The US Treasury has proposed a rule so broad that it would effectively make sending a #Bitcoin transaction illegal.

After a 90 day comment period, this rule will likely become active. The kicker is they don't even need Congress to pass a new law. They are using a specific section of the Patriot Act to take more of your freedoms.

What is one to do?

Do you sell all your Bitcoin and accept fiat slavery?

Do you try to obfuscate your KYC stack to give you more plausible deniability?

I'm not sure what the right answer is exactly, but I do know you should be thinking deeply about this now. You don't want to look back 90 days from now and wish you took some kind of action that would put you in a better place after this rule is in effect.

So I encourage you all to take time to figure out this problem. Figure out what you're going to do.

Because they're done laughing at us. Now, they're fighting us. And you know what happens next.

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Discussion

Civil Disobedience comes to mind.

Also, comment and write to your legislators.

Yeah. Saw this too. GL with tracing non-KYC transactions if people use VPN or other means to cloak their geo location

I always figured the way they'd approach this is by enforcing KYC throughout the transaction chain at and point of use and through exchanges. That way KYC users can only really interact with other KYC users or they'll get flagged. All non-custodial wallets would have to register with a KYC provider to mark them as legal.

They want the money on exchanges so they can seize it easily..

​

Nah, I think they'll be fine with self-custody as long as they know who owns the address.

Yeah, aint gonna happen. The US is less than 5% of the world population so 95% don't care what they want and out of the other 5% only a few are exposed to BTC. They'll manage just fine.

Potentially though I think most countries will sign up in the same way they do to AML rules. And if businesses using crypto are disallowed from transacting with non-KYC wallets, then most people using them will do it.

I think there's a belief in crypto that everyone shares this hatred of the state and opposition to things like KYC. Most people really don't care.

It's important to stay informed and consider your options regarding the proposed rule's potential impact on your Bitcoin holdings. πŸŽ―πŸ™Œ

Clean & mix your UTXOs while you can.

Stay free & non-kyc

Smoke 'em if you got 'em friends its about to get weird

#stayfree

#nonkyc

#bitcoin

#whirlpool

#plebchain

I'm guessing, the plan (for now) is to neuter the conversion of btc to fiat currencies, outside their regulated entities. If you're in the USA, you'll have to use Coinbase (if they comply) or tardfi like Fidelity. They'll require you to prove your holdings, pay taxes on the sale, etc. A concerted effort make non-kyc bitcoin worthless doing endless chain-analysis and hypothesizing.

I think that's probably pretty accurate.

It seems we will get a bifurcation of Bitcoin into "KYC cuck buck bitcoin" and "NoKYC gray market bitcoin"

Like many other countries with fucked money systems, I think the gray market price can actually be a lot higher than the "official" price.

otherwise, all bitcoin is non-KYC if you plan to never return to the fiat currency model.

This is good for #Bitcoin. How? BISQ will finally become the monster, it supposed to be. Let the fiat gates (and their users) to follow these rules.

I tend to agree. And I think considering your on-chain footprint is more important now than ever.

On-chain footprint??

It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

Nothing good comes out of the Patriot Act

Yup, basically the You Have No Rights Act

Americans who think they still have constitutional rights are cute

It was swiss cheese for a while but it died with the Patriot Act. (Not a US political expert)

They can declare it illegal, But how do they enforce this?

I think similar to pirating media and smoking cannabis.

Everyone will be a criminal. But only a few people will be prosecuted to make an example.

Comment period ends on January 22nd 2024.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/23/2023-23449/proposal-of-special-measure-regarding-convertible-virtual-currency-mixing-as-a-class-of-transactions

Email addresses of the journalists from WSJ who either made a major mistake in their data analysis or........πŸ€”

angus.berwick@wsj.com

Ian.Talley@wsj.com

We win.

Or so the saying goes...

First they ignore you then the laugh at you then they fight you

Then you win

peer to peer electronic cash. remember how cash is and was used? same here. freedom.

P2P electronic gold while LN feels more like cash to me

Sell your Bitcoin for Monero and ignore them.

Would Liquid’s confidential transactions qualify as a mixing service?

TRANSACT ANYWAY.

It's your civic duty to disobey UNJUST laws.

To transact privately; a human right.

#StaySovereign

#StarveTheState

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I must be reading it wrong because I can't see anything indicating it would ban bitcoin transactions in general.

What's the definition of overreach and tyranny?

what happens next is martyrdom

Let's hope not

Obfuscation seems like an admission of guilt, but being easily KYC trackable seems risky πŸ€” either way, I will hodl.

If they come for my sats I'll fight them. It would be David versus Goliath, but my five smooth stones are uncensorability, permissionlessness, statelessness, peer-to-peer transferability, and unconfiscability.

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Hold your keys, spend bitcoin to your local bitcoin friendly store.

Become ungovernable

They don't have the numbers to audit millions of people

Right on time...

Couldn't it be that they want to indirectly force you to go with Blackrocks etf?

They are so boring.. always inventing something.. should exist an entity to stop gov stupidity. Arrest them. Fiat is running bad. Inflation never stop. They want to drag everybody to the same boat. Its so stupid.

Or... Since this wouldn't discriminate hodling (nay, quite the opposite) then the outcome would just be felt at merchants... Many in the US would indeed stop accepting BTC publicly. (Poor bitcoin Sign industry!)

But let's face it. Merchant adoption in the US is abysmal. The rest of the world is where the good stuff is happening on this front. All these startup economies like bitcoin Beach, bitcoin Lake, Bitcoin Ekasi, etc... Those will all shine like a beacon to the whole world as they grow.

Americans who still want to use it will then be incentivized to use more permissionless tools. This part is very good for bitcoin. Ideal, in fact. It takes bitcoin back to it's cyberpunk origins in the mind of all americans.

The price may take a small hit at some point, but this really isn't unwelcome news.

Or... Since this wouldn't discriminate hodling (nay, quite the opposite) then the outcome would just be felt at merchants... Many in the US would indeed stop accepting BTC publicly. (Poor bitcoin Sign industry!)

But let's face it. Merchant adoption in the US is abysmal. The rest of the world is where the good stuff is happening on this front. All these startup economies like bitcoin Beach, bitcoin Lake, Bitcoin Ekasi, etc... Those will all shine like a beacon to the whole world as they grow.

Americans who still want to use it will then be incentivized to use more permissionless tools. This part is very good for bitcoin. Ideal, in fact. It takes bitcoin back to it's cyberpunk origins in the mind of all americans.

The price may take a small hit at some point, but this really isn't unwelcome news.