Topic: Libertarians built a Bitcoin economy in a small town, feds shut it down (Read 275 times)

One more interesting article related with Ian Freeman and continuation of his story and releasing from jail after he paid $200,000 bond, and waiting for minimum ten years or life time in prison!
This is probably one of the best crypto related articles I ever saw, released for New York Magazine on August 16 after Freeman was interviewed by journalist Simon Wood.
Ian talks about his early life and how he became libertarian after first time smoking a pot at age 16, and after that he was bitten by a Bitcoin bug like many other libertarians.
Freeman could have been a bitcoin billionaire now but he regrets nothing according to his own words:

I don't think Freeman should go to prison for life, but in this twisted system anything is possible, while real criminal politicians are safe at their homes living as fat parasites.
You can listen to Freeman on his radio website:
https://www.freetalklive.com/


Source: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/bitcoin-ian-freeman-fbi-doj.html
archive: https://archive.ph/61xUa

I never understood the adherence to smaller block sizes either.  It's like hardcoding a limit into the ability to enable mass adoption.  A currency that can't be used without lengthy transaction delays or significant fees is not a useful currency.  But the ship has long sailed on bitcoin as a functional currency.  Now it's all about price appreciation and FOMO.  No one uses it as a currency.

More precisely, it will have an impact on the next generation, if it is allowed to circulate on a large scale and there are no actions that incriminate the dealers. We clearly condemn, according to the rules of all countries that drugs are still a threat and are mutually agreed upon in every country (except for other rules that I don't know about in which countries drugs are free to roam). However, so far, which country has tried to loosen the rules on drug dealers and let people go free. What will happen in the future if it is left like that?

For me, siding with them would depend on what kind of drugs were being dealt and exactly what they're connection was to it.  I generally don't like drug dealers, but I've met a lot of them through my work and not all of them are equal.  Some do it out of desperation, some to feed their own addictions, and then there are others who are absolute scumbags who don't care about the people they're hurting in the least.  

And what if the drug was marijuana?  In that case, I wouldn't care whatsoever.  But in any case, yeah....it sure would be nice if the public were given enough detail such that they could make an informed opinion on the matter.

Man, if you dig into anyone's doings far enough, you'll find something shady.  But I don't trust law enforcement reports to be accurate, nor those made by the media.  This group doesn't sound like it was some backwater, anti-government militia that operates out of a fortified compound, though.  It'd be nice to hear an opposing viewpoint or at least a news report with verified facts.

Ah, I didn't read your post before making mine (I'll never get over that bad habit).  Drug laws, IMO, are counterproductive.  People are going to use drugs regardless of their legality--they always have, they always will.  Prohibition in the 1920s failed spectacularly, as did Reagan's war on drugs.  Putting people in prison for substances they choose to ingest is just another infringement on individual freedom. 

Yes, the problem of addiction is a very real, very serious one--but do laws help the problem at all?  Nope.  They just make the US's incarceration rate even higher, and drug users need help and not punishment.

Natural herbs have healing properties that shouldn't be wasted, but it doesn't mean they should be used in innapropriate ways. Anyway, the main issue presented here isn't the drugs usage itself, but the coop relationship that was established between the called libertarians and the potential drugs dealer who approached the community.
If that was really the case, the police was just doing their legit job and the community members victimizing themselves. I believe there are no excuses to maintain a relationship with a drugs dealer since this kind of people is involved in the most atrocious acts against civilized society.

Don't get me wrong, the opposition and the regime always try to create a conflict that is designed to make people feel confused about which policy to side with. In this situation the US always tries to be a hero even by placing it as a supporter of weapons even though it is still with world security and so on. Who dares then he will be silenced. Which country stands and will be confused with its own brother.
The term liberal appears as a form that is not much different, the term only evolved based on the era that led it.
Sometimes in the economy, Bitcoin becomes a target to beat the wealth of the bankers, dealing with the problems behind the politicians behind the round table.

What kind drug? Paracetamol, ibuprofen, cocaine, etc? I actually think the government can decide to allow/ban certain man-drugs... but natural herbal drug shouldn't be... It's doesn't make sense to ban them.  They can however have laws against their abuse.
You can't tell a Christian not to eat/use a particular herb whereas they are permitted to eat it by their laws.     

I'd prefer a raid by the FEDs over a raid by a gang:

Hard to battle against them when we know they can do force like what they did to Freeman. We always thought they couldn't seize our Bitcoin but if they do have the forces and point guns to your head like the kidnappers asking for ransom, you'd be forced to give them up, and surprisingly they are authorities we call when there are crimes happening.

If the towns become bigger though, like the country El Salvador, they may not be able to completely pinned them all down but will call the government a REGIME. And a Regime is always subjected to interference.

Absolutely ridiculous, but is this even surprising?

The governments around the world have one thing in common, and that is a collective disdain against decentralised cryptocurrencies.

It is definitely encouraging to see people in a community setting actually adopting bitcoin though. The Feds could shut down the initiative or the town, but they can never shut down the bitcoin protocol itself, and that is all that matters.

If there is actually a connection with drug dealing (either intentionally or not), then it will be impossible to side with these people. I don't believe everything the feds are claiming (we saw that in the case of Ross Ulbricht), but it looks like some amount of shady activity was going on there. Feds and left-wing nuts have intruded in to the libertarian movement in the United States and these guys are yet to realize it. And all it takes is just one connection with an illegal business, to tarnish the reputation of the entire community. 

I do not see this as a big event to be honest. There are many "libertarian" groups in the US and many of them are simply a poor excuse for a hillbilly group of half drug traffickers and half drunkards waving the confederate flag.

Those that are not, are actually trying to live a delusion, trying to live their lives as if there were on a free country - meaning they can ignore the laws - and declare some short of sovereignty and be left alone. The world does not work like that. If you want a libertarian state, you will need to either conquer one by war or by convincing a massive number of people. And that is only to create it, then you will need to defend it. Anything else is delusional.

On the bitcoin cash topic, I see that these people wanted to use bitcoin as currency, as it was intended in the beginning, and that spirit is better achieved with BCH

It's hard to take a side on this situation, because we don't really know if it's pure power abusing from authorities or if the source of the money used by the members of this community was really result of shady activities. One of the strongest points presented by the police was that libertarians were exchanging with a drugs dealer aware about who the man was, since he was an undercover agent and exposed it later.
Sadly these news seem very hidden from the traditional media vehicles. I would like to see it more in evidence by popular sources of information, in a way more people could see and understand this situation better.

It will always provoke the host country when there is the suspicion of tax-relevant activities that go untaxed.

There might be authorities that could agree to some lump sum taxation model if looks like it won't result in lower taxation, and comes with less effort than trying to determine every transaction.

This is correct, I understand that there are people out there that have very strong convictions about bitcoin and there is nothing wrong with that but there is no point in challenging the government, because if you do it is obvious who is going to lose, however people have options, now anyone that is interested in using bitcoin directly as money and without having to report their activities to anyone should just move to El Salvador and be done with it.

Cloudy, with a chance of massive bitcoin seizure if the influx becomes too great.  Oh, and then there's all the crime.

If the article you posted is anything to go by, I don't think there's ever going to be a bitcoin safe haven anywhere in the world.  The protesters were right, law enforcement acted as a gang of thugs--and if the amounts of money involved weren't so great, none of this would probably have happened.  I could almost guarantee you that wherever someone tried to set up a bitcoin utopia, as long as there's money to be seized "legally", the government in that jurisdiction will do it--and if there aren't laws already on the books, they'll create them.

This is why I mentioned the need for crypto lobbyists in one of my recent posts, bitcoiners with deep pockets and political connections they can leverage to ease this sort of shit.  Big pharma, oil companies, you name it, they have lobbyists paying off politicians left and right--and none of that is ever going to change as long as politics exists.  So why not have some bitcoin whales beating these anti-bitcoin lobbyists (banks, primarily) at their own game?  I'm not saying it'd happen overnight, but steps have to be taken, lest crypto gets regulated to the point of uselessness.

There's no need to wonder about that, because the answer is simple:  they have all the connections and the power.  If you make the laws, that's all you need.

If we read and finish all these texts, we will be very surprised. Because based on what I understand and also took the time for almost 15 minutes to read it. I conclude, full control over something that is considered to threaten the economy of a place and then the formation of groups of groups calling themselves libertarians and so on.

It shows that a decentralized one should be able to switch to a centralized system without having to tell everyone that. The world is too wide to control, but in fact, all have signals in various directions and then mix up scenarios and seem to give stories of patriotism.

In fact, this is not what crypto residents expect, there are quite a few people who want to step in and damage the image of authenticity. And precisely the economic sector became the object of the most extraordinary.

Would have been better if it's about not complying with evil laws. You can easily resist evil law and the ULTIMATE KING will be on your side for resisting evil. People still don't understand that the one who impose can't go against the Will of the CREATOR of this World and their Countries.     So, you look for the evil laws and stand firmly against them in faith and righteousness then watch and see that they really fear a BEING who no one can see. If they do not fear then they suffer the consequences of breaking the laws of their LANDLORD

I do agree that doing this is US was very risky but complying with every government decision, rule and law got us in this crazy situation we have in the world now.
More people comply with new government decisions, like wearing mandatory horns on our head or not talking with anyone on the street, more problems we are going to have, so I see non-compliance as a tool people have to resist.
I wonder how some politicians can steal all the money they want, lie, abuse everyone all the time, make people suicide themselves, and yet they never end up in jail.

It seems to be true and here is additional video interview made with Ian Freeman, who was a prisoner at his own home with police leg bracelet:
https://youtu.be/eoYopgjUUfQ

Does this surprise anyone? These guys are at the fault here and not the feds. Bitcoin is not a legal tender in the United States and each and every cryptocurrency transaction needs to be reported in the income tax return and should comply with the federal and state (New Hampshire in this case) regulations. Just because libertarians are a majority in a small village, they can't make rules on their own. If that is the case, then tomorrow some drug traffickers will move to ghost towns and then declare that cocaine, heroin and fentanyl are legal there. These things don't work. If they want to use Bitcoin, then it needs to be done in sync with the prevailing laws and regulations. Bitcoin is not banned in the US. The only thing is that you need to take the proper channels while dealing in it.