April 2021 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Israel May Have Destroyed Iranian Centrifuges Simply by Cutting Power
by jim bell 14 Apr '21

14 Apr '21

https://share.smartnews.com/JDfp

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Btc new ATH separates cypherpunk sheep from goats
by professor rat 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

Second Bull Run chugs along printing new ATH over 63K This really shows up who the total bullshit 'cypherpunks ' are since they don't have any skin in the game. BITCHES LEAVE.

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Re: GNU FSF: Richard Stallman Returns
by John Young 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

Stallman came by to vacate his recently died mother's condo when a neighbor offered condolences in the lobby. The total shit handed her his business card, growled give me a call, sweetheart. At 04:59 PM 4/2/2021, you wrote: > > https://rms-support-letter.github.io/ > > https://github.com/rms-support-letter/rms-support-letter.github.io/ > > > > Petition for freespeech, against cancel culture... > >The support for RMS campaign currently now has 67% more sigs >than the cancel culture campaign does, jumping 48% since last. >Cancel culture losing. > > >More sordid from land of virtual signallers... >https://debian.community/molly-de-blanc-arrest-and-prosecution-for-cyberbul… >https://debian.community/paul-tagliamonte-debian-usds-white-house-mob-ringl… > >https://uncensored.debian.community/ >https://danielpocock.com/positive-alternatives-to-codes-of-conduct/

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Cryptocurrency: Battle Stations!!! - The Global War Against Real Crypto Is Ramping Up
by grarpamp 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

$Trillions in market cap are making Governments and Banks very nervous. You've followed all the news articles for years... the bans, the creeping regulations, the taxation, the prisons, the tracking and controls, the war on cash, the rise of corporate shitcoins and government CBDC's... and you knew the global war against real distributed crypto was coming. Now, in as many ways and more, the war is here... and it is a dire threat. This Government, Bank, and Shitcoin war is winnable, the outcome is in your hands... you have the philosophy, speed, and numbers on your side. Yet if you are not *IN* the war, you are not going to *WIN* the war, on the contrary, you, and freedom, will *LOSE* the war, badly! Adopt, Keep, Use, and Fight for real Cryptocurrency!! Get Active, get in Public, and get in the Crypto Political War... NOW!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs The Tiny Dot http://voluntaryist.com/articles/we-are-many-they-are-few/ https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/08/bitcoin-coinbase-rival-kraken-may-go-public… https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-reiterates-tentative-plans-for-direct… https://u.today/coinbase-ceo-brian-armstrong-breaks-his-silence-on-cooperat… https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/12/bitcoin-kraken-ceo-jesse-powell-warns-of-cr… "I think there could be some crackdown," Jesse Powell, CEO of Kraken, told CNBC in an interview. A recent anti-money laundering rule proposed by the U.S. government would require people who hold their crypto in a private digital wallet to undergo identity checks if they make transactions of $3,000 or more. "Something like that could really hurt crypto and kind of kill the original use case, which was to just make financial services accessible to everyone," Powell said. Illicit activity accounted for just 0.34% of all crypto transaction volume last year, according to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. That was down from roughly 2% a year earlier. "I hope that the U.S. and international regulators don't take too much of a narrow view on this," Powell said. "Some other countries, China especially, are taking crypto very seriously and taking a very long-term view." Kraken's CEO said he feels the U.S. is more "shortsighted" than other nations and "susceptible" to the pressures of incumbent legacy businesses — in other words, the banks — that "stand to lose from crypto becoming a big deal." "I also think it might be too late," Powell added. "Maybe the genie's out of the bottle and just trying to ban it at this point would make it more attractive. It would certainly send a message that the government sees this as a superior alternative to their own currency." The U.S. isn't the only country considering strict new rules on crypto. In India, for example, the government is considering a law that would ban cryptocurrencies and penalize anyone holding or trading them. https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-hsbc-cryptocurrency-idUSKBN2BZ225 HSBC has banned customers of its online share-trading platform from buying or moving into their accounts MicroStrategy stock, calling it a "virtual currency product." The bank will not facilitate the buying or exchange of products related to or referencing the performance of virtual currencies, the message to an HSBC InvestDirect client said. MicroStrategy declined to comment. The U.S. business software firm is led by bitcoin proponent Michael Saylor and owns bitcoin worth billions of dollars. While HSBC will allow the holding, sale and outgoing transfer of MicroStrategy shares, it will forbid new purchases or incoming transfers, said the message dated March 29. "HSBC has no appetite for direct exposure to virtual currencies and limited appetite to facilitate products or securities that derive their value from VCs (virtual currencies)," HSBC said in a statement. The bank said its policy towards cryptocurrencies had been in place since 2018 and is kept under review. JPMorgan Chase, RBC Royal Bank Canada, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and many other bank based investing platforms actively block customer purchases of cryptocurrency stocks, ETF's, miners, futures, derivatives, holding funds, crypto servicing companies, coin protocol development companies, etc. These banks also refuse to open accounts for cryptocurrency exchanges, and they will cancel customers bank accounts found sending funds to and from exchanges. These are not prohibitions at law, the banks are acting arbitrarily. Powell remains generally skeptical of banking regulators who’ve created an atmosphere where banks can deny legal crypto firms and their customers basic banking services, while being allowed to make risky investments. “The problem with most banks is that they’re allowed to gamble while most people just need basic access to payment rails,” Powell said. “I think there’s still things governments can do to shut it down if they really get scared,” he said. “I’m a bit pessimistic about this. But I think that politicians in the long run are just self-serving. To the extent that we can put crypto in the pocket of every politician, they’ll likely work to benefit themselves.” Powell added that he’d feel more comfortable once U.S. politicians begin accepting and keeping campaign donations that are denominated in crypto. “I think there will always be a compulsion to go back to a human-managed currency because of the great power it has,” he said. “We’re still fighting against governments and [Internet Service Providers] for our rights on the internet.”

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The Guardian: Britain is damaging its reputation by keeping Julian Assange in jail, says partner
by jim bell 13 Apr '21

13 Apr '21

The Guardian: Britain is damaging its reputation by keeping Julian Assange in jail, says partner. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/apr/11/britain-risks-damaging-reputa…

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TIME: Clarence Thomas' Tech Opinion May Signal a Free Speech Shift | Time
by jim bell 12 Apr '21

12 Apr '21

TIME: Clarence Thomas' Tech Opinion May Signal a Free Speech Shift | Time. https://time.com/5953715/clarence-thomas-tech-free-speech/

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Tech Xplore: Neuralink developing brain-machine interface technology to help people with paralysis operate computers
by jim bell 12 Apr '21

12 Apr '21

Tech Xplore: Neuralink developing brain-machine interface technology to help people with paralysis operate computers. https://techxplore.com/news/2021-04-neuralink-brain-machine-interface-techn… Jim Bell's comment:I still recommend the 1967 movie, The President's Analyst.

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Cryptocurrency: John McAfee, Global Laws, Signal MOB, Jami, Element
by grarpamp 12 Apr '21

12 Apr '21

https://twitter.com/officialmcafee https://twitter.com/theemrsmcafee https://twitter.com/gordonlawltd https://twitter.com/search?q=#FreeJohnMcAfee John McAfee, grand high purveyor of the fine CryptoLibertarian message, still being held in Spanish prison fighting US extradition for over six months. Where to relocate... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country_or_territory https://www.loc.gov/law/help/cryptocurrency/world-survey.php https://www.loc.gov/law/help/cryptocurrency/cryptocurrency-world-survey.pdf https://www.coindesk.com/signal-founder-may-have-been-more-than-tech-advise… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jami_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Element_(software)

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Cryptocurrency: Money Printer Go Brrrrrr!
by grarpamp 12 Apr '21

12 Apr '21

Continuos loss of stored value intentionally imparted on them for over 100 years, yet sheeple worldwide still seem to love their shitcoins, lol... Visualizing The Plunging Purchasing Power Of The US Dollar https://www.visualcapitalist.com/purchasing-power-of-the-u-s-dollar-over-ti… https://www.visualcapitalist.com/buying-power-us-dollar-century/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-worlds-most-powerful-reserve-currencie… https://www.visualcapitalist.com/golden-bulls-the-price-of-gold/ The purchasing power of a currency is the amount of goods and services that can be bought with one unit of the currency. For example, one U.S. dollar could buy 10 bottles of beer in 1933. Today, as Visual Capitalist's Govind Bhutanda notes, it’s the cost of a small McDonald’s coffee. In other words, the purchasing power of the dollar - its value in terms of what it can buy - has decreased over time as price levels have risen. Tracking the Purchasing Power of the Dollar In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act granted Federal Reserve banks the ability to manage the money supply in order to ensure economic stability. Back then, a dollar could buy 30 Hershey’s chocolate bars. As more dollars came into circulation, average prices of goods and services increased while the purchasing power of the dollar fell. By 1929, the value of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 73% higher than in 1913, but a dollar was now enough only for 10 rolls of toilet paper. Between 1929-1933, the purchasing power of the dollar actually increased due to deflation and a 31% contraction in money supply before eventually declining again. Fast forward to 1944 and the U.S. dollar, fixed to gold at a rate of $35/oz, became the world’s reserve currency under the Bretton Woods agreement. Meanwhile, the U.S. increased its money supply in order to finance the deficits of World War II followed by the Korean war and the Vietnam war. Hence, the buying power of the dollar reduced from 20 bottles of Coca-Cola in 1944 to a drive-in movie ticket in 1964. By the late 1960s, the number of dollars in circulation was too high to be backed by U.S. gold reserves. President Nixon ceased direct convertibility of U.S. dollars to gold in 1971. This ended both the gold standard and the limit on the amount of currency that could be printed. More Dollars in the System Money supply (M2) in the U.S. has skyrocketed over the last two decades, up from $4.6 trillion in 2000 to $19.5 trillion in 2021. The effects of the rise in money supply were amplified by the financial crisis of 2008 and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, around 20% of all U.S. dollars in the money supply, $3.4 trillion, were created in 2020 alone. How will the purchasing power of the dollar evolve going forward? Down, just like every Fiat currency of every country in history, and present.

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Cryptocurrency: You'd Have To Shut Down The Internet To Ban Bitcoin
by grarpamp 11 Apr '21

11 Apr '21

"You’d Have To Shut Down The Internet" To Ban Bitcoin, Says SEC's Hester Peirce https://cryptoslate.com/youd-have-to-shut-down-the-internet-to-ban-bitcoin-… https://www.marketwatch.com/live-qa/april-7-how-to-invest-in-crypto/6DCAFAE… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ray-dalio-on-bitcoin-and-probability-of-ban-… https://cryptoslate.com/5-trillion-asset-manager-fidelity-applies-for-bitco… https://cryptoslate.com/first-trust-advisors-and-skybridge-capital-apply-fo… https://cryptoslate.com/vanecks-bitcoin-etf-is-under-review-will-the-sec-ap… https://twitter.com/vol_christopher/status/1377210541282824193 https://twitter.com/vol_christopher/status/1377263917630693383 Any government efforts to ban Bitcoin would be “foolish,” said Hester Peirce (aka “Crypto Mom”), a very Bitcoin-friendly commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), during a MarketWatch virtual conference earlier this week, according to Cryptoslate reporter Liam Frost. "I think we were past that point very early on because you’d have to shut down the Internet,” Peirce said, adding, “I don’t see how you could ban it. You could certainly make the effort. It would be very hard to stop people from [trading Bitcoin]. So I think it would be a foolish thing for the government to try to do that.” Not only that, but the government would immediately wipe out $2 trillion in net wealth - the market cap of the crypto sector - an event that would have profoundly deleveraging consequences, and since much of that wealth is now backed by debt, for example all those debt-funded purchases of bitcoin by Microstrategy, such a move by the government would immediately destabilize the all important debt market. The statement came on the heels of Ray Dalio, a billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, arguing that there’s “a good probability” that governments around the world would ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Dalio told Yahoo Finance: “Every country treasures its monopoly on controlling the supply and demand. They don’t want other monies to be operating or competing, because things can get out of control. They outlawed gold, that’s why also outlawing Bitcoin is a good probability.” However, according to Peirce, the main issue for authorities—at least when it comes to cryptocurrencies—is to find an approach to regulation that would be productive and non-restrictive at the same time. She noted: “We’ve seen other countries take, I would say, a more productive approach. We really need to turn that around. And I’m optimistic, with a new chairman coming in with a deep knowledge of these markets, that is something we could do together—build a good regulatory framework.” At the same time, Peirce also pointed out that she doesn’t know when—or if—a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) will finally be approved in the U.S. Recently, we’ve seen a new wave of major investment companies, such as Fidelity Investments, SkyBridge Capital, and VanEck, filing their applications for Bitcoin ETFs with the SEC. The regulator, however, never approved a single filing of this kind so far, which as discussed earlier, may be a good thing for not only bitcoin but the entire nascent DeFi ecosystem where hundreds of billions in very real money is now intertwined. There is another reason why the government may have no intention of (ever) banning bitcoin: as Artemis Capital's Christopher Cole wrote recently echoing what we said back in 2016 and 2017, "Bitcoin has emerged as a "shadow" monetary tool, a type of liquidity overflow to prevent even bigger asset bubbles in conventional assets such as commodities, stocks and housing. As Cole tweeted, "right now [bitcoin] helps Gov by serving as a vol buffer for the middle class so money devaluation flows into a purely speculative asset and less into home prices or other goods." Bitcoin is a "shadow" monetary tool Right now, it helps Gov by serving as a vol buffer for the middle class so money devaluation flows into a purely speculative asset and less into home prices or other goods Explains lack of regulation, which will come concurrently w/inflation pic.twitter.com/SQQQql7p4P — Christopher Cole (@vol_christopher) March 31, 2021 Said otherwise, cryptos now represent some $2 trillion in excess liquidity that would otherwise be invested in housing or stocks, making both of these respective asset bubbles that much more prone to bursting, and bringing the entire asset-bubble dependent socia-economic and financialsystem closer to collapse. However, thanks to bitcoin, there is a substantial buffer allowing Powell to keep printing indefinitely. This benign side effect of bitcoin which paradoxically allows the Fed to perpetuate its ultra-easy monetary policy for much longer, "explains lack of regulation" although once we hit hyperinflation and bitcoin goes offerless, regulation will come for one simple reason: it will be tantamount to deleveraging the system by trillions in a heartbeat (recall the market cap of all crypto assets is now above $2 trillion) and rising. Regulation of crypto is a structural risk to investors/speculators Regulation of crypto can be seen as 2nd order monetary tightening tool by Gov to tame inflation All of the above doesn't invalidate ownership of the asset but requires deep thought on risk-reward — Christopher Cole (@vol_christopher) March 31, 2021 This is a sound warning for bitcoin bulls, but it only applies when inflation gets truly out of hand, but that is unlikely to happen until lat 2022 or early 2023 assuming the Fed keeps rates at zero and barely tapers as it has been predicting it will do. That's nearly two years of upside potential for the best performing assets of the year, decade, century and millennium.

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