"With blockchain analytics the thing we say over and over is that all this activity is on this ledger forever, and if you did something bad 10 years ago you can be caught and arrested for it today. The fact that they're pulling up those transactions is really significant.
"the US dollar is a giant Ponzi scheme, Wall Street is totally corrupt and exists to enrich the top 1%, the big banks launder billions of fiat currency per year for all manner of unseemly characters, and our politicians are nothing more than a mob family with unjustified power to police us. To which I say I totally agree!!!"
i assume it's an irony i don't get. neither do i get how come "I’m not personally pro- or anti-crypto per se" given your previous post on a drunken saylor... maybe i lack a healthy dose of humor today?
There's a difference between a centralized and a decentralized mixer. The "Bitcoin Fog" Mixer was centralized and got taken down. Tornado Cash mixer (apart from the clear-net website) is not centralized. Even if the domain got seized, it could easily be hosted on the DarkNet and be accessible via Tor.
As the crypto space overall trends towards decentralization (exchanges, lending, etc) so too will the mixing. In other words, it will be just about as hard to shut down decentralized mixer as it is to shut down Torrenting or the Tor network (ie - damn near impossible).
In a typical Darwinian fashion, the weak centralized mixers with bad OpSec get taken down first. You see DoJ throwing the book at them, hoping to scare off everyone from entering the business. But alas, all it did was pave the way for the next generation of mixers that cannot be taken down. Unfortunately for DoJ, crypto mixing services will not stop existing, until and unless the demand for mixing service ceases.
Ok, and if someone is running a decentralized system like Tornado? Don't be naive pls, DOJ can't stop internet piracy and torrent sites how are they going to stop this when there's far more financial incentive to make it work properly. What if future of ransomware evolves into "launder this for me and you'll have your PC unlocked"? Someone who sits in Russia, or North Korea or elsewhere probably laughs at DOJ while reading this. As for poor souls who decide to visit US for any reason or US citizens, who are naturally obligated to their government and DOJ, may God be with them....
I'm a bit bitter, i confess, because in the history of mankind whenever there's something new and popular invented (even if new invention is "morally neutral" meaning equally useful for good and bad guys) laws, governments and ways of life where changed at least a bit to fit new reality. Last few decades we're seeing opposite - inventions were made to fit or strengthen current rules and ways. Anything made to shake them is a no-no! If new thing don't fit current narrative - "too bad, we can't have it". Imagine if someone invents a portable teleport machine. "Dial a number / address of another machine anywhere in the world and boom you are there". I would love it, not just for sake of technology but for pure pleasure of watching how all existing laws and conservative thinking turns upside down. What do you think would happen? Would it be criminalized straight up or strictly regulated and used only as replacement for doors, elevators and military transports? Think about it and you'll understand why i would enjoy seeing crypto making DOJ pull their hair not knowing how to govern anymore. Again I'm not a criminal. I just think we need to roll back world to 70s and start rebuilding from there, again, avoiding anything we already tried so far
On another point (sorry for long posts but also article is long and interesting :) ) - if i'm not paid to fight crime and terrorism by doing KYC - why would i do that? Why would i be spending my own resources and time helping some government body that's already paid to do exactly that same things? If they want me to help our and police around incurring costs to myself and my business - sure, i'll put a price tag on it. But having something like that as mandatory because they can't keep current structure under control is craaazy! If system requires me to check for money laundering and help fight terrorism under criminal responsibility - system is wrong. Pour some gasoline on it, let it burn and build a new one from ground up.
Second point when it comes to my praise of cryptocurrencies - when things do go south and money becomes worthless for any reason (human or natural disaster), when all money gets blocked in banks "for the higher cause" (like it was in Greece during the crises of 2016 when ppl were allowed to spend/withdraw no more than 20 Euros per day no matter how much they have in their account) it's good to have a decoupled means of going around official government insane rules and regulations. Imagine your gvt telling you "no more than 20$ a day or else we'll go fully bankrupt". Would you say "thank you" or "burn in hell it's my money i can do whatever i want with it i don't care"? When you see world going bad you need something, anything, that will help you get afloat beside what's going on around you. No matter if currency is called Crypto or Gold or Drinkable Water. I see world going to hell soon, i wanna be decoupled from "regulation" and "americanization" even if it means doing legal transactions behind my government's back.
The reality is that if we’re in a situation where the dollar becomes worthless, what makes you think that your cryptocurrency will be accessible? It depends wholly upon the existence of the electronic world that was built by and is supported by the dollar infrastructure you use every day. If the dollar becomes worthless, how are electrical companies going to keep the lights on? If the lights go out, how are you going to process your crypto transactions?
It doesn't have to be crypto. I'm not living in a la-la land of idea BTC will replace fiat currency. I know about economy to understand it's impossible. It's not about crypto but the idea of having something whose value is not directly related to some rigged economy of (any country). Crypto is far from perfect but in my opinion step in the right direction. When someone discovers a way to carry around gold bars in a USB stick i'll prefer that to crypto. Idea is what counts, not the current means. Crypto is just a step to the right direction of removing some power from the (already overpowered) state and giving power to the will of each individual.
Haven't said that specifically, no. When i mentioned "decentralized system like Tornado" it was in a sense that then there's no "single address" and "single person" that can be arrested and case closed. What actually triggered me to write a comment sir is this part: "if I try to withdraw $9,999 of my own cash from a bank, lawfully earned and dutifully reported to the IRS, I’ll likely be charged with structuring". Is that a freedom? Idk for you but between that freedom and "Tornado" freedom, i willingly choose "Tornado" freedom! And no - i'm not a criminal, i'm just a software developer who pays taxes to his own country. Never cared for anything outside it's borders. I'm just against "Americanisation of the world" that screams from "unlimited DOJ jurisdiction".
"the US dollar is a giant Ponzi scheme, Wall Street is totally corrupt and exists to enrich the top 1%, the big banks launder billions of fiat currency per year for all manner of unseemly characters, and our politicians are nothing more than a mob family with unjustified power to police us. To which I say I totally agree!!!"
i assume it's an irony i don't get. neither do i get how come "I’m not personally pro- or anti-crypto per se" given your previous post on a drunken saylor... maybe i lack a healthy dose of humor today?
Want privacy = laundering money? Governments = God? More than a few governments were disappeared when the firearm became privatized.
The law says you must pay 99% of your income to the government. You will comply, of course, without question or complaint?
There's a difference between a centralized and a decentralized mixer. The "Bitcoin Fog" Mixer was centralized and got taken down. Tornado Cash mixer (apart from the clear-net website) is not centralized. Even if the domain got seized, it could easily be hosted on the DarkNet and be accessible via Tor.
As the crypto space overall trends towards decentralization (exchanges, lending, etc) so too will the mixing. In other words, it will be just about as hard to shut down decentralized mixer as it is to shut down Torrenting or the Tor network (ie - damn near impossible).
In a typical Darwinian fashion, the weak centralized mixers with bad OpSec get taken down first. You see DoJ throwing the book at them, hoping to scare off everyone from entering the business. But alas, all it did was pave the way for the next generation of mixers that cannot be taken down. Unfortunately for DoJ, crypto mixing services will not stop existing, until and unless the demand for mixing service ceases.
Ok, and if someone is running a decentralized system like Tornado? Don't be naive pls, DOJ can't stop internet piracy and torrent sites how are they going to stop this when there's far more financial incentive to make it work properly. What if future of ransomware evolves into "launder this for me and you'll have your PC unlocked"? Someone who sits in Russia, or North Korea or elsewhere probably laughs at DOJ while reading this. As for poor souls who decide to visit US for any reason or US citizens, who are naturally obligated to their government and DOJ, may God be with them....
Where in my article did I say they could stop Tornado?
I'm a bit bitter, i confess, because in the history of mankind whenever there's something new and popular invented (even if new invention is "morally neutral" meaning equally useful for good and bad guys) laws, governments and ways of life where changed at least a bit to fit new reality. Last few decades we're seeing opposite - inventions were made to fit or strengthen current rules and ways. Anything made to shake them is a no-no! If new thing don't fit current narrative - "too bad, we can't have it". Imagine if someone invents a portable teleport machine. "Dial a number / address of another machine anywhere in the world and boom you are there". I would love it, not just for sake of technology but for pure pleasure of watching how all existing laws and conservative thinking turns upside down. What do you think would happen? Would it be criminalized straight up or strictly regulated and used only as replacement for doors, elevators and military transports? Think about it and you'll understand why i would enjoy seeing crypto making DOJ pull their hair not knowing how to govern anymore. Again I'm not a criminal. I just think we need to roll back world to 70s and start rebuilding from there, again, avoiding anything we already tried so far
On another point (sorry for long posts but also article is long and interesting :) ) - if i'm not paid to fight crime and terrorism by doing KYC - why would i do that? Why would i be spending my own resources and time helping some government body that's already paid to do exactly that same things? If they want me to help our and police around incurring costs to myself and my business - sure, i'll put a price tag on it. But having something like that as mandatory because they can't keep current structure under control is craaazy! If system requires me to check for money laundering and help fight terrorism under criminal responsibility - system is wrong. Pour some gasoline on it, let it burn and build a new one from ground up.
Second point when it comes to my praise of cryptocurrencies - when things do go south and money becomes worthless for any reason (human or natural disaster), when all money gets blocked in banks "for the higher cause" (like it was in Greece during the crises of 2016 when ppl were allowed to spend/withdraw no more than 20 Euros per day no matter how much they have in their account) it's good to have a decoupled means of going around official government insane rules and regulations. Imagine your gvt telling you "no more than 20$ a day or else we'll go fully bankrupt". Would you say "thank you" or "burn in hell it's my money i can do whatever i want with it i don't care"? When you see world going bad you need something, anything, that will help you get afloat beside what's going on around you. No matter if currency is called Crypto or Gold or Drinkable Water. I see world going to hell soon, i wanna be decoupled from "regulation" and "americanization" even if it means doing legal transactions behind my government's back.
The reality is that if we’re in a situation where the dollar becomes worthless, what makes you think that your cryptocurrency will be accessible? It depends wholly upon the existence of the electronic world that was built by and is supported by the dollar infrastructure you use every day. If the dollar becomes worthless, how are electrical companies going to keep the lights on? If the lights go out, how are you going to process your crypto transactions?
It doesn't have to be crypto. I'm not living in a la-la land of idea BTC will replace fiat currency. I know about economy to understand it's impossible. It's not about crypto but the idea of having something whose value is not directly related to some rigged economy of (any country). Crypto is far from perfect but in my opinion step in the right direction. When someone discovers a way to carry around gold bars in a USB stick i'll prefer that to crypto. Idea is what counts, not the current means. Crypto is just a step to the right direction of removing some power from the (already overpowered) state and giving power to the will of each individual.
Haven't said that specifically, no. When i mentioned "decentralized system like Tornado" it was in a sense that then there's no "single address" and "single person" that can be arrested and case closed. What actually triggered me to write a comment sir is this part: "if I try to withdraw $9,999 of my own cash from a bank, lawfully earned and dutifully reported to the IRS, I’ll likely be charged with structuring". Is that a freedom? Idk for you but between that freedom and "Tornado" freedom, i willingly choose "Tornado" freedom! And no - i'm not a criminal, i'm just a software developer who pays taxes to his own country. Never cared for anything outside it's borders. I'm just against "Americanisation of the world" that screams from "unlimited DOJ jurisdiction".
Another ripper El Pollo. Thanks for your insights!
tl;dr: pay your taxes