Short break from research camp bc the White Stripes are suing Donald Trump π€
The amount of bankers pissed with AML that are afraid to speak out against it publicly are a good indication of where weβre at with our βdemocracyβ.
nostr:npub1mznweuxrjm423au6gjtlaxmhmjthvv69ru72t335ugyxtygkv3as8q6mak our favorite piece EU legislation is coming back for more. π€¬
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I know I saw! and it's re-introduced based on a non-public document. gotta love yourself some EU democracy.
The Dutch Foundation Human Rights in Finance has formally requested a human rights evaluation from the European Commission on the EU's 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive, citing privacy infringements and procedural abuse.
"The right to privacy, the right to a fair trial, the innocence presumption, the right to property, the right to not be discriminated/profiled and the right to access to health care, universal services (via a the right to a bank account) are violated due to the excessive regulations and policy initiatives initiated and driven by the European Commission".
Full story:
https://www.therage.co/hrif-human-rights-evaluation-amld5-european-commission/
Binance Admits to Freezing Palestinian Accounts at Israel's Request
The company refutes claims that it seized funds from 'all Palestinians,' clarifying that only 'a small number of accounts' were restricted. The exact number of affected users remains unclear.
https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/binance-admits-to-freezing-palestinian-accounts-at-israels-request/
I have been chasing this story since October 2023.
I spoke to sources in Gaza whose Binance accounts had been frozen β The addresses they provided were not listed in Israel's official seizure orders.
I was then put in touch with Turkish and Saudi Arabian nationals whose Binance accounts were frozen, who were allegedly told to contact Israeli police.
The claim that Binance is freezing all Palestinian accounts, to my knowledge, is not correct. And this is what kept the story from being published.
Palestinians in the Westbank appear to be unaffected, while Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were only affected so long they had a certain balance in their account. But we couldn't figure out what that threshold was, as communication into Gaza was effectively cut off.
So I reached out to other news outlets hoping that I'd get help investigating the story. I reached out to CoinDesk editor in chief Kevin Reynolds, both via email and on the personal phone number he gave me β and got ghosted.
I reached out to Forbes, who were initially interested in the story, but Forbes refused to let me publish under my pseudonym.
Just recently I reached out to Bennet Tomlin
and Cas Piancey of Protos and got ghosted there too.
In November 2023, a journalist from Reuters contacted my source to write about the account seizures, but dropped the story as well.
Binance owes us an explanation under what legal framework it seizes the accounts of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not listed in official seizure orders, and under what legal framework it seizes the accounts of foreign nationals on behalf of the Israeli government.
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German party Die Linke just filed a formal inquiry into the use of blockchain surveillance software with the German government.
It wants to know the government's minimum requirements for error rates and verifiability of the software used. It directly references the use of Chainalysis Reactor, the accuracy of which was recently questioned in the trial of alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Die Linke states that:
"In the view of the questioners, there currently seems to be no apparent evidence that the methods used for the forensic analysis of virtual payment flows meet scientific standards".
But that's not all. Die Linke wants to know how many cases have been filed with Financial Intelligence Units on suspicion of money laundering, and how many cases actually resulted in criminal prosecutions β noting that, in light of a total estimated volume of more than β¬100 Billion laundered in Germany each year, the portion of cryptocurrency value contributing to overall money laundering volume is expected to be "negligibly small".
And here's the best part: Die Linke also wants to know how the government distinguishes between legitimate use of mixers and criminal use of mixers, and whether the government is planning a potential mixer ban or other forms of regulations.
Die Linke states that "coinmixing" and other anonymization software "corresponds to a widely held need to protect one's privacy in times of ubiquitous technological surveillance by digital corporations and government authorities".
Bullish af on financial privacy today.
Full story:
https://www.therage.co/german-parliament-faces-questions-on-blockchain-surveillance/
The French government's press release on Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is completely unhinged. It not only references complicity in CSAM, money laundering, organized crime and drug trafficking, but also seems to state that Telegram did not acquire a license to provide "cryptology services".
This is interesting because France apparently *does* have regulations which require licenses for the distribution of cryptology unless used for authentication purposes, as governed by the Code de la Defense.
[Not a lawyer, just researching my way through this hot mess.]
Full press release:
Full regulation on cryptology:
Already done! Gogol's Dead Souls is one of my faves. The Brothers Karamazov I could never get through somehow.
Oh no, it sounds like everything by Kathy Acker will now have to go on my reading list π Thank you!
Interesting, do you know how this compares to Foucault? Will check this out!
Cynics are def an interesting exception
Greeks and Romans were statist cocksuckers, sorry not sorry
Supremely bored by bitcoin Twitter's book recommendations. It's always the same thing β Hayek, Mises, Rothbard, Ayn Rand, that sovereign individual, yawn, yawn, yawn.
I want books that make me think, not books that reinforce what I already know. Give me niche post-structuralists, anarchists and revolutionaries. Give me poets and weirdos and outcasts, not CIA funded neocon thinkbois. Escape the echo chamber, anon.
Mental illness 
This is awesome, thank you for sharing!
Deutsche Bank has terminated the account of a UN accredited human rights activist.
AML/CFT laws are routinely weaponized to silence dissent without any recourse or due process. It's the outsourcing of policing powers to private institutions without democratic oversight, where the presumption of innocence and right to fair trial do not exist.
AML/CFT needs to be abolished today.
The National Crime Agency is making some pretty bold claims on cryptocurrency and end-to-end encryption, but provides no data to back up its claims. I filed a freedom of information request to find out how it came up with its conclusions.
Make FOIA your self care routine π€ 
Oh boy. The UK National Crime Agency's latest Risk Assessment finds "cryptoassets are increasingly used to launder non-digital proceeds of crime" and names increased risks to children through end-to-end encryption.
The only problem: the assessment provides no concrete data to backup its claims and stands in direct contrast to industry findings.
You will be surveilled and you will be happy, even though we are terminally incapable of publicly demonstrating a need for increased surveillance at all.
Source: trust us bro.
https://www.therage.co/uk-nca-national-risk-assessment-2024/
"So how's it going with your Bitcoin thing"