Technology

Samourai was a Bitcoin wallet attempting to improve the currency's privacy. Its devs were arrested this year.

Localmonero was a platform where people could post listings for buying or selling Monero without KYC. There was also an identical sister site Agoradesk for Bitcoin. They abruptly shut down this year, probably afraid of similar prosecution (it happened pretty soon after the Samourai case).

Chainalysis is a company that US government works with, attempting to track and deanonymize crypto transactions. Recently a presentation of theirs leaked, disclosing some of their methods (which were very interesting for the Monero community in particular).

Chainalysis is a cryptocurrency/blockchain investigation software, I at least know that much.

Republicans love a good scam

Next up is the dismantling of the ACA. They will roll out these amazingly cheap alternatives. Health insurance for $10 a month!

So the poor and the stupid will sign up. They’ll go to the bar and saunter up to a “libtard” and tell them that trump fixed everything.

Then when they get sick and try to use MAGA super plan plus premium they won’t be able to find a doctor. The $10/month plan only covers an annual trip to a CVS minute clinic. They’ll go on Facebook and write up how the goddamn liberals tricked him. Other faithful republicans will pray for them and tell them that it must be a glitch because trump made things better.

The con will win because it’ll only hurt those without power.

Scam and speculation are the only use cases after all.

There wasn't a need to "define a new regulatory framework that actually fits" because, funnily enough, the existing regulatory framework already fits. It turns out, inventing new words doesn't actually change the fundamental nature of the thing you're describing. Refusing to call something an "investment" doesn't change the fact that you're selling an investment, refusing to call something a "security" doesn't prevent it from being a security if it meets the definition.

Edit: Sorry, let me address that ridiculous point about Coinbase "asking for clarity" directly. Yes, Coinbase repeatedly "asked for clarity" in the same manner as a dude in a girl's DMs repeatedly asking for nudes while being told in the bluntest of terms to fuck off. They were given perfectly clear answers, they just didn't like them, so they kept claiming, with zero fucking basis, that these will laid out rules that every financial institution has been following for decades were somehow "unclear" to them. It was a conversation not unlike a Sovereign Citizen trying to get out of a speeding ticket by claiming that they don't understand where the officer's authority comes from. The law is prefectly clear. If you don't understand the law, you hire a lawyer who does. That's a cost of doing business. Sticking "smart" in front the of the word "contract" doesn't suddenly invent a whole new field of law. I can't suddenly get away with murder because I call it "crypto murder". The law is based on what you do, not what you call it.

That's fair, but hardly so aggressive that I'd call it a "crypto crackdown."

But it's hardly unexpected to see lawsuits around unsettled law. Everyone should expect more as we start settling case law and bringing crypto inline with existing law.

Also, wasn't it mostly centered around their non-exchange activities? Press release specifically mentions their "Staking-as-a-Service" offering. Not that I see anything wrong with it, but I could see how that could be considered a security. Doesn't really pass the Howey test.