35 Trillion in debt.
Coinbase holds the majority of Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin.
3rd parties are economic and savings suicide.
I pointed this out like 4 years ago lol
Ocean lost 70% of its hashrate the same day KYC Cory announced they were ceasing their mis-managed mining operations.
A total coincidence I'm sure.
A wealthy lawyer was forced to retire from practicing and it fell into ruin. There's currently 3' of water in the basement and black mold everywhere
Stay humble, rip down mansions, stack sats
Keep calm and HODL #Bitcoin.
Everyone seems to be overreacting to the Samourai arrests, the FBI PSA, and Phoenix leaving the US. Here's my attempt to break it down.
Samourai
You have to unpack all of the different elements. Could this be a state attack on self-custody and privacy? Maybe. Probably not.
There are a few components here that need to be evaluated on their own.
1⃣ Samourai was a self-custodial wallet
2⃣ Samourai was a mixer
3⃣ Samourai was providing normal people with privacy
4⃣ Samourai were knowingly marketing the service to criminals and flaunting that fact
Reading the charges, it seems like #4 is pretty cut and dry for this case. Their getting arrested for #4, doesn't automatically mean #1, #2, #3 are under siege as well. If Samourai was a taco stand laundering money and bragging about it, I'm sure they would be taken down too.
They may be accused of running a money transmitter now, but that may or may not stick. We'll find out in the trial.
All that said, we should always be vigilant to attempts to erode privacy and the ability to self-custody. It just does not seem that this fight is *that* fight.
FBI PSA
Seems pretty normal that the FBI would advise people to use compliant services, and the entire announcement seems to revolve around potential disruptions due to Samourai being taken down, and potentially others in the future. Given they took action, they have to post some bulletin about it.
Remember that when people lose funds or have funds stolen from them, they do go to the FBI for help. From their point of view, the best thing for people to do is use compliant services where they can potentially help.
The announcement concludes saying that services that purposely break the law will be investigated - so again we go back to #4 above. This is nothing new, and self-custody is not being criminalized.
Phoenix Leaving
As nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m said, it's feels completely unnecessary. Phoenix obviously is not a MSB and they are not doing anything illegal. In my view, their exit from the US app stores is a complete overreaction.
Keep Calm
Could "they" come after wallets, developers, mixers, nodes, LSPs, sidechains, eCash, VPNs, encryption, etc? It's totally possible. But if you're not breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about.
To my knowledge, there is still rule of law in the US, property rights are still protected, and privacy is enshrined in the Bill of Rights (nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu).
It would be very difficult to change the law or stretch it to incriminate these things because it's all just information and software, which is speech. Some will try. But as they are trying, #Bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream and integral to the world's financial system.
#Bitcoin is freedom technology and it will continue on.
Go outside this weekend and think about why you're here.
"if you're not breaking the law you have nothing to worry about"
lololol
"Oh yeah Stoney what do you do for bitcoin"
Nothing, I fucking hoard it as much as possible, I act purely and selfishly in my and my families interests to have savings. Thats it.
VC's acting like they're Bitcoin insiders is super cringe.
Congrats on that rentseeking moat disguised as altruism.
AFFINITY IS A HELL OF A DRUG
IF YOU HAVE HEROS IN BITCOIN YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.
The hammer has been sitting for awhile, had the biggest smile on my face once it started. Getting in on the presale was totally worth it
Need to order the other bigger size plates though, might actually try a multisig setup now that I can store all that information in a way I feel comfortable with.
Seedhammer + Seedsigners are by far my favorite bitcoin gadgets I've ever bought.
Hammered my first seed last night and its sooooo much better than stamps, washers and a hammer 😂
Had to modify the 3D printed seed signer case a bit, no way I'm drilling holes in my Aluminum case signer.
Might use that mini HDMI out and mount a little external screen onto the Seedhammer, and a magnetic tray etc so I don't lose the nuts.
The terrorists in Moscow were paid half up front ~$5,500 to kill those people via credit card. (Their own confession ob video)
Pretty easy to trace the payment no?
No amount of regulation can stop p2p transactions.
Not just talking about bitcoin either.