Good morning!
The UK's National Crime Agency really doesn't want to let us know what methodologies and data it used to come to the conclusion that cryptocurrencies and E2EE pose a serious threat to national security.
By refusing to answer our request, the NCA is in violation of FOIA laws. A follow up will be filed before we write them up with the Information Commissioner again 🫡
A few weeks ago I posted about the Right to Digital Integrity, a grassroots movement that is changing constitutions in Switzerland (and soon around the world) to stop surveillance and protect your digital rights.
Today there is a presentation about it at #38C3!
Link to presentation & slides: https://pretalx.riat.at/media/38c3/submissions/TSNQHE/resources/20241229DigitalIntegrityMainPresentation38C3-CDC-Stage_1Nv24ZJ.pdf
Link to live stream: https://www.youtube.com/@MoneroCommunityWorkgroup/streams
ok can we chill with the fucked up ideas for like 5 minutes
The UN just approved the UN Cybercrime Treaty, a drastic global surveillance law that gives UN member states the ability to freeze assets in other countries
I'm too tired to explain, so here's an overview 👇 longer post coming next week
Zap so I can hire help
https://www.therage.co/un-cybercrime-convention-bank-secrecy/
The IRS just finalized its new broker rule, finding that control is not necessary to be considered a broker subject to IRS reporting requirements.
It's a nightmare for every non-custodial exchange and swap provider.
Built a website to let users swap between currencies? You're a broker under IRS reporting requirements.
Built a mobile app to let users swap between currencies? You're a broker under IRS reporting requirements.
Built a browser extension to let people swap between currencies? You're a broker under IRS reporting requirements.
As long as you have the ability to collect fees on a trade, or have the ability to affect the terms under which a trade is provided, or a whole bunch of other nonsense, you're a broker, which makes pretty much any non-custodial exchange or swap provider a broker.
While wallets without swap or exchange features are excluded by the broker rule, it's a taste of what's to come for BSA reporting requirements for non-custodial software.
INB4: "bUt ThEy CaN'T FoRcE mY nOn-CuStOdIaL wAlLeT tO Do aNyThiNg"
That's right they can't. But they can force the people building the software and services. And if they don't, they'll go to jail.
Unless challenged, the rule goes into effect in 2027.
I just got the best christmas present.
Last month, the Colombian ambassador to the United States revealed that the US purchased Pegasus Spyware on behalf of the former Colombian Government to monitor narcotics trafficking in Colombia and Mexico.
The current Colombian Government however believes that Pegasus was purchased to illegally spy on the opposition.
In November, I filed a freedom of information request with the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), requesting documentation of meetings – as well as any communication regarding meetings – between the Colombian Ambassador and the Office of the President of the United States regarding the Pegasus sale.
The ONDCP just responded to my request – stating that it had no such information.
If the ONDCP – part of the Office of the President in charge of battling illicit drug trafficking – was not in the loop regarding meetings to discuss the Pegasus purchase, it seems fairly unlikely that the purchase was made to combat drugs.
Next FOIA request is filed, zap to support this work 🫡
GM, if you don’t self custody, custodians can decide to remove the 21M cap
Happy holidays and 
EU & FATF 2025: Your Bitcoin Wallet's New Rules?
What is the best Christmas gift from human rights, privacy and Bitcoin advocates?
Open Dialogue Foundation provides you with a comprehensive respond on what you should know while using #Bitcoin p2p wallet, privacy payments tools & open-source technologies like the #LightningNetwork, #Fedimint, and e-cash in the European Union.
Huge kudos for nostr:npub1trkudtnp7jg3tmy4sz8mepmgs5wdxk9x2esgts25mgkyecrse7js6ptss5 and nostr:npub15ka0zlfeys4vphnl6dk4x63e7sra0mp3wmrp4ml7q993z8km0n6spjxua8 for gathering all of this information in the report “Impact of the EU and FATF Regulatory Frameworks on Non-Custodial Crypto-Assets Wallets”. https://en.odfoundation.eu/a/726702,impact-of-the-eu-and-fatf-regulatory-frameworks-on-non-custodial-crypto-assets-wallets/
Save, share with your friends, especially new users of Bitcoin privacy tools.
Merry Christmas!
Great report, thank you Lyudmyla!
Bitcoiners, last week:
"Lots of bad takes around the strategic Bitcoin reserve on the timeline.
For intelligent well informed up to date takes on the SBR I recommend following Matthew Pines."
Matthew Pines, this week:
"The benefits to bitcoin holders are secondary to the broader objectives of securing America’s place in the global financial system."
"The government’s strategic adoption of bitcoin is not about rewarding private holders. It is about national interests."
😘
Indeed, it was a counterpoint to nostr:npub12sxrqpv3duwh3rpxgyy4leu4p4yt6wukzzg5cvjnqyukahjddyrqqrzzke's reply 🙂
ah, sorry!
Great article and not counter to my point at all actually
The success of bitcoin can be defined in two ways.
On the one hand, there is the success of bitcoin as an investment asset. On the other, there is the success of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
The success of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system will always guarantee the success of bitcoin as an investment asset.
The success of bitcoin as an investment asset does not guarantee the success of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
The success of Bitcoin as an investment asset is the blue pill – It’s the decision to stay in a safe, predictable world and avoid confronting uncomfortable truths. Scaling and privacy aren’t just not needed, but seen as actual risks.
The success of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system is the red pill – It’s the decision to break out of the Matrix and build a world where financial censorship becomes an impossibility, but it requires future updates to the protocol.
Since the notion that self-custody is undesirable for users has increasingly been floating around, let us make this very clear: If you do not take custody of your funds, you do not get to decide.
Oh no! You have drawn an UNO reverse card. Please return to step one.
freedom down bad amigos
Bitcoin in 2020:
Run a node
Self-custody only
Fuck the Fed
Bitcoin in 2024:
Bro how does a node work bro
Coinbase, the best place to custody
Let’s use bitcoin to back the dollar
Wake up babe, there's a new filing in Tornado Cash:
Roman Storm's defense has filed to drop all criminal charges as last months sanctions reversal shows all counts of the indictment are "fatally and legally flawed".
In the sanctions reversal, the Fifth Circuit found that the software does not constitute property and cannot be owned or controlled, leaving the Government's case against Storm hardly a leg to stand on:
Much of Storm's prosecution relies on the Government's ability to prove that Storm operated a service over which he held sufficient control.
According to the defense:
If Tornado Cash is not property and cannot be owned, then it cannot be a “business” at all, let alone a “money transmitting business.”
As argued in the newly filed motion:
The Fifth Circuit "confirms that the government will never be able to prove that Mr. Storm had control over the proceeds of the specified unlawful activity."
In the legal system, Circuit appellate courts exist to review whether district courts have applied the law correctly, holding the ability to set binding precedent.
While Storm's criminal prosecution lies outside of the Fifth Circuit's jurisdiction, the ruling may be sufficiently persuasive to end the US Government's witch hunt and incredible misinterpretation of the law.
Full story: https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-storm-van-loon/
Test can anybody zap this