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Death By Crop
25f58943f08c834d98269b100b0c4a4608b951d88ab5b038bfc3fa666492c977
đź’€ Criminal Cultivation // A Work of Fiction // Operating Behind Enemy Lines // Supporter of the Traditional Market and Legacy Growers // Grow.Dojo Beta Tester // WetWork Farms // 8Bit Seeds Sponsored // Pop Smoke Collective Member // Bitcoin Plankton //

"Only on the bad takes" he says yet his bio just consists of "Christ is King". So what we have here is probably a personality disorder or a form of autism. The need to be right is a trait of narcissistic personality disorder. This behavior can also be connected to Cluster B personality disorders, which include borderline and antisocial personality disorders.

In some cases, this behavior may be a learned pattern influenced by cultural norms, attachment styles, or even neurodivergence, such as being on the autism spectrum, where social interaction nuances may be misunderstood.

Source: Wild Speculation and Unbridled Shitposting

Baby Making x 48 (Aeroponic Asexual Propagation) for the @DojoSmoke Compassion Club - free to local members for therapeutic use only.

#growstr #cannabis #hydroponics #aeroponics #meansofproduction #gardening https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/25f58943f08c834d98269b100b0c4a4608b951d88ab5b038bfc3fa666492c977/47c934ce1d5e80265852649b92782e83fef6647506d359fa6bca0bdbbd6ffa67.webp

#cannabis legalization was always a bad idea while #cronycapitalism exists - The #Blackmarket and #Greymarket are the #Freemarket

#Agorism #Agora #homegrowers #homegrown #overgrowthegovernment

#overgrow #Decentralizedproduction

Glad to still be behind enemy lines, where I belong https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/25f58943f08c834d98269b100b0c4a4608b951d88ab5b038bfc3fa666492c977/f7811bae66f9d87ff1594f4bd9a6c36263315b322683a286fb6e4b21a5183efa.webp

Most definitely. Nostr can will the role of so many decentralized services. It's a protocol, much like #BITCOIN and truly neutral. I envision paid-to-access private Nostr Relays that will essentially function as darknet markets. It's all dependant on the relay operator what content they choose to host. Relays could even be hosted over The Tor Network

There comes a time when your belief that Knowledge Should Be Free will smoothly transition into becoming a book thief... a self fulfilling prophecy of Knowledge Becoming Free. This is a typical Tuesday morning haul. https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/25f58943f08c834d98269b100b0c4a4608b951d88ab5b038bfc3fa666492c977/154171fbb1cbaab8f660da83179e1502931a790cea7c8b97c99b1296cc588761.webp

#SamouraiWallet #PrivacyTech #Privacy

Original source: Coindesk

SAMOURAI WALLET CHARGES RAISE EXISTENTIAL QUESTIONS FOR PRIVACY TECH

25th March 2024

CO-FOUNDERS KEONNE RODRIGUEZ AND WILLIAM LONGERGAN HILL ARE CHARGED WITH MONEY LAUNDERING RELATED TO PRIVACY-PROTECTING WALLET

The U.S. government has put to rest any doubts that any involvement in or profiting from privacy tools beyond authoring code for crypto mixers is off limits.

Call it an assault on privacy or attack on free speech, but the reality on the ground is that any money that flows into an application designed to mix funds to shield user addresses is being treated as laundered funds, no matter the purpose or destination.

Bitcoin Fog. Tornado Cash. Now Samourai Wallet.

Samourai Wallet was (its servers have been seized) a bitcoin wallet that promised to "keep your transactions private and your identity masked” through a privacy-preserving service called "Whirlpool."

Authorities say the wallet processed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions, including at least $100 million via illegal dark web marketplaces like the Silk Road and Hydra Market. Similar arguments were made about Tornado Cash, when it was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, which essentially counted every dollar that flowed through it as criminal in nature.

“Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to relentlessly pursue and dismantle criminal organizations that use cryptocurrency to hide illicit conduct," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement on Wednesday.

OP-SEC

There is much to say about Samourai Wallet’s co-founders Keonne Rodriguez, 35, and William Lonergan Hill’s, 65, op-sec (i.e. “operational security), or apparent lack thereof. Rodriguez was arrested in Pennsylvania and will be arraigned this week, while the U.S. is still working to extradite Hill from Portugal.

“I don’t know how they thought they wouldn’t get arrested and prosecuted for this. It sounds like the DOJ has direct evidence of them saying they knew they were helping people conceal illegal transactions and charging for the service,” University of Kentucky law professor Brian Frye told CoinDesk in an interview.

The DOJ alleges that Rodriguez and Hill actively solicited criminal customers in their marketing and social media posts. Hill, for instance, reportedly said "At Samourai we are entirely focused on the censorship resistance and black/grey circular economy. This implies no foreseeable mass adoption,” in an intercepted internal message.

“Ultimately if you’re knowingly facilitating illicit finance and profiting from it, which is alleged in the complaint, the outlook is bleak,” venture capitalist Nic Carter said in a direct message. “Nevertheless it’s disturbing the extent to which the Biden Admin[istration] is attempting to criminalize privacy.”

The Biden Administration has seemingly ramped up efforts to knock down mixing services. That includes arresting Russian-Swedish national, and Bitcoin Fog operator, Roman Sterlingov in April 2021 and participating in the arrest of the co-founders of Tornado Cash in 2023. However, crypto mixers have long been in the sights of criminal prosecutors. In Sterlingov’s case, investigators worked to establish evidence over a period of years.

As far back as May 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has been concerned about cryptocurrency “tumblers,” finding that that “persons who accept and transmit value in a way ostensibly designed to protect the privacy of the transmittor [sic] are providers of secure money transmission services and are not eligible for the integral exemption.”

In other words, mixers are money transmitters, even though a person is generally only transmitting funds between two addresses they control to anonymize their funds. And if you’re deemed a money transmitter, FinCEN noted, you’re expected to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act.

“My opinion is that the crypto industry should treat regulation as 'de force majeure' and adjust to it,” Tal Be’ery, co-founder and chief technology officer of the ZenGo wallet, said. [Force majeure is a common legal clause absolving parties from liability.] “The U.S. government made it very clear that operating a mixer is unacceptable with the prosecution of Tornado Cash operators and therefore going after other mixers could be very much expected.”

PRIVACY DRAGNET?

Others are concerned that it isn’t just mixing services being targeted, but all privacy-preserving blockchain tech.

“From the cases against Tornado Cash to the IRS 'broker rule' to the arrest of Samourai Wallet's founders, it's clear that the U.S. government is moving aggressively against privacy tools in crypto,” Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn told CoinDesk.

It’s worth noting that, while Rodriguez and Hill remained active in overseeing the protocol since it launched over a decade ago, the Samourai wallet was non-custodial and open-source. The code was "self-hosted” on the company’s open source GitLab repository, although the provided link no longer appears to be working. The Samourai apps have also been removed from the Google and Apple app stores, though theoretically the software can be built, run and hosted by anyone.

Some experts contacted by CoinDesk, including Frye, believe that crypto mixers could theoretically be legal to code, but likely not to market or maintain. Releasing software is generally protected by the First Amendment in the United States, because code is a language and language is speech.

“While crypto mixers might in theory be legal, if used only for protecting the privacy of legal transactions, using them to conceal illegal transactions is definitely illegal,” Frye said.

“It's clear that if developers maintain any involvement in privacy tools beyond authoring code – whether that be operating front-ends, facilitating any kind of money movement or taking fees – they will be targeted. For on-chain privacy to succeed in the future, tools must be completely decentralized,” Thorn echoed.

Others, like TradeLayer founder Patrick Dugan, noted that it also matters whether authors of crypto mixer code profit from their inventions. Samourai allegedly earned at least $4.5 million in fees from its wallet and mixer services, according to the indictment.

“The case will ultimately come down to any revenue mechanism the developers may have used that might constitute an operating enterprise in the eyes of prosecutors, making them culpable for money laundering done by proxy,” Dugan said, mentioning that, unlike Tornado Cash, Samourai did not have a token.

FIGHTING FOR PRIVACY

Despite the realpolitik of the situation, many in the crypto community see the targeting of crypto mixers as an infringement of the basic human right to privacy.

“The government's seizure of Samurai and the arrest of the folks running it is troubling. It feels more like what an authoritarian regime would do rather than a free country. I think people have a fundamental right to privacy in their financial transactions, whether digital or physical,” crypto sleuth Ogle told CoinDesk in an interview.

“I'm a big fan of privacy services so I have no moral concerns about what was happening,” said one Bitcoin Lightning developer, who asked to remain anonymous in order to discuss the situation more candidly. “But it seems a bit silly on their part. If I understand the situation correctly these are two American citizens who didn't even do that great a job of covering their tracks. So an arrest is pretty unsurprising.”

Others noted that despite the increased heat on privacy services, there will always be demand for these protocols – from legitimate and criminal users.

“Given how easy it is to spin up or use another mixer, this doesn't solve the problem of illicit funds being washed," Ogle said. "It just pushes it to another service.” Dugan noted that there are also privacy coins already in circulation for "for those seeking pure Exit via cryptocurrency privacy," though "it ain't easy." He added, "use monero, it's been delisted almost everywhere, so you know it's legit."

Zooko WIlcox, founder of privacy coin Zcash, told CoinDesk: “It’s legal to create privacy technology in the USA, and we’re going to keep doing it, because privacy and freedom are core parts of American civilization.”

**SECURITY HAZARD**

Operating Behind Enemy Lines

Law Enforcement (LE) is not the only threat. The aerial assets used to extinguish a wildfire are known to locate outdoor grow operations. True legacy growers know the feeling of being under the blades. I do wonder if those that have gone Legal (white market) miss the adrenaline rush aerial

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A friendly word to those joining the #Nostr from dinosaur social networks: 🦕

Drop your preconceived notions about what this is. You may have heard things somewhere, or showed up with a built-in bias as to the kinds of things we talk about here. That's understandable, since most people live in a bubble. Chances are, you do too. We also live in a bubble, but one that we created together, mostly over the past year while you weren't here. That's okay, we still welcome you to join us.

Maybe thought to yourself, "Yeah, I'll check out that weird bitcoiner place sometime." but then you went right back to doing whatever it is you were doing, and it slipped your mind. Maybe you actually discovered a client 8 months ago, fired it up, and nobody talked to you or zapped you because you only followed three people and didn't ask any questions about how relays work, what it means to sign uncensorable notes with your own private key that nobody else can revoke, or you never added a Lightning address because it seemed too hard. Then you left, thinking that's all there was, never digging into the ecosystem that was being built all around you, exploring brand new apps running on a messaging protocol that nobody owns but everybody can use, and where you can actually have real-time conversations with the builders to improve your experience.

If this is your first time here, my advice is that you should follow as many people as possible, and actually reply to them when they say hello, drop a 🤙 or a 🫂, and gladly welcome you. Your timeline is not generated by a centralized algorithm that feeds you content to make you feel happy, sad, angry, or confused. Your timeline is plebs, being plebs. Real people enjoying freedom and community, inspired by the potential they see in this new world where would-be influencers have to put in actual effort to get followers, every single day.

We know we're still small. We know the apps don't always work. We know there's a lot more work to be done to build this thing up, and we're doing the work, because we know what the Nostr is worth, not just for us, but for anyone who has ever been alienated from, ignored by, or forcibly evicted from another online community. And we know that can't happen here.

Welcome. We hope you enjoy what we see. 🫂🤙

Thank you for the wise words. This is the first post I have had the strong urge to zap. To begin zapping do I just send myself SATS via my lightning address?

- REC//001

#INSTAGRAM has become increasingly hostile towards #CANNABIS companies. Not sure why it's taking so long for the #CannabisCommunity to migrate to a #DECENTRALIZED service such as #NOSTR

#Disruptive Industries need #DisruptiveTechnology

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