2qcqrgyezspkxqj8
Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/episode/MDsZHF9HRhQvSaVk5usQ
YouTube: https://youtu.be/glcKd2d326Y
Everywhere else: https://bitcoinpodcast.net/podcast
#Titcoin #BitcoinOutLoud


lol

cry harder loser

https://m.primal.net/IiTj.png
https://m.primal.net/IiTk.png


you should try looking up editorial independence, that should help


Did a quick image search before posting so I don't think so, but there's enough more to choose from if that helps with your conscience

https://m.primal.net/IiIe.jpg

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-history.html?pgtype=Article&region=Footer


Bitcoiners simping for Mnuchin's speechwriter who helped sell the printing of trillions of dollars was definitely not on my 2024 bingo card.

These people have no morals, and you are selling out to them like the good little cattle they expected you to be. We've really come a long way in the wrong direction.

https://m.primal.net/IiGv.png
https://m.primal.net/IiGw.png
https://m.primal.net/IiGy.jpg


yup


Read the article, shut your mouth


After 20 years of forever wars, growing social decline and exacerbating economic demise, it seems that we are still immune to learning that politicians lie.

Most politicians run from responsibility like a fat kid from a diet plan, and electing an overweight billionaire won’t lessen the White House’s appetite for cake.

Voting for Trump may temporarily muffle the echo haunting that empty space between your ears as you convince yourself to at least have done _something_ to fulfill your imaginary patriotic duties, but it can’t change the moral corruption inherent to US politics – and it sure won’t change anything for Bitcoin.

When your morals can be bought, you are not a patriot – you are a sell out.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/orange-man-good-selling-out-on-the-campaign-trail-

https://m.primal.net/IiDZ.jpg


lol nice, thank you!


We have a weekly newsletter that goes out sunday night with new pieces, but Id def be down for doing RSS if someone tells me how!


Quick appreciation post for everyone keeping The Rage going with zappers and donations 🧡


Rage Weekly 06 is out! We cover:

💥 OpenCoordinator launch
💥 FreeSabi coordinator watch
💥 Samourai Wallet archives
💥 Coinbase PAC funding controversy
💥 LLC & Dev doxxing
💥 ArkV2 launch
💥 OpenCash launch
💥 Bonus: Hacking the SWIFT system
🛫 and more

Signup for free or read all issues online
https://www.therage.co/coinjoin-news-and-dev-doxxing/

https://m.primal.net/IenZ.png


CAN SOMEONE STOP THE INTERNET ARCHIVE DDOS I CANNOT WORK LIKE THIS


In case you missed it, the Corporate Transparency Act has come into effect in the US. It is a slow-roll attack on financial privacy.

New fantastic piece by  nostr:npub15dnln6cukw3yrflnv3hnrntdt9amh0uw466u6tns05ymqp3nal4qzz3lfc👇

https://m.primal.net/IZWS.jpg

https://www.therage.co/corporate-transparency-act-privacy-at-risk/


Rage Weekly 05 Coinjoin Coordinator Special is out! We cover:

🚀 Wasabi Wallet Coordinator UI
🚀 Ginger Wallet launch & first coinjoin
🚀 Mutiny ecash desktop wallet
🚀 USD stablechannel demo
🚀 CATO on corporate surveillance, sorry I mean corporate transparency act
🚀 Surveillance in FIT21
🚀 KYC in Nigeria is out of control
🚀 Bonus: Saylor Swift sticker pack
and more!

Subscribe for free or read all issues online:

https://m.primal.net/IWYu.png

https://www.therage.co/custom-coordinator-coordination-we-are-so-back/


Update: Bitrefill has granted me a refund – thanks to everyone who drew attention to this. Have to say I am pretty disappointed that it took a public outrcry to get my money back, and I don't find this very fair treatment for people that may lack a public platform.

Still going to continue using their services as I've never had issues before, so I hope this will be the first and last time. Also hope that they'll work on improving their customer service and be more diligent in selection and description of products in the future to avoid situations like these for others.


Thank you!


Wake up guys, there's a new coinjoin wallet in town.

Ginger Wallet is a fork of Wasabi Wallet with built-in coinjoin. This seems to be their coordinator: api.gingerwallet.io

I hope they'll launch a site like statistics.wasabiwallet.io to track liquidity – It doesn't seem quite ready for download yet, so I'd follow their Twitter and Telegram channel for updates and try adding the coordinator to the official WW client if it is active.

Remember to use new clients with caution, but guys, we are SO back.

https://gingerwallet.io/

https://github.com/GingerPrivacy/GingerWallet


hey  nostr:npub1vadcfln4ugt2h9ruwsuwu5vu5am4xaka7pw6m7axy79aqyhp6u5q9knuu7 how does JM protect against Sybil attacks?


They just told me that they've expedited the issue, let's see what comes of it.


Inb4 Bitcoin Magazine:

Wasabi Wallet launches custom coordinator selection. Where to find coordinators and how to use the service 👇

https://www.therage.co/wasabi-wallet-launches-ui-coordinator-selection/


PSA on one of my favorite bitcoin companies (until today unfortunately).

Bitrefill has sold me prepaid mastercards from a company that appears to be a scam. Unfortunately bitrefill is not answering my DMs and customer support has been handwaving arguments all day. I'm honestly somewhere between angry, sad and disappointed and really at a lost for words rn, so I hope this helps me get my money back.

I bought several of these prepaid Mastercards on Bitrefill's site, advertised as ‚accepted anywhere Mastercard is accepted‘. Except they’re not accepted ‚anywhere Mastercard is accepted‘ – in fact, they are accepted nowhere returning 'this card is not recognized'.

So now my money is stuck, and Bitrefill says it can’t give it back because it sold me a valid giftcard coupon for a product that does not seem to be legitimate.

I’m a huge fan of bitrefill and have been using their services for years, so I’m extremely surprised that they would a) offer such a product in the first place and b) respond (or rather not respond) the way they did when being confronted with the problem.

It seems that bitrefill has done zero due diligence on this product and simply copy/pasted their marketing claims to their site. I have always trusted bitrefill to offer high quality products so I’m not sure what’s going on here, but it would be great if they could give me my money back after a series of very unsuccessful customer support contact with their team.

I have spent all day going through several mind bending headaches in attempts to retrieve my money which seems to be close to impossible looking at trust pilot reviews. As I’ve also shared with bitrefill's customer support agent, I’m not the only person who has had this experience with this card issuer, after which the bitrefill agent apparently decided to just stop responding.

My DMs are open to resolve this issue (and I hope bitrefill will take this product off of their site immediately).

https://m.primal.net/IVJD.png

https://m.primal.net/IVJF.png

https://m.primal.net/IVJG.png

https://m.primal.net/IVJH.png


Thank you! I spoke with them yesterday and they‘ll see if they can help us


Every year the financial action task force gets in a room to do a little dance and when the music stops everyone has to yell CRIME! and they repeat this until the ouja board moves to a number thats =/>100B and thats how we know - lmk if you have any more questions


Oh boy


If you idea of freedom is what your government allows you may need to re-read your constitution


True, last time I checked bitcoin.org it also said "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Store of Value System" – Sorry that I missed this


I think this is a question a lot of people ask themselves. I think you should then ask: do you want an investment, or do you want freedom money?


We are all noobs and nobodies here, Owen – keep it up! 🧡


oh yeah see here

https://m.primal.net/ITvy.jpg

https://medium.com/@AlexStach/les-d%C3%A9rives-de-la-surveillance-financi%C3%A8re-menacent-nos-d%C3%A9mocraties-323fbdc1ccbf


I would very much like to know an exception, but unfortunately I haven't met one yet. Maybe one day!


What's interesting is that, if you think about it, banks/financial institutions via AML essentially become an extended enforcement arm of the state


No idea but I don't like it. From what I heard PT Police has a history of not giving a shit about press freedom, so for now my working theory is that they are assholes


There would be several human rights courts to address in theory


I know Im sorry, thank you! I legit forgot again that this place existed for the past couple of days lol


I think that the things he is saying are dangerous (privacy is bad for bitcoin, we don't want "ETH features" or "ETH developers"), and I think the things he is doing are dangerous (stopping entities from giving no-strings-attached funding to devs). The article simply serves to inform you on the people MSTR works for, and gives an overview of how intelligence infiltrates open source projects via the embedded FOSDEM Talk. Wether they're related is up to you to decide.


thank you!


I think it says ACAB


Faster than CoinDesk! *pew pew* 🔫 🔫    nostr:npub15dnln6cukw3yrflnv3hnrntdt9amh0uw466u6tns05ymqp3nal4qzz3lfc

https://m.primal.net/ITvA.png


Might fuck around and get this pie chart framed

https://m.primal.net/ITuq.png

https://disruptive-horizons.com/p/kyc-aml-destroying-world#footnote-18-133915966


🕯

https://m.primal.net/ITul.png


Daily reminder that financial institutions surveil our every move to *checks notes* confiscate 1.1% of criminal proceeds

https://www.europol.europa.eu/cms/sites/default/files/documents/criminal_asset_recovery_in_the_eu_web_version.pdf

https://m.primal.net/ITuf.png


I had a fun run-in with the Portugese police a few days ago re Samourai Dev. There's been some updates since from SNDY (I don't know how to link to videos, see Frank Corva/BM). Twatter cross post👇

New info on TDev, or rather more non-info. Portugese Metropolitan Police responded to have no info (this was to be expected).

But here's where it get's interesting. I just called the Policia Judiciaria, and their stonewalling is insane. After identifying myself as a journalist, the officer's tone completely changed. She told me I was not entitled to any information and even refused to give her name. I have never experienced anything like this.

@ Policia Judiciaria: Under Articles 10 and 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which your country is a signatory, you are required to inform the press on cases of public interest. In addition, your officers are required to identify themselves on request.

Your agency is thereby not just obstructing the public's right to receive information without interference by public authorities, as well as Mr. Hill's right to transparent judicial proceedings, but also in violation of your own local laws governing identification requirements of public officers. I suggest you get your house in order.

https://m.primal.net/ITub.jpg
https://m.primal.net/ITuc.jpg


Full text: https://www.therage.co/saylor-privacy/


It seems to me that a lot of people don't seem to understand the significance of Michael Saylor's statements re Bitcoin Core funding, so I've unpacked my Saylor folder tracking his ties to US intelligence and statements shedding light on what the 'Gigachad' appears to understand by protecting the network's stability:

„If Bitcoin diverted all of their energy to make itself private and became known as a network of complete and utter privacy, it probably is counter productive to its own interests, because you don't really want the United States government to say Bitcoin is completely private, because now it becomes the perfect tool for money laundering, now it becomes the enemy, now we're going to shut it down.“

https://m.primal.net/IPAQ.png

https://m.primal.net/IPAb.png

https://m.primal.net/IPAX.png

(Signing out of here for today because the billionaire cope gives me some serious second hand embarrassment –  if you have something to say, you can zap me.)


Since we seem to be suffering from early onset dementia

https://m.primal.net/IOJQ.png


GM! This weeks newsletter is out. We cover:

🕳 Samourai Wallet fundraiser
🕳 Big Brother Watch stops UK bank spying bill
🕳 Molly White on Tornado Cash
🕳 Ross Ulbricht clemency
🕳 Prime Trust data breach rumors
🕳 IRS surveillance fantasies
🛫 and more

Subscribe for free or read all issues online 🧡

https://www.therage.co/more-data-leaks/


What a complete fucking retard


This is the future we are heading towards. P2P services being pushed into exclusionary practices based on prosecutor witch hunts acting on the interests of a global mass surveillance cabal. Unacceptable. https://m.primal.net/ILtZ.jpg https://m.primal.net/ILta.jpg