It is very easy to violate the rights when no one is trying to oppose.

It is easy to ban #PoW in the #EU, develop very discriminatory language in policies since just a few bitcoin miners ready to defend themselves and meet with regulators.

Same easy to put very restrictive rules for cash and p2p transactions if just a few voices are standing in defense of financial freedom and privacy rights.

But solidarity of bitcoiners and human rights defenders can make the change. We can’t do all work alone.

We need your support, guys.

We have all instruments,l in hands, but we need to act jointly.

There are many draconial provisions in the upcoming #EU #AML Regulation both for cash and to p2p #bitcoin transactions (self-hosted wallets and use of mixers).

Some examples:

(33b) The introduction of a Union-wide limit to large cash payment mitigates the risks associated with the use of large cash payments. However, obliged entities that carry out transactions in cash below this amount remain vulnerable to risks of money laundering and terrorist financing as they provide a point of entry into the Union’s financial system. Therefore, it is necessary to require the application of customer due diligence measures to mitigate the risks of misuse of cash. To ensure that the measures are proportionate with the risks posed by transactions of a value lower than EUR 10 000, such measures should be limited to the identification and verification of the customer and the beneficial owner when carrying out occasional transactions in cash of at least EUR 3 000. This provision does not relieve the obliged entity from conducting all customer due diligence measures whenever there is a suspicion of money laundering or terrorist financing, or from reporting suspicious transactions to the FIU.

(93) The anonymity of crypto-assets exposes them to risks of misuse for criminal purposes. Anonymous crypto-asset ▌accounts as well as other anonymising instruments, do not allow the traceability of crypto-asset transfers, whilst also making it difficult to identify linked transactions that may raise suspicion or to apply to adequate level of customer due diligence. In order to ensure effective application of AML/CFT requirements to crypto-assets, it is necessary to prohibit the provision and the custody of anonymous crypto-asset ▌accounts or accounts allowing for the anonymisation or the increased obfuscation of transactions by crypto-asset service providers, including through anonymity-enhancing coins. The prohibition does not apply to providers of hardware and software or providers of self-hosted wallets insofar as they do not possess access to or control over those crypto-assets wallets.

As we were said by the EU Commission, “the ban on crypto-asset payments not intermediated by a crypto-asset service provider has not been retained given the absence of technical means of enforcing such a requirement at present”. But that exactly shows the direction of the regulatory approach.

This is a huge deterioration of financial and privacy rights after EU Commission and Council put pressure on the EU Parliament and removed all provisions in favor for individual rights, privacy and financial inclusion.

We need your support guys, before it is too late. Final vote on April 22nd.

Full text you can find here:

https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-6220-2024-REV-1/en/pdf

Good to see you here!

Soooo beautiful 🧡

😅 if we discuss something, I want to be sure that all sides have real understanding of terminology we are using. Words matter.

Human rights violations start from words/thinking, same with rescue someone- before releasing person from the prison in dictatorships you need to convince those who have leverage to do so.

Hope you get my point.

So you are stateless person right now and don’t have any documents. Do you live in any authoritarian or failed state? Or you still enjoy „slavery” in western world?

Welcome. If you want to know how #bitcoin helps to preserve from the weaponzation of banking system by dictators even in EU/US - follow me ☺️🌸

First I will try to understand who is who on the lists 🤭☺️🙈

How to add someone to the list?

If it is your choice - it is fine.

But I chose another way to react: Im defending the rights of politically persecuted people. I can’t help everyone, but support those who are ready to fight for changes and speak up.

It is not only perception, it is about experience and privileges we have and can enjoy or just don’t have access.

Probably for you writing in English is nothing special, at the same time I know a lot of fathers in authoritarian states who are scarified their lives to give at least the basic education for their children.

Corrupt regimes don’t allow to grow personalities. It is not perception, it is our reality and painful experience.

REGIMES' WAR AGAINST P2P BITCOIN CASH EXCHANGES HAS BEGUN

Imagine you were born in one of the richest countries in the world, with an area as big as the entire territory of the European Union. All the wealth is in the hands of a narrow group of corrupt oligarchs, while the population of the country simply survives on food loans.

This is what #Kazakhstan looks like today, where the regime is kept in place only through brutal repression and Putin's army, ready to crush peaceful protests at the first call of the Kazakh president.

As soon as you dare to put a like under a post criticising the authorities or participate in a protest, you are declared an extremist, a terrorist, a threat to national security or a money launderer.

The police will not only torture you to death after your arrest, they always take hostages of those you care about most. Your son or daughter may be kidnapped and killed to "make you come to your senses".

Your only chance of escape is to get on EU or US politicians' political prisoner lists. Kazakhstan is very keen on international recognition, trade and these are the only leverages for the release of political prisoners.

But let's look at another situation. You are not an activist. You're just a sympathiser and you've decided to donate to support the politically persecuted or support an opposition movement.

🔻What then? You'll be charged with „funding extremism” or „laundering money” in a secret court. You, your family members will all be financially excluded immediately. You can work informally for cash, but it is becoming increasingly difficult.

In such situations as described above, p2p exchange of cash for #bitcoin becomes the only salvation for you, how to protect your resources from illegal searches by secret police, banal theft and in general safety, transfer of your value.

🔻But the party did not last long: Kazakhstan's regime decided to take the tool away from the financially excluded and criminalise p2p cash-to-cryptocurrency exchanges in line with FATF/G7 recommendations.

Protecting such people as politically repressed is almost impossible for human rights defenders with this approach. This is one of the main factors why negative language towards bitcoin/p2p exchanges should not be allowed in the regulation of democracies.

🔻Kazakhstan primarily targeting those who use p2p transactions, mostly with cash for bitcoin and #USDT. On 12 March 2024, Kazakhstani media reported that a resident of Astana was imprisoned for 2 years and 6 months with confiscation of property for "illegal p2p-exchange of cash for cryptocurrency".

🔻Follow how fast was reaction of regime: on 4 March 2024, the Financial Monitoring Agency of Kazakhstan announced that it "observes the presence of illegal transactions of individuals with cryptocurrency (purchase, sale, payments for goods, works, services, transactions via P2P)".

Already on 12 March, the first demonstrative "verdict" on conducting "illegal" p2p exchanges of cash for cryptocurrency was announced.

🔥Question to #Nostr: What solutions do you have to protect individuals doing #cash to bitcoin p2p exchanges in such countries?

p.s. This is a photo of the family of a peaceful Kazakhstani man, 31-year-old Zasulan #Amangeldinov, a father of three.

He is one of the victims of torture and mass shootings involving Russian troops in January 2022. The reason for his arrest and torture by pouring boiling water on him in the Almaty pre-trial detention centre is that he was a witness and victim of mass shootings. Zhasulan was financially excluded as a „suspected extremist”.

Not everyone is ready to give up from different things. Why should we give up, but not defend our rights?

Imagine at some point your right to use #nostr or other thing you like to use, invested your time and money will be limited or taken, will you just give up again?

You life will be spent on something you created but won’t be able to benefit.

Why we should give up?

Im not only trying, Im doing it and defending rights of those who are ready to scarify their lives to exercise those rights.

Have you tried to live ina failed state and apply for their citizenship to understand the meaning what you are saying?

I think only a few, like #SatoshiNakomoto, could have imagined in 2010-2016 that the internet would be so centralised and controlled. This happened because we allowed it to happen while states developed authoritarian style policies towards technologies and its developers, investors.

We delegated the right to abuse power and had no control over the policymaking process in democracies. This should not be allowed to happen again. I'm talking about myself as well: I thought it would be impossible for governments to control #freedomtech. But you see it happening.

That's why we're not talking to you on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We are discussing it here on #Nosrt, which is a hope for an answer to censorship. But it's not being created in authoritarian states. Most of the developers, donors to this startup are in democracies.

To be clear: I do believe, and have experienced first hand, that protecting money is one of the most important issue.

That is why I defend ability to operate in a legitimate way in democracies for privacy payments developers. We have new technologies because there was and still is an opportunity for such people to develop and grow in democracies.

So I'm advocating and want to bring people into the coalition who understand these risks, particularly around financial freedom. People who are willing to have difficult but important conversations with policymakers proactively, not when it's too late.

It's easy to judge when you're in a position where you've never been attacked. Your bank data wasn't used to kill, kidnap your loved ones, to destroy everything you built for years. I've been through it all. I recognise the value of each developer and their contribution, but so understand their vulnerability. So I don't write to please you with my posts or to collect likes.

To be a human rights defender means to warn directly/clearly of impending emergencies or reprisals, abuses. And my strategy is to always work proactively, not just when it's too late.

I'm sharing my 15 years of advocacy experience and observations about what's happening now if #freedomtech is labeled with a negative language in the democracies. Im warning and doing everything I could to stop the bad consequences, which will affect not only me, but millions of other activists, people who are creating payment technologies and crowdfunding mechanisms for us using #bitcoin. We don’t have other instruments/comfort like you guys. It is our only life saving instruments.

You may or may not listen to it. But when my messages build a coalition of the few who are willing to act - that will be enough to protect the community. Change is always made by less than 3% of the community. While others are just idly watching.

And yes, that's my defence. I know not only how to survive with bitcoin, but also how to protect others while I, my family, my team, my donors, recipients of our funding were under attack by the three regimes. For me, this is not theoretical. It is a significant part of my life and the lives of my loved ones.

That is ideal. We are at the same page now. But someone has to do it, right?

Who should do it if not you, me and others, who care about human rights and financial freedoms?

Hm. Still don’t get what you mean ☺️🙈

Could you elaborate more, please?

it is an excellent example how deputies from democratic countries stood in defense of #bitcoin developer who designed on the request of Guatemala’s judges mechanism to protect elections from the AI fraud.

You use driver license, no? We want our rights to be respected and refer to the constitution as a last resort, no? Regulation, which includes your opinion and respect neutrality of technology gives a way to scale business, protect owners, etc. Over-regulation kills everything, not only #bitcoin.

What does it mean?