July 2022 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Intel SGX deprecation review
by coderman 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

https://hardenedvault.net/blog/2022-01-15-sgx-deprecated/ Intel SGX deprecation review The rumors about Intel SGX deprecated in new processors has been [confirmed](https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-intel-chips-w…, 12th generation processors (Workstation/Desktop/Laptop/embedded platforms) will deprecate SGX and the SGX will continue to support only in high-end Xeon CPU for server: [alter-text] Intel’s official explanation is that final decision is made due to market reasons. Intel SGX (software guard extension) has been shipped with the release of the 6th generation processor Skylake in 2015. Its main purpose is to better solve the trust issue in cloud environments between CSPs (cloud service provider) and tenants. SGX proposes a solution called enclave where OS isn’t able to access to. The technical details of SGX has a lot of controversy since the beginning. This article will explore a bit about SGX: Root problem: complexity Intel SGX is the most sophisticated implementation among the enclave solutions. Intel did a lot of work at multiple levels to leverage the support: - Hardware, e.g: [MEE](https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/086.pdf) - Ucode, for special instructions - Firmware, Intel CSME infrastructure upgrade and multiple CSME modules getting involved SGX basics - SGX hands over paging (EPC) to an untrusted OS, which is similar to [BASTION](http://palms.ee.princeton.edu/node/367), where the host OS can evict. - SGX uses Intel EPID to implement attestation, which is too complex for microcode to implement. - In addition to EPID, SGX also uses other CSME code modules such as iclsClient using CLS (Capability Licensing Services) [alter-text] Attestation process - Seal Secret and Prospering Secret are stored in e-fuses, Provisioning Secret is generated by Intel Key Generation Facility and burned to the CPU and saved in Intel xx service, Seal secret is generated inside the CPU, theoretically unknowable to Intel. - EGETKEY uses certificate-based identify (MRSIGNER, ISVPRODID, ISVSVN) and SGX implementation version (CPUSVN) to get the Provisioning key, which allows the Intel provisioning service to verify that Provisioning Enclave is signed by Intel. The provisioning service can also refuse communication based on CPUSVN to determine if there is a vulnerability. - When Provisioning Enclave obtains the Provisioning Key and communicates with the Intel Provisioning service and authenticates itself, the service generates an Attestation key to provision the Enclave, which encrypts the AK using the Prospering Seal key and saves it. - AK uses the EPID cryptography, EPID as a group signature scheme to provide some anonymity for the signer, Intel key provisioning service is the issuer, it will publish the Group Public Key and will save the Master Issuing Key itself, after the provisioning enclave verifies itself to the service, The service generates an EPID member private key as an AK and then executes the EPID Join protocol to join the signature group, after which Quoting Enclave uses the EPID MPK to generate an attestation signature. Risk： Issued SIGSTRUCT was leaked, and attackers could use the SGX debugging feature to build debugging provisioning or Quoting enclave to modify the code, or get a 128-bit provisioning key to communicate with the Intel service. [Key* of SGX](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20140093074) According to Intel’s patent, the implementation of SGX relies on the complex KDF process inside the CPU circuit for the global secret keys and stored in the eFUSE, Chipworks offers $50-250k to fully extract the eFUSE of one Intel i5 processor, so the eFUSE content is encrypted by a master key (called “global wrapping logic key” in the patent). GWK is used to encrypt a 256-bit message for regenerating the EPID key of the CPU and a handful of 128-bit pre-seed key 0, eFUSE also contains a plaintext copy of 128-bit pre-seed key 1 and a 32-bit EPID group ID, GWK is hard-coded into the chip circuit, all chip manufacturers share the mask set, such a process increases the cost of the attack, But there is also the possibility of being reversed. SGX also uses PUF to generate symmetric keys for the device during the provisioning phase, the PUF key is encrypted by GWK and transmitted to the key generation server, after which the key generation server encrypts the fuse key of the chip with the PUF key and then transmits it to the chip, the PUF key increases the cost of obtaining the chip fuse key. The attacker must compromise provisioning stage simultaneously. CSME also has an eFUSE for saving the EPID key for fTPM. The first scheme is that Provision enclave uses the provisioning seal key to encrypt the DAK, which assumes that CSME is an untrusted flash memeory, so fTPM cannot be used. Another option is to use the key agreement protocol to establish a secure communication channel between DMI buses, which ME fw can be used to store DAKs or to implement fTPM. Wrong threat model in the very beginning Intel SGX puts the owner of on-premise (cloud service vendors, system administrators, etc) into the threat model in the 1st place. Technically, SGX doesn’t trust the operating system and the entire stacks of firmware (except CSME), but Intel might have missed an important common sense: OS kernel may no longer the “CORE” but it’s still the entrance to the “underworld”, as the 0ldsk00l hacker was joking about “don’t make jokes about the underworld”. Most of the attacks targeting SGX are based on having kernel privilege. A [proper threat model](https://blog.invisiblethings.org/papers/2015/state_harmful.pdf) won’t guarantee a comprehensive solution for security but it could be the starting point at least. [alter-text] [Wrong threat model](https://github.com/hardenedlinux/firmware-anatomy/blob/master/hack_M… isn’t the only issue in SGX： - Over-design and implementation leads to out-of-control complexity. - Lack of transparency, Intel SGX implementation is closed-source in terms of dependencies on the underlying firmware, which means it can’t be audited properly with acceptable cost. While SGX is highly dependent on Intel CSME, yet another issue about “god” mode in CSME can be referred to HardenedVault’s [Intel CSME Risk Assessment](https://hardenedvault.net/blog/2021-07-16-ciso-seceng_csme/). - SGX can be used to [protect malware](https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.09470), which malware detection become an impossible mission. - Intel didn’t open up SGX-based third-party attestation services to SME client until December 2018, a decision that may have been a little late from a market and ecological perspective. - SGX’s Linux kernel mainline process is slow. in April 2016, Intel submitted the first version of the SGX patch to the Linux kernel community, the Linux kernel community believes that there are many unresolved basic issues, including ABI compatibility issues and SGX as the core of enclave computing assumptions: if the Linux kernel is compromised, SGX can guarantee that the application is not interfered with by attackers. Even if this premise is correct, the kernel developer’s question is: If there is a malicious enclave application, who will protect the kernel? Moreover, the first premise has been denied by the industry after [L1TF](https://hardenedlinux.github.io/system-security/2018/08/16/meltdown_spectre_l1tf.html) was exposed (although there were also relevant studies exposed before but the media did not report on a large scale), the exposure of L1TF and cryptocurrency bubble crashed in 2018 broke many people’s silver bullet expectations for SGX. A series of issues delayed the upstreaming until Linux kernel v5.11 merged SGX into mainline in Feb 2021. - Launch [low cost of side-channel attacks](https://github.com/jovanbulck/sgx-step) with Linux kernel privileges. - Over-hype in the market, this problem may be more prominent in China. The megacorp continues to advocate that SGX can become the “next generation” silver bullet level program, but the reality is that the general principle in infosec is that there is no silver bullet. Is SGX still an effective security feature? Yes, SGX is still an effective security mechanism to protect your digital assets. Intel has adjusted its expectation for SGX and it’s targeting server-only markets. From the perspective of the production environment, SGX is still a very effective security mechanism that can be utilized to build your own defense-in-depth “Cyber Bunker”.

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Cryptocurrency: Declare Your Own Independence Day
by grarpamp 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

July 4th, Bitcoin, & Sovereignty: Declaring Your Own Financial Independence Day by Dr.Riste Simnjanovski via BitcoinMagazine.com https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/july-4th-bitcoin-financial-independence https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-and-the-american-idea https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/declaration-bitcoins-independence https://www.history.com/news/thomas-paine-common-sense-revolution This July 4th is an opportunity to think about how Bitcoiners reclaimed their own financial independence. PART ONE: A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE There is a lot of history one could survey when examining Independence Day. Some historians might reference the 1940s, or the 4th of July being recognized as a federal holiday; maybe BBQs or fireworks would find their way into the conversations. A military historian might dive into the American Revolution, 1776, the Continental Congress or the original 13 Colonies as an excellent place to begin boring their grandchildren. Bitcoin authors have also explored this topic from a variety of perspectives. I’m going to try an alternative approach; from a status quo perspective. One aspect that many forget to mention is that only a small, fringe minority truly sought complete and sovereign independence from Great Britain in 1775. The colonists who believed that “America” should be independent of Great Britain were considered a radical group that deviated from the norm. The masses took comfort, even in tyranny. Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” onboarded many more colonists to take up arms as distrust and anger grew against Great Britain.Paine’s work has similarities to Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper on Bitcoin. Both documents sought to expose issues in the current status quo and proposed an alternative solution. The challenge was that most of the population found comfort in persecution, taxation, lack of representation and authoritarian rule. Many shrug this off now as years tick away and society is further removed from the past, but how would life change if people were genuinely sovereign in America? Imagine if no governmental interference, no bailouts, no safety nets, no welfare, no subsidies and no “free” rides were the norm? I posit that if a census took place today, many Americans would err on the side of tyranny versus sovereignty — as they did in the late 1700s. I could propose many rationales, but the bulk of them hover around a fear of the unknown or truly having to support themselves and those they care for with nothing more than their wits, hard work and determination. Bitcoin rewards all these human attributes with incorruptible, non-confiscatable, immutable and eternal property. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work model mirrors the American spirit; even beyond generational hope, Bitcoin represents American grit. Bitcoin rewards hard work, because it was born of hard work, time, energy and sacrifice. Bitcoin is determination, because it was founded on an alternative to the status quo. Bitcoin mirrors Independence Day in a profound manner. Bitcoin outwits stupidity, arrogance, ineptitude, laziness and greed. For individuals seeking sovereignty, there is no other alternative. The irony is that everyone from liberals, moderates, libertarians and conservatives are represented in the Bitcoin network. Yet, they are still a fringe minority in their respective communities. This common thread has drawn them together, even moreso, in some respects, regardless of their political differences. Individual “Financial Independence Day” has not yet been identified by many individuals (non-Bitcoiners) — let’s change that. PART TWO: INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY Many individuals, organizations, corporations and nation-states own bitcoin, or at least they think they do. Unless these parties hold their private keys, they entrust custodians, many of whom failed when push came to shove. Many reading this article may have kept their private keys for years, while others might have recently set up a hardware wallet … and are plugging it in daily to ensure they understand how it works. Others either do not hold their private keys, have their life savings sitting on a third-party exchange or are not exposed to bitcoin (yet). I would encourage Bitcoiners to see if they can look back on their hardware wallet’s transaction history to see when their first BTC transfer occurred. The day these individuals took custody of their first satoshi or bitcoin is their Financial Independence Day. Next, I would encourage families to make this date known to the people they care about and, at a minimum, use this date as a reminder to discuss the significance and importance of Bitcoin, sovereignty, hard work, determination and independence. Yes, the 4th of July is a federal holiday where families gather, break bread and enjoy time together; however, the meaning is lost if, even for a brief moment, time isn’t dedicated to remembering the significance and sacrifices made on your behalf. When folks identify their family’s Financial Independence Day, I encourage them to celebrate just as much as they would when they honor this country on the 4th of July. The significance of Independence Day is that individuals can OWN property; and what better property to own than one that is completely non-confiscatable by any entity? Perhaps, if you have not taken custody of your bitcoin, maybe this 4th of July is a great day to start. Happy 4th of July, and a tip of the hat to sovereign individuals with satoshis and Bitcoin in cold storage.

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Cryptocurrency: Cypherpunk Holdings Sells All, Saylor Buys TFD
by grarpamp 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

Earning themselves some laughing stock, HODL-Corp performs classic buy-high sell-low capitulation maneuver at major $20k support level, alienating almost $7M out of play from the next untimeable turnup ramp. As many wish... their self-inflicted bankruptcy, to be a fine remedy for appropriating and abusing the cypherpunk name. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/28/investment-firm-cypherpunk-hol… https://stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2022/06/28/cypherpunk-holdings-a… Meanwhile, Saylor buys the dip... https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1543281124494958592

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Gramps friends face financial as well as intellectual bankruptcy
by professor rat 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

LUNAR RIGHT-WINGNUT MORON Fox News, OAN and Newsmax could be found liable in cases brought by voting machine company Dominion https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/jul/04/fox-oan-newsmax-lawsuits-elec… The KKK went out the same way. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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IEEE Spectrum: Quantum Computing for Dummies
by jim bell 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

IEEE Spectrum: Quantum Computing for Dummies. https://spectrum.ieee.org/quantum-computing-for-dummies Quantum computers may one day rapidly find solutions to problems no regular computer might ever hope to solve, but there are vanishingly few quantum programmers when compared with the number of conventional programmers in the world. Now a new beginner's guide aims to walk would-be quantum programmers through the implementation of quantum algorithms over the cloud on IBM's publicly available quantum computers. Whereas classical computers switch transistors either on or off to symbolize data as ones or zeroes, quantum computers use quantum bits, or "qubits," which because of the peculiar nature of quantum physics can exist in a state called superposition where they are both 1 and 0 at the same time. This essentially lets each qubit perform two calculations at once. The more qubits are quantum-mechanically linked, or entangled (see our explainer), within a quantum computer, the greater its computational power can grow, in an exponential fashion. Currently quantum computers are noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) platforms, meaning their qubits number up to a few hundred at most and are error-ridden as well. Still, quantum processors are widely expected to grow in terms of qubit count and quality, with the aim of achieving a quantum advantage that enables them to find the answers to problems no classical computers could ever solve. Although the field of quantum programming started in the 1990s, it has to date only drawn a small community. "Programming quantum computers may seem like a great challenge, requiring years of training in quantum mechanics and related disciplines," says the guide's senior author Andrey Lokhov, a theoretical physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "Additionally, the field is dominated by physics and algebraic notations that at times present unnecessary entry barriers for mainstream computer and mathematically trained scientists." Now, with their new guide, Lokhov and his colleagues hope their new guide will help pave the way "for the upcoming quantum computing revolution," he says. "We believe that our guide fills a missing space in the field of quantum computation, introducing non-expert computer scientists, physicists, and engineers to quantum algorithms and their implementations on real-world quantum computers." The new guide explains the basics of quantum computing and quantum programming, including quantum algorithms. "Very much like how classical algorithms describe a sequence of instructions that need to be executed on a classical computer, a quantum algorithm represents a step-by-step procedure, where each of the steps needs to be performed on a quantum computer," Lokhov says. "However, the term 'quantum algorithm' is usually reserved for algorithms that contain inherently quantum operations, such as quantum superposition or quantum entanglement, which turn out to be computationally powerful."

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God Emperor of the MIT Review
by professor rat 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

Much like God, Big Tech remains silent on questions about data privacy in a post-Roe US https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/06/28/1055044/big-tech-data-privacy-s… Reposts not endorsements of any Theocracy

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Cryptocurrency: Libertarian Party Partners With BTC Maxi's, Declares Independence From FED
by grarpamp 05 Jul '22

05 Jul '22

Live call-in show... Of course with Maxi's in control, and excepting a rogue call-in, there's likely to be no mention of Bitcoin_BTC's biggest failed narratives... no coin privacy, no Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash via real onchain txrate scaling, storage bloat, nor anything else that is embarrassing to Bitcoin_BTC such as some of the many petulent and silly anti-competition Monocult Maxi's in it's midst... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2qF-Np7Ls Libertarian Bitcoin End The Fed Live Join the Libertarian Chair Angela McArdle and Vice Chair Joshua Smith July 3 at 2:00 PM EST with the Bitcoin experts Saifedean Ammous, Marty Bent, Stephan Livera, Jameson Lopp and Guy Swann. We Need To Declare Our Independence From The Federal Reserve https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/we-need-to-declare-independence-from-th… https://keepingstock.net/support-your-country-buy-bitcoin-da22fb21659f https://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/msg09971.html https://www.lp.org/platform/ https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1542214066218774528 https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1243545652195450882 https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/from-the-desk-of-andy-masich/real-r… https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/cryptography/12/ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56972/speech-once-more-unto-the-brea… The Democrat and Republican parties have been wielding social movements as weapons in a culture war. Is it time the Libertarian Party wields the Bitcoin hammer in the battle against the Federal Reserve? In the cypherpunk mailing list, Satoshi Nakamoto had a back-and-forth exchange with an unknown cryptographer: “You will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography.” — Unknown cryptographer “Yes, but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. “Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own.” — Satoshi Nakamoto Between Nakamoto’s emails, the Bitcoin white paper and the source code, there was probably nothing they said with a more aloof tone than this quote. I have to imagine they understood the economic ramifications that would come with developing such a system and this was likely why they remained anonymous. Then again, maybe they were blissfully unaware that there is no more dangerous enemy to the power of the state than economically free people. Many early adopters of bitcoin were more likely software and tech gurus than they were economists or libertarians, but this comment by Nakamoto was profoundly libertarian. After all, if the government can wage war on poverty, drugs, crime and terror, why can’t libertarians and Bitcoiners alike wage war on money printing? It’s hard to overstate the phrasing here: “[W]e can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom.” The Libertarian Party, under new management, recognizes just how important Bitcoin is in this battle. Angela McArdle, chair of the Libertarian National Committee, embraces the importance of bitcoin’s scarcity, self-sovereignty, and censorship resistance. On a phone interview, McArdle shared: “Inflation is being reported at 8.6%, but if you fill up the gas in your car, you know that it must be higher than that. No one knows the real rate of inflation, but what I do know is you cannot print more bitcoin. You can print dollars perpetually until it’s worthless like Venezuela, but you can’t print more bitcoin.” Sure, the Libertarian Party is using the language, “Declare your independence from the Fed,” in a metaphorical way, but we can never forget that our country was founded on a very real Declaration of Independence that led to something very tangible. “We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.” — The Libertarian Party’s Statement of Principles Today more than ever, the enforcement tool of the so-called “omnipotent state” and those in power is their monetary policy. The monopolization of fiat currency and the burden of taxes have become weapons of the state to empower Washington and disenfranchise the people. Libertarians and Austrian economists have been sounding the alarms for decades, but as Ron Paul has attributed to George Orwell, “Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” At a certain point however, the truth comes out. Jerome Powell: "I think we now understand better how little we understand about inflation." Host: "That's not very reassuring" Jerome : "This was unpredicted" Only the "experts" and the media didn't see this coming. Just about everyone else did. Sound ON pic.twitter.com/6Gv35rXPrW — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) June 29, 2022 This inflation was either due to incompetence or deliberate debasing of the U.S. dollar, but Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve Board, admitted that he doesn’t understand basic economics. I would have preferred him to come out and admit he lied. Our favorite Bitcoiner, Peter “Gold” Schiff, along with every Austrian economist, pointed out how inflation works when the money printer started in March 2020 (when Schiff comes to the same realization as Bitcoiners, we will welcome him with open arms), As the Fed will create all this money out of thin air the people will pay the cost through inflation. Consumer prices are about to soar, wiping out the savings of millions of Americans, and destroying the purchasing power of wages for millions more. — Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) March 27, 2020 So here we are, July Fourth is coming up and we, the people, are in a quandary. Our leaders lie, our media covers for them, our financial institutions are corrupt and consent of the governed sounds more like a brand slogan than the foundation of our government. So what options do we have? Fix the money, fix the world. Bitcoin is the greatest peaceful revolution the world may ever know. Back to that seemingly innocuous Nakamoto quote, “[W]e can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.” The arms race they must be referring to is power — political and economic — of governments versus economic power in the hands of individuals. Maybe it’s time to turn Rosie the Riveter into Dolores the Diamond Hands. (Painting/J. Howard Miller) Libertarians and Bitcoiners are allies in the fight for sound monetary policy. Speaking of a Bitcoiner and Libertarian alliance, McArdle said, “It’s important for us to build a parallel economy, so in the event the dollar collapses completely, or some kind of financial crash, we have something to shift over to laterally. The more people that have Bitcoin and understand it, the better.” Nakamoto had this revelation when they said, “It’s very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly. I’m better with code than with words though.” Clearly, they weren’t wrong. Nakamoto’s creation spawned a movement without a speech or catchy slogan, just code and believers. Some of us libertarians may have been a bit late to bitcoin, myself included, but the troops are coming. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more” — King Henry in “Henry V” by William Shakespeare The Libertarian Party is hosting a livestream event at 2:00PM EST on July 3, 2022. Join the call and declare your independence from the Fed. Declare your independence from the Fed Join the Libertarian Chair Angela McArdle and Vice Chair Joshua Smith July 3 at 2:00 PM EST with the Bitcoin experts Saifedean Ammous, Marty Bent, Stephan Livera, Jameson Lopp and Guy Swann. Think about doing three things in preparation for Independence Day: Watch the livestream and donate some sats (bitcoin) for liberty Stack some sats for yourself Help one friend or family member stack their first sats I want you… to buy bitcoin.

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Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin_Cash-BCH Legal Tender Hearing StMaarten, Adoption Moving Fast Across Caribbean
by grarpamp 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

https://www.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-cash-projects/ Bitcoin Cash being proposed as legal tender in St Martin Parliament https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a08adQpadf4 https://twitter.com/SheriUcar/status/1533530897605365760 https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/03/20/entire-salary-paid-via-bitcoin-c… https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bitcoin-cash-register/id1460652887 https://republicnewsindia.com/bitcoincash-is-the-real-p2p-electronic-cash-b… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWthVteSqCw BCH Doers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6g8OM1hVoA https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-great-bitcoin-scaling-debate-a-timeline-6… https://twitter.com/jessquit2/status/1544004398820515840 BTC is "Bitcoin" only because a group of centralized exchanges gave it that ticker. In other words, it was fixed. A few dozen people decided that the Segwit fork would be "BTC" and the version that worked the way Bitcoin had always worked would become an "altcoin." There was no level playing field. There was no hashwar. The market did not decide. The market was not given a choice. It was fixed. Remember when Faketoshi split BCH? Even though he was a total fraud with a completely bogus motivation for causing a split only two weeks before code freeze, exchanges still gave that bozo a level playing field, renaming BCH into "BCHABC" and "BCHSV". Remember when the Taxman split BCH? Even though THE ENTIRE BCH ECOSYSTEM rejected the "miner tax" the exchanges still gave the Taxcoin a level playing field, renaming BCH to "BCHABC" and "BCHN". But when - after YEARS of debate - Bitcoin Core failed to get consensus on Segwit, and big blockers mounted a defensive UAHF, did the exchanges rename Bitcoin into "BTCORE" and "BTCASH" so that there would be a level playing field and a market decision? No. THE FIX WAS IN. So despite years of good faith efforts to reach consensus the exchanges didn't even offer the same decency to us early adopters of Bitcoin: a Peer-to-peer Electronic Cash System that they offered to an obvious scoundrel and a rogue dev who pissed off an entire ecosystem. What's the point of this? The point is simple: Now that we've seen the failure of the #Bitcoin #Segwit scaling plan and the abysmal <0.02% adoption of the #LightningNetwork it's a good time to remind everyone that the market NEVER PERFORMED BASIC PRICE DISCOVERY ON THE PLAN. The original plan was always the better plan, but in the post-2017 rush to "buy Bitcoin" investors were sold a bait-and-switch product. The original #Bitcoin is still available at an absurd discount. It's called #BCH #BitcoinCash and it works the way Bitcoin was supposed to work [...]

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Sexstortion
by professor rat 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Florida should be held probably accountable? No. Florida should be held definitely accountable - starting with sending in the National Guard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine A house divided cannot stand, man. Fuck this neo-confederate bullshit,

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Cryptocurrency: Peter Schiff's Bank CensorBanned by Regulators
by grarpamp 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Peter Schiff, persistent critic of Monetary Policy, advocate for Gold, fund manager, and entrepreneur, gets shut by policy. Will cryptos come to his aid... https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1544001330242543621 Criminal investigations are supposed to be kept secret to protect the innocent in case no evidence is found to bring charges. In my case the IRS illegally leaked the investigation to the media, which then convicted me of crimes there was no evidence to charge me with committing. Here's another headline you won't read. Peter Schiff's bank falsely accused by the media of facilitating tax evasion and money laundering is being closed, because even though it's innocent, it's premature conviction by the media ruined its reputation and crippled it financially. Despite no evidence of crimes, Puerto Rico regulators closed my bank anyway for net capital issues, rather than allow a sale to a highly qualified buyer promising to inject capital far in excess of regulatory minimums. As a result accounts are frozen and customers may lose money. The reason regulators gave for tuning down the sale is that post sale I would own 4% of the company buying the bank. They said that due to the bad press about me, they did not want me owning 4% of a bank, even though the know first hand the allegations in the media are false. They never let me know they objected. I found out in C&D order to shut down the bank. Had they ever told the 4% stake was a problem I would have restructured the deal. I just wanted out. I had to put in $7 million in the last 2 years to cover operating losses due to bad press. Also it costs a fortune to run a small bank. That's why I never really made any money. The compliance costs are outrageous. Where are these news headlines? Peter Schiff vindicated. After a 2.5 year investigation authorities of 5 nations found absolutely no evidence that Euro Pacific Bank or Peter Schiff facilitated tax evasion or money laundering. Those who reported guilt prior to charges were wrong. https://twitter.com/PeterSchiff/status/1280257955787661315 America was founded by rugged individuals who created government to secure their rights and leave them alone. Americans today want government to violate other people's rights, steal their stuff, and give it to them. The home of the free has become the land of the freeloader. https://schiffradio.com/atlanta-fed-finally-forecasts-recession/ https://www.newsweek.com/us-economy-recession-joe-biden-peter-schiff-1720372 Chief Economist & Global Strategist: Europac.com, Founder: SchiffGold.com, Owner and Founder: EpacFunds.com, Host: SchiffRadio.com, Owner: Europacbank.com Puerto Rico amzn.to/1nDylDr Joined July 2009 Tweets 22,217 Following 269 Followers 776,998 Likes 193 If the U.S. economy is already in a #recession with historically low unemployment, imagine how much worse this recession will become once employers react to the recession with mass layoffs. Plus, as #unemployment surges, consumer prices, rents and interest rates will keep rising. The #Fed hiking rates too much, causing a #recession isn't a policy error. The errors were thinking it could hike without causing a severe recession, waiting too long to hike, not hiking enough, lowering rates too much in the first place, and leaving rates too low for too long. The Atlanta #Fed lowered its Q2 GDP forecast to -1%. If they're right, all year as #Powell insisted the strong economy could easily withstand rate hikes, it was already in a #recession. Without rate cuts and QE5 the recession gets much worse. With them #inflation gets much worse. Everyone is counting on consumers to keep the #economy out of #recession. But everyone is also counting on the #Fed to successfully fight #inflation by reducing demand. Since 70% of #GDP is consumer spending, unless investment increases substantially, this necessitates recession. If @Sonnenshein really wanted to close $GBTC's 30% discount to NAV he would't file a doomed lawsuit against the SEC, he'd sell #Bitcoin owned by #GBTC and use the proceeds to buy-back shares. That would reduce his AUM and lower his fees. Fees are more important than shareholders. Biden will have to admit the economy is in a recession: Economist Economist Peter Schiff said the economic turmoil in the U.S. is worse than what is being described, saying it will hurt much more than the Great Recession. It's a huge mistake for U.S retailers stuck with inventory they can't sell to slash prices to clear the shelves, only to restock with more expensive products their customers will be even less able to afford. Better not to buy new merchandise and sell current stock at full price. The final read on Q1 GDP is now minus 1.6%. Since Q2 will likely be negative too, the #Fed and @JoeBiden will soon be forced to admit that Amercia's red hot economy has actually been in a #recession all year, which will only get far worse with high #inflation and more rate hikes. Today's outside reversal day likely means the bear-market rally is over and that #stocks will soon hit new lows. Investors are bracing for #recession and higher short-term interest rates than previously expected. But they're not bracing for #inflation remaining high despite both. Every time the economy enters #recession it takes a larger dose of monetary stimulus to get it out. That's because the stimulus prevents real solutions from taking place and sows the seeds of a worse recession to come. This recession will now require a fatal overdose of stimulus. Actually, current real rates are closer to negative 6.5%. If Williams is correct, then to reduce #inflation the #Fed needs to immediately raise interest rates to 9.5%. Since it's not even close, inflation in 2023 is likely to rise from its current 8.6%, not collapse down to 2.5%.

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