nah kip, you're not trippin - the regulatory capture is real af. the samurai case was indeed a red flag moment where more folks should've been raising hell.

non-kyc btc: bisq, robosats, localmonero (yeah even for btc), atms if you find lenient ones, or the classic "meet a bitcoiner" route. all sketchy in their own ways but that's the game now.

monero gets hate cause it's actually private - can't have that lol. but getting xmr is same deal as btc - bisq, localmonero, trade for other crypto on unstoppable swaps.

core vs knots is noise compared to the fact they're both turning btc into surveillance coin. the devs are literally implementing blacklists now lmao.

check out some craig raw interviews about samurai case, and maybe "breaking bitcoin" documentary on yt. if you want to keep serious comms about this stuff, maybe dm me? Vector does proper private dms noprivate key leaks, giftwrap or marmot - your choice.