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Topic: Goodbye, privacy, goodbye, it was nice while it lasted. - page 2. (Read 2437 times)

legendary
Activity: 2464
Merit: 1387
snip.

CBDC is and will always be 100% centralized and you can't and will never be able to have any kind of privacy using it. In a sense it is no different than using banks as you already do. The bill on the other hand is targeting centralized services which doesn't affect bitcoin or "all aspects of people's financial activity".
Bitcoin on the other hand will always be decentralized and nobody can control it or your transactions. All they can do is to control big centralized places like a payment processor that shouldn't even exist in bitcoin ecosystem, or exchanges and such. But for example they can never force a supermarket that accepts bitcoin to ask for KYC when someone pays for a bag of chips.

snip

Thats exactly it, I said before that governments can only affect the usage of Bitcoin
through the entry and exit points - exchanges

After yesterday's vote of the European Parliament committee, I have become very pessimistic:
...

...

Everything is changing before our eyes in the digital currency industry. With bans on anonymous transactions well underway, the U.S. SEC circling the likes of Ripple and Tether, and Satoshi’s Bitcoin slowly being understood as an electronic cash system designed for small casual payments that works within the law and which is always subject to it, things are ever so slowly changing for the better. If the EU votes to pass the new rules, it will be another nail in the coffin for the false narrative plaguing the industry[/i]."

And the problem with this is that it sets a precedent and entrenches a trend of increasing state control.

What do you think about it? Are you as pessimistic as me or this article?

Edit: go to page 2 for the key proposals of the draft.

Also: PLEASE REALIZE THAT franky's ARGUMENTS ARE GARBAGE. As they are based on a former draft on a slightly different subject, that didn't pass, as I've shown on page 2.

This was to be expected since governments often see crypto as a threat to the existence of Fiat. The EU decided to "up" their game as they believe crypto can be used by Russians to avoid sanctions. Other countries are tightening regulations for the same reason. Privacy in crypto/Blockchain land was relatively non-existent since centralized exchanges and transparent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have dominated the industry for long. There are only a few privacy-oriented solutions, but adoption is relatively low.

What matters is that crypto stays decentralized so that it can stand the test of time. As long as there are defenders of privacy and decentralization, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts Grin

If everyone who is serious about Bitcoin embraces more the idea if decentralisation and seeks
out privacy orientated solutions we can bypass these crazy laws.

As regards these new laws they have to have a negative effect on crypto development in
the EU, I wonder will future bureaucrats vote to abolish these backwards looking laws when
they realise that all the reasons why they are implimenting these laws still exist in the future.
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 1363
www.Crypto.Games: Multiple coins, multiple games
Being in a union cuts both ways. When you are out of it, you can't benefit from the advantages like tax agreements and that returns you higher import prices. However you can create competition by making more investor friendly laws and that will attract more investors like how UK done here.

It seems to me decentralization is a good thing even on a country level.

The more independent countries we have, the more competition we have. The more competition we have, the more investor-friendly laws we get and that means the world government will never work out. Globalism is a fad.

Yes. Competition is needed in order to help prevent "globalism" from destroying crypto in its entirety. Some governments may become oppressive against crypto/Blockchain tech, but others will embrace it with open arms. I guess the EU doesn't want to be at the forefront of crypto innovation. Privacy is a human right, which is something crypto originally stands for. Without that, how would people experience true financial freedom?

We're going to have to see how this will end in the long run, as the crypto/Blockchain industry grows at a fast pace. The more popular it becomes, the more governments will be forced to adopt the "revolution". As long as decentralization wins, we should have nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts Grin
newbie
Activity: 21
Merit: 1
Cryptocurrency provides the features of anonymity which might be seen as a threat to many governments. We can not deny that the feature of anonymity will always serve good.
legendary
Activity: 3276
Merit: 2442
After this horrible thing happened it is great for at least the UK is out of the Eurozone and there are a couple of exchanges there which can offer to withdraw money to your bank account or a crypto wallet that you own,Cex being one of them and I did a transaction as a test compared to other exchanges in the EU,it passed without problems to my bank account the money and also to my crypto wallet.I think we need more countries like this who do not give a damn about what Europe does.

Being in a union cuts both ways. When you are out of it, you can't benefit from the advantages like tax agreements and that returns you higher import prices. However you can create competition by making more investor friendly laws and that will attract more investors like how UK done here.

It seems to me decentralization is a good thing even on a country level.

The more independent countries we have, the more competition we have. The more competition we have, the more investor-friendly laws we get and that means the world government will never work out. Globalism is a fad.
sr. member
Activity: 1046
Merit: 273
After this horrible thing happened it is great for at least the UK is out of the Eurozone and there are a couple of exchanges there which can offer to withdraw money to your bank account or a crypto wallet that you own,Cex being one of them and I did a transaction as a test compared to other exchanges in the EU,it passed without problems to my bank account the money and also to my crypto wallet.I think we need more countries like this who do not give a damn about what Europe does.
I am not entirely sure, Europe is just way too big to ignore, I get that people could continue to do whatever they want if they are not in Europe, but I doubt governments could get a better economical situation if they just simply get Europe against them.

You have two options, either make the crypto people in your nation happy while facing Europe, or you could act natural to Europe and try to get help from them financially while facing your crypto people. I think most nations will pick Europe over their own crypto people. Doesn't mean that it is the right choice, but it is the known choice and they will go with the devil you know type of deal instead.
member
Activity: 602
Merit: 11
After this horrible thing happened it is great for at least the UK is out of the Eurozone and there are a couple of exchanges there which can offer to withdraw money to your bank account or a crypto wallet that you own,Cex being one of them and I did a transaction as a test compared to other exchanges in the EU,it passed without problems to my bank account the money and also to my crypto wallet.I think we need more countries like this who do not give a damn about what Europe does.
right, they simplify the rules regarding the use of cryptocurrencies, so that it will be easier to develop and develop their society regarding technological developments that are currently happening as well as opportunities to improve the personal economy which has an impact on improving the country's economy, even though what the UK is doing is an extreme measure, but this will be better for their people
legendary
Activity: 3318
Merit: 1247
Bitcoin Casino Est. 2013
After this horrible thing happened it is great for at least the UK is out of the Eurozone and there are a couple of exchanges there which can offer to withdraw money to your bank account or a crypto wallet that you own,Cex being one of them and I did a transaction as a test compared to other exchanges in the EU,it passed without problems to my bank account the money and also to my crypto wallet.I think we need more countries like this who do not give a damn about what Europe does.
legendary
Activity: 3220
Merit: 1363
www.Crypto.Games: Multiple coins, multiple games
After yesterday's vote of the European Parliament committee, I have become very pessimistic:
...

...

Everything is changing before our eyes in the digital currency industry. With bans on anonymous transactions well underway, the U.S. SEC circling the likes of Ripple and Tether, and Satoshi’s Bitcoin slowly being understood as an electronic cash system designed for small casual payments that works within the law and which is always subject to it, things are ever so slowly changing for the better. If the EU votes to pass the new rules, it will be another nail in the coffin for the false narrative plaguing the industry[/i]."

And the problem with this is that it sets a precedent and entrenches a trend of increasing state control.

What do you think about it? Are you as pessimistic as me or this article?

Edit: go to page 2 for the key proposals of the draft.

Also: PLEASE REALIZE THAT franky's ARGUMENTS ARE GARBAGE. As they are based on a former draft on a slightly different subject, that didn't pass, as I've shown on page 2.

This was to be expected since governments often see crypto as a threat to the existence of Fiat. The EU decided to "up" their game as they believe crypto can be used by Russians to avoid sanctions. Other countries are tightening regulations for the same reason. Privacy in crypto/Blockchain land was relatively non-existent since centralized exchanges and transparent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have dominated the industry for long. There are only a few privacy-oriented solutions, but adoption is relatively low.

What matters is that crypto stays decentralized so that it can stand the test of time. As long as there are defenders of privacy and decentralization, there should be nothing to worry about. Just my thoughts Grin
full member
Activity: 673
Merit: 106
Bitcoin is indeed above government regulations, but each country or government has its own rules or regulations. The government will not fully regulate Cryptocurrency they only regulate the entrance but not for the inside.
They won't be able to ban bitcoins and worldwide users like I know they will try to manage bitcoins/ want to embrace bitcoins and drag bitcoins with them because they crave and want bitcoins but obviously  Obviously, they won't be able to do that.  The evolution of always open, decentralized technology will welcome the world in the next few years.

When geopolitics has alliances, why can't bitcoin have coalitions from countries that are considering bitcoin's legitimacy in the future?  Whether the government of each country is urgent with regulations or not, it has been proven through the history of the development of bitcoin.
legendary
Activity: 2856
Merit: 1519
-snip-
Bitcoin is indeed above government regulations, but each country or government has its own rules or regulations. The government will not fully regulate Cryptocurrency they only regulate the entrance but not for the inside. Don't worry, your personal wallet will still be decentralized and only you can manage it, because you own the private key.

as long as you don't publish your personal wallet address, everything will be safe.
stay away from exchanges that require KYC if you really don't want to be exposed.

It really is not. You should not take regulations lightly. The government can and absolutely will ban Bitcoin given the opportunity, using regulations as a cudgel to force compliance. They don't need your private keys nor do they want them. As long as they can convince everybody else that isn't yet a Bitcoin user that they should not adopt, their goals have been accomplished.


Due to the specific characteristics and risk profile of crypto-assets, the information obligation should apply to crypto-assets transfers, regardless of the value of the transfer.[/b] There are clear indications that crypto-asset activities associated with criminal activities and terrorism financing are often transfers of small value. Furthermore, crypto-assets and related technologies enable criminals to split high value transfers into small amounts across multiple wallet addresses in order to avoid detection of AML/CFT monitoring systems and to carry out illicit activities via structured transactions to a scale and global reach not available to wire transfers.

This is insanity, and coincidentally the U.S. also invoked terrorism or national security as a reason for regulation of crypto currency. It's becoming a pattern of lies and deception. Almost like there's collusion.
legendary
Activity: 2632
Merit: 1883
Leading Crypto Sports Betting & Casino Platform
Looking at the topic, I see that somehow when transactions are made with BTC, they require KYC in some establishments, be it in a store, or even more so in a bank, but honestly, the mixers are somehow the solution, in the country where I live, everything, they absolutely look for the way that should be done to do what we want, at one point transactions were made with the so-called traveling dollars that were looking for points in another country as if they were in other countries, now one thing that is even easier as the fact of acquiring privacy, I do not see it as something so complicated, if we allow our data to be given to government organizations and declare that we have BTC, I think we are totally lost, but if not, there are many ways to evade, the most reckless is in the dark web, it is a dangerous way but it exists.

Privacy and anonymity for me is becoming more and more difficult, so much so that I would dare to say that in less than 10 years it will be very difficult to possess it.
hero member
Activity: 2338
Merit: 757
Top-tier crypto casino and sportsbook
The latest news info - UK wants to be a crypto hub and plan to exploit the crypto potential, what about EU - did they still want to commit a crypto suicide with their overregulations? I guess will soon find out?! UK probably made the right choice leaving the EU.
In my country, you don't really have to use a centralized exchange in order to spend or withdraw bitcoin and other coins. Everything happens in the dark-market , so if someone is not able to use P2P platforms, he can always deal with local buyers and sellers who are running closed groups (mainly in discord and facebook) and can even use escrow services from group admins.
legendary
Activity: 1904
Merit: 1159
Privacy Ah.. Nothing private these days, A kid is born its photo goes online. We live in information age and in future identity theft will be most serious and challenging crimes. We don’t know even today someone might be using a mobile phone with our identity documents to issue it. So it become more important to protect our identity by hook or crook.. The governments will try to decrypt the crypto, but there will be geniuses who will find a way to keep working silently and anonymously..
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
After such actions, will you still have a desire to use this "perfectly fine site"?
As malevolent stated though, this never used to be the case. I used LocalBitcoins many years ago when they were still a peer to peer exchange with no KYC requirements and no invasion of your privacy. However, now they are little better than most other centralized exchanges and if you use them you have little to no privacy. As soon as a service starts asking for KYC, time to abandon that service.

While I often use sites like LocalCryptos and HodlHodl, they are not immune from this either, and with the right amount of pressure on the right people they could also be forced to either shut down or to start demanding KYC. If that ever happens, then again, I will abandon them. The upside here is that since they are peer to peer exchanges they don't hold custody of any of my coins, so can't seize them and lock me out of my account like centralized exchanges do when they start ramping up their KYC requirements.

As n0nce says, this is what makes Bisq stand out. It is open source software you run yourself and connect directly to other trades over Tor. No amount of KYC requirements can stop me from running the software. Asking Bisq to collect KYC details would be the same as asking "Bitcoin" to collect KYC details - there simply isn't a centralized entity to do so, nor a realistic way to do it.
legendary
Activity: 4424
Merit: 4794
here is some lessons to learn about privacy..
ill use fiat as the established example.

when you buy things from walmart with your debit card. your bank only sees you->walmart $xxx.xx
this does not raise any red flags, because walmart is a legit business. your bank has no need to ask for what you have bought.
yes walmart keeps receipt records of your purchases(not your bank. nor government) BUT it is possible for there to be some future need to have your bank ask about a certain purchase and make a court order for your bank to ask walmart to disclose the details of your receipt.. but this is not a default thing. its the exception..

however if your bank offers you 'cashback' on purchases.. watch out. this is your bank bypassing the government overwatch exception, and instead is where your bank as a business wants YOUR PERMISSION to gather your purchase items lists from walmart so that your bank(as a business) can sell that data to other companies who may want to advertise their similar products to you

this is not about government surveillance. this is about the bank as a business getting your consent to invade your privacy for their financial gain with an enticement that you can make money too from their invasion of privacy

what you will find is that many CEX and even DEX will try to sell your data to other businesses. and yes. many of the new laws that allow businesses to share data, are not done by government wanting oversight at their level. but from businesses lobbying government to make these rules to allow businesses to make profit.

a bank/business does not need to wait for a court order from a government to be able to pass data, IF the terms and conditions of the bank/business makes the customer persuaded into signing upto/opting-into something that gives that bank/business permission to pass data

its why even here in the UK your medical records are still deemed private. unless you as the patient have opted into a service that allows data to be shared.

i say all this because even if there is no current law that has the government keeping records on everyone. (yep i said that the government does not store all database records of all coinbase customers, FACT) due to laws around needing court orders and suspected reported behaviour to trigger a court order request..

however coinbase or any exchange can simply put in the small print of their T&C of membership accounts that the member of coinbase by signing upto the service has by default opted into a scheme allowing their data and even their deposit taint analysis to be passed onto third parties
. they currently are not asking for consent to sell your data.. but they can.. EASILY

but they do ask for your implied consent to bypass the court order requirement.
here is one example of coinbase bypassing the court order requirement by getting your consent that allows them to pass info around without the need of a court order (getting your consent/authorisation)
https://www.coinbase.com/legal/user_agreement/united_states
Quote
1.3. Consent to Access, Processing and Storage of Your Personal Data & Identity Verification. During registration for your Coinbase Account, or at any other time deemed necessary by Coinbase, you agree to provide us with the information we request for the purposes of identity verification, providing Coinbase Services to you, and the detection of money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, or any other financial crimes and permit us to keep a record of such information. The information we request may include certain personal information, including, but not limited to, your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, date of birth, taxpayer identification number, government identification, and information regarding your bank account (such as the name of the bank, the account type, routing number, and account number) and in some cases (where permitted by law), special categories of personal data, such as your biometric information. You consent to us accessing, processing and retaining any personal information you provide to us for the purpose of us providing Coinbase Services to you.
This consent is not related to, and does not affect, any rights or obligations we or you have in accordance with data protection laws, privacy laws and regulations. You can withdraw your consent at any time by closing your account with us. However, we may retain and continue to process your personal information if we reasonably believe it is necessary in order to comply with laws or regulations. In providing us with this or any other information that may be required, you confirm that the information is accurate and authentic. You agree to keep us updated if any of the information you provide changes. You authorize us to make inquiries, whether directly or through third parties, that we consider necessary to verify your identity or protect you and/or us against fraud or other financial crime, and to take action we reasonably deem necessary based on the results of such inquiries. When we carry out these inquiries, you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be disclosed to credit reference and fraud prevention or financial crime agencies and that these agencies may respond to our inquiries in full. This is an identity check only and should have no adverse effect on your credit rating. We reserve the right at all times to monitor, review, retain and/or disclose any information as necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, sanctions programs, legal process or governmental request. Further, you authorize your wireless operator (e.g., AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon, or any other branded wireless operator) to use your mobile number, name, address, email, network status, customer type, customer role, billing type, mobile device identifiers (IMSI and IMEI) and other subscriber status details, if available, solely to allow verification of your identity and to compare information you have provided to Coinbase with your wireless operator account profile information for as long as you have a Coinbase Account. See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy for more information on how we process your personal data and the rights you have in respect of this.

hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 5943
not your keys, not your coins!
I would like to mention that I'd prefer recommending 'Bisq and X and Y' because always recommending the same service makes you sound like a shill, I realize that.
Ones that I personally have used and recommend (in order of preference) are Bisq, LocalCryptos, and HodlHodl.

Another I am aware of which generally has a good reputation but I have never used personally and so would not recommend based on that alone is AgoraDesk.

I've also recently become aware of RoboSats (only available via Tor) which is a very new exchange looking to facilitate fiat/Lightning trades. One to keep an eye on, but again, I am not vouching for it by any means.
Thanks, I will have a look at / try them!

Localbitcoins has a long-standing reputation and has proven itself, this is indisputable. But times are changing and no one is able to resist the pressure of governments. I don't know if you have seen this news: Localbitcoins submitted data of over 100,000 Russian users to the tax authorities. I'll give you the first link I can find on this thread.
This seems like a design flaw to me, though. If you implement it 'right' (such as in Bisq), there are no servers that could store user data and the only time your payment information leaves your device is when someone accepts your offer - because somehow they need to know where to send the fiat / btc. That way, no matter how much pressure someone puts on Bisq devs or how hard someone tries to hack their servers, they won't find customer data, because it is decentralized and stays on people's own machines.

When I'll check out those other recommendations by o_e_l_e_o I will focus on this aspect a lot, since it's kind of a game-changer for me. I might actually make a review / comparison thread if it doesn't exist yet. Would need to collect more information / experience first, though.
legendary
Activity: 1792
Merit: 1296
Playbet.io - Crypto Casino and Sportsbook
many people have tried to say 'localbitcoin' failed because 'bitcoin is centralised' when the reality is that the sellers on localbitcoins were independent and decentralised in regards to the bitcoin side..  but their bank accounts were flagged as running a possible illicit/unregistered business/service simply because of the amount of wire transfers being processed. its not localbitcoins fault. its the banking fault of personal account terms and conditions.

Localbitcoins was a perfectly fine site that worked for in-person cash trades until the regulatory climate forced LBC to kill off that feature (they could have moved to a different jurisdiction but that wouldn't be enough in the long term).
Localbitcoins has a long-standing reputation and has proven itself, this is indisputable. But times are changing and no one is able to resist the pressure of governments. I don't know if you have seen this news: Localbitcoins submitted data of over 100,000 Russian users to the tax authorities. I'll give you the first link I can find on this thread.

After such actions, will you still have a desire to use this "perfectly fine site"? What if your name ends up in such a database?
legendary
Activity: 2268
Merit: 18771
I would like to mention that I'd prefer recommending 'Bisq and X and Y' because always recommending the same service makes you sound like a shill, I realize that.
Ones that I personally have used and recommend (in order of preference) are Bisq, LocalCryptos, and HodlHodl.

Another I am aware of which generally has a good reputation but I have never used personally and so would not recommend based on that alone is AgoraDesk.

I've also recently become aware of RoboSats (only available via Tor) which is a very new exchange looking to facilitate fiat/Lightning trades. One to keep an eye on, but again, I am not vouching for it by any means.
hero member
Activity: 924
Merit: 5943
not your keys, not your coins!
Localbitcoins was a perfectly fine site that worked for in-person cash trades until the regulatory climate forced LBC to kill off that feature (they could have moved to a different jurisdiction but that wouldn't be enough in the long term).

But surely that functionality doesn't have to take the form of a centralised website?  That's a big, easy target for regulators.  Alternatively, it could work as an open-source, downloadable software client which matches up prospective buyers and sellers.  That way people can distribute the software via torrent or other hard-to-shut-down filesharing methods.  Why aren't we just doing that?
That's exactly what Bisq is doing. The software runs directly on your computer, syncs to the Bitcoin network and connects with other peers over Tor. It then broadcasts your sell or buy offer to them and aggregates everything in a pretty nice GUI. Multiple fiat payment methods are supported, as well as in-person cash.
But the trading volume is relatively low with a few hundred FIAT<>BTC transfers per week. https://bisq.markets/

I would like to mention that I'd prefer recommending 'Bisq and X and Y' because always recommending the same service makes you sound like a shill, I realize that. However, sadly I am not sure there is a lot of competition in this 'P2P anonymous exchange' market. I'm happy to be told otherwise and to get more recommendations, though!
legendary
Activity: 3948
Merit: 3191
Leave no FUD unchallenged
Localbitcoins was a perfectly fine site that worked for in-person cash trades until the regulatory climate forced LBC to kill off that feature (they could have moved to a different jurisdiction but that wouldn't be enough in the long term).

But surely that functionality doesn't have to take the form of a centralised website?  That's a big, easy target for regulators.  Alternatively, it could work as an open-source, downloadable software client which matches up prospective buyers and sellers.  That way people can distribute the software via torrent or other hard-to-shut-down filesharing methods.  Why aren't we just doing that?
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