Unfortunately if you are working on privacy tech, your best course of action to protect yourself is to renounce your U.S. citizenship, move to a non-extradition country, and do everything possible to stay anonymous. Privacy is a crime in the eyes of the USG. If you produce privacy tech, they will eventually come after you. It’s not a question of if, but when.

Thank god @ODELL was on the @Bitcoin Magazine livestream tonight. Needed at least one person talking sense…

If Silk Road was still around today, we would not have the fentanyl epidemic we currently do. #FreeRoss

Happy 40th birthday to Ross Ulbricht. He deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, not a double life sentence + 40 years without the possibility of parole. #FreeRoss

After nearly a decade of “crypto” trying to feign utility, attempting to solve problems that don’t exist or can’t be solved with a blockchain, some are finally embracing its true product-market fit, gambling. The memecoin mania is the most refreshing thing in crypto. No pretense, just pure degenerate gambling.

I’ve seen people argue that @GaryGensler will approve $ETH ETFs because he doesn’t want to get sued. When has anyone in the government ever cared about getting sued? There are no real repercussions for it. Taxpayer money is used for their defense, and there are no individual civil or criminal penalties if they lose. Perhaps a tiny bit of reputation damage, but that’s nothing. If anything, the agency may use it as an excuse to grow their people and budget further to defend against lawsuits. I’d put the odds in favor of Gary denying it. Most people in government don’t care about the law, because they can break it without repercussions, but especially not Gary.

The U.S. government has long weaponized private companies to violate the rights of individuals. This is just the latest in a string of incidents and likely just the tip of the iceberg. KYC / AML must be abolished. Private #Bitcoin  usage fixes this.

House Judiciary Committee Republicans

New Report Exposes Massive Government Surveillance of Americans' Financial Data

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government released an in...

The state of the union is one of the most absurd statist rituals. It’s nauseating how self-congratulatory those sociopaths are, cheering on the mass violation of human rights.

Please stop spreading misinformation about OTC desks “running out” of #bitcoin . It’s not happening, and doesn’t make sense as desks can easily source from the large number of counterparties they’re connected to (including multiple exchanges).

For the love of god, please no S2F price predictions this cycle 😫. S2F is statistically and logically invalid. #Bitcoin price increases if demand increases, and demand is influenced by countless factors.

Many people have a misunderstanding of #Bitcoin  Over-The-Counter (OTC) trading. OTC trades do very much impact price. OTC “desks” work to source liquidity for large buys / sells (often via connection to multiple exchange counterparties). Their goal is to get buyers / sellers better execution than just slamming a large order on a single exchange which can price cause slippage. This is often done automatically via Request-For-Quote (RFQ) systems. All trades impact spot price, even if they’re done OTC. E.g., many people take the other side of a large sell trade and would have bought from other sellers. A large marginal seller pushes down price. Granted if someone market bought / sold hundreds of millions on a single exchange, there would likely be ripple effects due to price slippage, but doing OTC would still 100% impact the price. To learn more:

GSR Markets

Crypto OTC Trading Exchange

The Crypto OTC trading desk of GSR uses smart order execution to find unparalleled liquidity and prices for over 200 assets.

Crypto OTC Trading Platform | Kraken

Kraken OTC offers competitive execution and settlement 24/7. Access private, personalized and secure services to conduct your large crypto orders. ...

Exactly 1 month from today, #Bitcoin  ceases to exist. Enjoy it while it lasts!

This is my 20th year of being a libertarian. In the first 5-10 years, I believed Democrats were superior to Republicans (slightly worse on economy, much better on war and civil liberties). However it's now abundantly clear Democrats are by far the biggest threat to liberty. They are significantly worse on almost every issue - the economy and civil liberties and typically worse on war (e.g., Ukraine). It's incredible how far and fast they've fallen. They could have chosen the path of anti-war and pro-civil liberties (at least compared to Republicans), but instead have turned into authoritarians on nearly every issue. Republicans are still awful obviously, but they're in a different league than Democrats.

A must read. What the government is demanding of #Bitcoin  miners (under the threat of violence) is the most egregious, totalitarian thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to demands of private businesses. The Biden administration must be stopped at all costs. View quoted note →

#Bitcoin Ordinals may be dumb, but I don’t think can be classified as a “scam” (for most of them at least). People knowingly choosing to gamble isn’t fraud so long as they are not being lied to. Scams involve defrauding someone - “the intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest means to deprive another of his/her/its money, property or a legal right.” - Law.com On the flip side, nothing wrong with being against them / calling them dumb. A free market doesn’t mean you need to be in favor of market activity and can’t call it out as dumb. There is a ton of activity in a free market that is worth calling out. In fact, speaking out against things is a critically important in a well functioning free market.

#[0] Verifying My Public Key: "BitcoinRothbard"