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EMH
20092d3b6a8469a325588fd9a7663479ef8106b0177ceca323e8f87fdffed9bc
Newly Forged Bitcoiner, Homebrewer, Conservationist

There is no red, there is no blue. There is the state and there is you. Been saying this to my Bitcoin friends no matter the candidate.

Great explanation of the MSTR strategy. Why no wallet though? I’d like to zap your post.

Question 2: What impact would the proposed rule have on blockchain privacy or pseudonymity, noting that filings reported to FinCEN are not publicly releasable and the similarities of this proposal to the recordkeeping and reporting requirements of transactions using the traditional financial system, such as with wire or Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions?

Response to Question 2:

As noted in the response to Section A, Question 1, the proposed rule fundamentally misapplies a regulatory framework intended for traditional centralized financial systems onto a decentralized financial system. This decentralized system is built on code not owned by institutions and is, therefore, subject to protections under the First Amendment, similar to protected internet uses. Furthermore, the all-encompassing nature of these surveillance requirements also make the proposed rule a clear infringement on the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure. This also makes it inherently unable to provide sufficient due process, under the Fifth Amendment. Finally, attempting to enforce these requirements may be viewed as extraterritorial overreach, since these requirements will clearly affect international finance as well as domestic.

Question 3: Does the impact on privacy and legitimate applications identified in Section IV.B potentially outweigh the risks posed by illicit activity facilitated by CVC mixing?

Response to Question 3:

While the proposed rule acknowledges the fact that there are legitimate uses of CVC mixing, it fails to quantify either legitimate or illicit uses. Therefore, it is not possible to make a complete estimation of whether the risks outweigh the benefits. However, the burden of proof for implementing an all-encompassing surveillance mechanism which infringes on privacy rights of the Fourth Amendment, has substantial and poorly understood costs to users, intermediaries and law enforcement, and very real economic costs to innovation should rest with FinCEN. That said, there is a sufficient body of evidence that the risks do not outweigh the benefits.

Question 4: What challenges are anticipated with respect to identifying the foreign nexus of a CVC mixing transaction?

Response to Question 4:

As noted in response to Section A, Question 1, there are legal, ethical, and technical challenges. On the legal front, there are concerns with First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment Rights as well as the extraterritorial application of U.S. Law; the ethics of this proposal are fraught with moral hazard as what is proposed is in opposition to fundamental human rights of freedom of speech, privacy, and use of property; and technically the inherent pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions as well as challenges relating to identification of participants in a CVC transaction make enforcement practically impossible. While there are technical ways of achieving identification of CVC users (e.g., Advanced Heuristics, Forensics, KYC, AI, Geo Analysis, Public Ledger Analysis), this cannot stop even reasonably sophisticated individuals, let alone foreign state actors. In effect, the proposed rule will strip law-abiding U.S. citizens of their rights while doing nothing to stop actual criminals or foreign enemies.

Here are some of the summaries I made:

A. CVC Mixing As a Class of Transactions of Primary Money Laundering Concern

Question 1: Is the scope of the recordkeeping requirement appropriate?

Response to Question 1:

There are several significant issues with the scope of the recordkeeping requirements including legal and regulatory concerns, practical and ethical considerations, and feasibility.

First, there are several concerns regarding legal and regulatory factors. These include overreach of the agency’s regulatory mandates, including the fact that these actions likely constitute legislative powers. These requirements could exceed the boundaries of “reasonable statutory authority” under the PATRIOT Act. Furthermore, they are so broad and poorly defined that they fail to demonstrate sufficient evidence that they are not “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). Moreover, the all-encompassing nature of these surveillance requirements also make them a clear infringement on the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable search and seizure. This also makes them inherently unable to provide sufficient due process, under the Fifth Amendment. Finally, attempting to enforce these requirements may be viewed as extraterritorial overreach, since these requirements will clearly affect international finance as well as domestic.

Second, there are practical and ethical considerations regarding the recordkeeping requirements. This includes weighing the effectiveness of the proposed requirements in enhancing AML/FT efforts against the substantial burden of financial institutions. Additionally, these stringent requirements could discourage legitimate use of CVCs and stifle innovation.

Third, there are numerous technical feasibility hurdles that the proposed recordkeeping requirements do not address. These include the inherent pseudonymous nature of blockchain transactions as well as challenges related to identifying participants in a CVC transaction, the decentralized nature of the blockchain making enforcement across the network impossible, potential conflict with existing data privacy laws, and potential technological workarounds and evasion.

Per the request from nostr:npub1s5yq6wadwrxde4lhfs56gn64hwzuhnfa6r9mj476r5s4hkunzgzqrs6q7z and others at Ego Death Capital, please respond to the FinCen request for comments: https://egodeath.capital/blog/fincen-may-be-violating-your-rights-bitcoin#fincen-questions

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

Losing someone young, or losing an older person while you are young, is always hard.

When my father passed away from cancer while I was in my early twenties, it wasn't surprising at all. This fact had been coming for two years, slowly. But when it came, it hurt just as bad. And till this day it still hurts.

I was at work and got a call; it was a hospital. They said my father had been suddenly transferred to hospice, and it wasn't looking good. He probably had a week at most. He was in another state. The doctor transferred my father to me on the phone and my father was weakly like, "hey...." and I said hello, and I said I'm coming now. He said, "No don't... uhh.... don't worry... you are far and have work... I'm fine...." I asked then why was he transferred to hospice if things were fine. He was like, "uh well... well you know.... uh.... it's fine...." And I was like, "holy shit I'm coming right now."

So I went to my boss and looked at him. I had previously told him that there might be a moment where I would have to just immediately leave without notice, no matter how important the meetings and such, because of my father. So in this moment I literally just looked at him in the middle of a busy day and was like, "I gotta go" and he was like "of course". So I drove there, two hours away and went straight there. My father weakly said on the phone not to go, but he never sounded like that, so I went immediately.

I got there, and my father was in a hospital in the death ward, and the guy who greeted me was a pastor rather than a nurse, which was not a great sign. I asked what was going on and he told me straight up that this was not good, that my father was likely dying within a week. So he brings me to my father. My father is barely awake. His memories and statements are all over the place, but I just hold his hand and tell him that it's fine and I love him. I'm just there. He kept fading out and I was like, "it's okay, just relax". He could see me and talk in a rough sentence or two and thanked me for coming, but started to fade away.

And then after like 30 minutes, he went fully unconscious. He was still roughly gripping and shaking the bed headboard and so forth but wasn't conscious (and I was like, "Are you all giving him the right pain medicines, this doesn't look good", and even the pastor was like, "yes I have seen many and this is not comfortable" and I was like an angry 23-year-old so I went out in the center area like, "what do all of you even fucking do here?! He is shaking the bedframe and looks in pain, and even the pastor agrees. Holy shit." So I went and got medical attention to deal with this, but felt slow and ineffective at this. They gave him more morphine and it calmed him down, but while it relaxed him, he ultimately didn't wake up again.

I spent the next couple hours there, and then left and called various family members for my second round when he was unmoving. I said if they want to see him, come now, in the next day or two.

But a little while later after I left, I got a call and was told he had died. Only I (and the nurses) saw him while he was still briefly conscious.

During that call itself, I was stoic. I was like, "Yes, I understand. Okay." and then hung up. And then I sat there for like five minutes in silence... and then cried. I got over it quickly and we did the funeral in the following days. My father had been struggling with cancer for years, so this wasn't fully surprising.

But what lingered was the memory. It has been 13 years now, and yet whenever I am in my depths I still think of my father. The memory never gets weaker. I think of his love, or I think of how attentive he was, or how accepting he was, or what he would say about my current problems.

People we love, live on through us. We remember them so vividly, and we are inspired by them.

If he was a lame father, he wouldn't have so many direct memories 13 years later. But because he was a good and close father, he does.

All of those memories are gifts. All of them are ways of keeping aspects of that person alive in our world. It's how we remember them in the decades that follow. Their victories, their losses, and everything in between. Virtues they quietly did that you find out later. Virtues you realize only in hindsight how big they were.

Fuck cancer.

Step 1 is something we are working on with our local Bitcoin group. There are a shocking number of people who see Bitcoin as the only asset but still struggle with cold wallet storage. Seedsigner makes it easy and most importantly it makes teaching easy with its inherently trustless state.

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

After analyzing it for a thousand hours over more than a decade, I still can’t find a better nutrient-to-cost ratio than grass-fed ground beef.

I also think non-grass beef is fine vs normal beef, but then I have certain environmental permaculture soil maxi ethical views. So I mean, ultimately my opinion is to eat beef, and preferably from cows that are as close to nature as possible (ie they eat tall deep-rooted grass and have space and thus don’t usually need antibacterial medicine because they are healthy).

I don’t like to conflict with real scientists, but more than a decade ago I began researching nutrition and experimenting on myself. Many bitcoiners find nutrition, but I found nutrition and then found bitcoin, which is the less profitable direction.

I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. Most doctors and nutritionists are shitty at nutrition, but nonetheless I am not one of them.

I am, however, an athlete and engineer. I began to notice my performance issues with industrial carbs and seed oils, and began removing them. Huge health boost, and I felt so much better. This was after reading many studies.

I then did personal blood tests. I logged my food, pricked my finger and tested my glucose each day, pricked my finger and tested my ketones each day, for science, etc. I felt good and performed well under ketosis, subject to certain athletic details depending on the sport.

Ultimately I practiced seasonal ketosis. Seasons of normal health-conscious food. Seasons where I go more hardcore on ketosis for health.

My main view is that low carb eating is good, grass-fed ground beef is particularly good and cheap, etc. Eat while foods and minimize toxins. I am happy to debate nutritionists or whoever on this, it isn’t my expertise, but imo a pre-qualifier to such a debate is that they need to have visible abs. I have no tolerance toward the opinion of a flabby university nutritionist.

Anyway, good evening.

🤙

Tried to make a payment on that page and the QR to pay doesn’t show up. Tried both the custom and sliding BTCpay.