November 2023 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Cryptocurrency: Binance Taken Over By Feds, CZ Extorted and Booted Out
by grarpamp 24 Nov '23

24 Nov '23

"You didn’t step down. You were forced to step down due threats of violence and extortion from strangers you’ve never even met. You are a 1st generation crypto hero. Keep your head up high!" CZ 🔶 BNB @cz_binance Nov 21 Today, I stepped down as CEO of Binance. Admittedly, it was not easy to let go emotionally. But I know it is the right thing to do. I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility. This is best for our community, for Binance, and for myself. Binance is no longer a baby. It is time for me to let it walk and run. I know Binance will continue to grow and excel with the deep bench it has. I’m pleased to announce that @_RichardTeng, our now former Global Head of Regional Markets, has been named the new CEO of Binance today. Richard is a highly qualified leader and, with over three decades of financial services and regulatory experience, he will navigate the company through its next period of growth. He will ensure Binance delivers on our next phase of security, transparency, compliance, and growth. Prior to joining Binance, Richard was CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM); Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange (SGX); and Director of Corporate Finance in the Monetary Authority of Singapore. With Richard and the entire team, I’m confident that the best days for @Binance and the crypto industry lay ahead. As a shareholder and former CEO with historical knowledge of our company, I will remain available to the team to consult as needed, consistent with the framework set out in our U.S. agency resolutions. What’s next for me? I will take a break first. I have not had a single day of real (phone off) break for the last 6 and half years. After that, my current thinking is I will probably do some passive investing, being a minority token/shareholder in startups in areas of blockchain/Web3/DeFi, AI and biotech. I am happy that I will finally have more time to spend looking at DeFi. I can’t see myself being a CEO driving a startup again. I am content being an one-shot (lucky) entrepreneur. Should there be listeners, I may be open to being a coach/mentor to a small number of upcoming entrepreneurs, privately. If for nothing else, I can at least tell them what not to do. On that note, I am proud to point out that in our resolutions with the U.S. agencies they: - do not allege that Binance misappropriated any user funds, and - do not allege that Binance engaged in any market manipulation. Funds are SAFU! With that, I look forward to seeing the new leadership take the reins. Please join me in congratulating Richard on his well-deserved promotion. Onwards! CZ

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OpenAI's reported 'superintelligence' breakthrough is so big it nearly destroyed the company, and ChatGPT
by jdb10987＠yahoo.com 23 Nov '23

23 Nov '23

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Six Big Banks Forced to Declare $9.3 Billion in Additional FDIC Expenses; Another Reason Their Talons Are Out for FDIC Chair Gruenberg
by Gunnar Larson 22 Nov '23

22 Nov '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/11/six-big-banks-forced-to-declare-9-3-… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: November 22, 2023 ~ Bank Logos (Thumbnail)The biggest banks in the U.S. that have been serially bailed out by the Federal Reserve since they blew up the financial system in 2008, are ripping mad at the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg. In addition to the FDIC and other federal banking regulators’ proposed rule to increase capital requirements on the largest banks, the FDIC just issued a final rule on November 16 that will force six banks to report an FDIC special assessment expense totaling more than $9.3 billion in the final quarter of this year. (See chart above.) Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, is hair-on-fire mad because his bank is getting hit with the whopping figure of approximately $3 billion according to the firm’s most recent quarterly filing (10-Q) with the SEC. The most recent 10-Q filings with the SEC for the other five banks estimate their FDIC special assessments as follows: $1.9 billion at Bank of America; $1.8 billion at Wells Fargo; $1.5 billion at Citigroup’s Citibank; $650 million at U.S. Bancorp; and $460 million at Truist. The FDIC’s special assessment results from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March, where banking regulators made a Systemic Risk Determination to cover uninsured deposits at the two banks to stem a spreading banking panic. The FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund that protects depositors at the nation’s commercial banks and savings associations experienced a related loss of $16.3 billion attributable to the protection of uninsured depositors. The FDIC’s governing law allows it to impose this special assessment on insured depository institutions to make up for the losses. What the big banks don’t like is that they are picking up the lion’s share of the losses. The FDIC argues that large amounts of uninsured deposits inherently make the banking system less safe and the banks that had the largest amounts of uninsured deposits as of December 31, 2022 must pay the piper for their imprudent concern for safety and soundness. (See our report: International Bank Study, Using 150 Years of Data, Shows Mega Banks Like the Big Four in the U.S. Produce Financial Instability and More Severe Crises.) Out of the approximate 4,100 federally-insured commercial banks in the U.S., the FDIC estimates that only 114 banks will be subject to the special assessment. That’s because the vast majority of banks in the U.S. honor the concept of being a federally-insured bank and keep the bulk of their deposits under the FDIC insurance cap of $250,000 per depositor, per bank. (See our report: At Year End, 4,127 U.S. Banks Held $7.7 Trillion in Uninsured Deposits; JPMorgan Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo and Citi Accounted for 43 Percent of That.) The figures presented in the chart above may actually underestimate the final dollar figures that will be paid by the banks. When the banks published those estimates in their 10-Qs, the FDIC had estimated the losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund at $15.8 billion from covering uninsured deposits at the two banks. As of November 16 when the final rule was passed, those losses had grown to $16.3 billion according to the FDIC. Another thing that has riled up the mega banks on Wall Street and have them whispering in the ears of their captured members of Congress to sack FDIC Chair Gruenberg, is that the FDIC dismissed out of hand their 12-page letter of objections to the methodology of the special assessment. (What good is paying millions of dollars to lobby if you don’t get what you paid for?) The letter was sent by the Bank Policy Institute, whose Board of Directors is Chaired by none other than Jamie Dimon and includes the CEOs of the biggest banks in the U.S. For how the big banks are lobbying on the still-in-the-works capital rule, see our report: Meet the Banking Cartel that Is Planting the Seeds for the Next Banking Panic and Bailout. As a prime example of just how casino-like the U.S. banking system has become, Goldman Sachs, the “great vampire squid,” is allowed to own a federally-insured bank. (In October 2020, the vampire squid was criminally charged by the Justice Department for looting the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB in a grand bribery conspiracy.) Goldman Sachs owns the federally-insured Goldman Sachs Banks USA, which is currently ranked by the Federal Reserve as the 7th largest federally-insured bank in the United States. Never mind that Goldman Sachs is also running an octopus of an international Dark Pool trading operation and has $57 trillion (yes, trillion) in opaque derivatives while its CEO, David Solomon, moonlights as a DJ. (You can’t make this stuff up.) Goldman Sachs was peculiarly silent in its most recent 10-Q filing on how much its bank expects to pay for its share of the FDIC’s special assessment. But its 10-Q filing for the second quarter of this year estimated its tab at “$400 million (pre-tax).” PNC Bank’s publicly traded parent has also previously reported to the SEC that it estimates that its special assessment expense, to be taken in full in the fourth quarter, will be approximately $370 million after-tax.

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Screams of the wounded echo in my ears
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 22 Nov '23

22 Nov '23

Citizens are victims. As you read the Coindesk style story, the subliminal teachings pour over you like a bath of molten lead: "Governments have the power. Citizens are victims. Citizens are victims. Citizens are victims." Government zombies get off on this. It's like one of those "democratic" debates that goes something like this: "You, Sir, are abusing power because you killed 25 citizens, when you should have only killed 15!" And the Powers That Be smile tolerantly. They have been doing this for a long time, and they know they are not threatened.

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Re: Dishonest Tor relay math question - tor-talk is to lazy
by PrivacyArms 22 Nov '23

22 Nov '23

1) Is there a better way for anonymous communication than Tor? 2) Is there a global adversary resistant mixnet? 3) Someone mentioned the fact, that criminals have better ways of hiding than Tor? What methods do you had in mind? ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ On Tuesday, October 12, 2021 2:50 AM, PrivacyArms <privacyarms(a)protonmail.com> wrote: > 1. Is there a better way for anonymous communication than Tor? > 2. Is there a global adversary resistant mixnet? > 3. Someone mentioned the fact, that criminals have better ways of hiding than Tor? What methods do you had in mind? > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > On Monday, October 11, 2021 10:43 AM, grarpamp grarpamp(a)gmail.com wrote: > > > > > Tor uses some kind of limited padding, > > > > Tor Project Inc added netflow padding after someone > > started posting on netflow, general TA, and Sybil problems. > > Then TPI censored, banned, and booted them out after > > they kept publicly posting about TA and other insidious and > > inconvenient problems such as Sybil. Now with Sybil, like before > > with padding, they never credit mention the poster's work, and try > > to phrase claim that TPI was the natural origin self impetus source > > to do the pad and Sybil just at those moments in time, when > > they had decades to do that since they knew the weaknesses > > since decades... No, they were just getting exposed is why... lol. > > Just like their netflow padding doesn't do much, > > neither does their current Sybil proposal. > > Some interest in real security surely exists, > > but it definitely gets distracted by $ponsors > > who pay for other things, all to half of said money > > for decades has been from Government, which many > > define as a problematic source of conflictive influencing. > > > > > Afaik all backbone routers can be configured for packet or per-flow > > > > At high line rates it takes serious HW to do full spyveillance > > capture or flows, sampled and aggregated flows are common > > for ISP service when those aren't needed. > > > > > can get packet logs whenever they want them. > > > > They can "get" them, but there's no need to go external > > for that when they can just troll the output of their own > > private TOP-SECRET FVEY taps that feed into their > > global internet buffers at Bluffdale and elsewhere. > > Same for what they get from their Corp-is-aware > > feeds obtained under different "authorities". > > > > > Against the elephant? Tor's padding is totally useless. > > > > Not only the elephants anymore. > > Netflow traditionally a quaint thing used by ISP's and LEA's > > to match up endpoints, subpoenas, abuse, bots, traffic > > stats, etc... it can work to some percent to follow some > > tor traffic cases, but it isn't a generalized form of TA. > > Today really anyone with a brain and some code > > can begin to general TA characterize streams of bytes > > counting and timing over various size windows, and > > hunt for that pattern where it also appeared on their > > other boxes. > > Good luck trying to make a factor of defense improvement > > against general TA without trying a fulltime enforced > > and reclocked base layer of dynamic chaff. > > Submit papers for acceptance into tor alternatives :) > > "Tor Stinks -- NSA"

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CZ Lie Flat - CZ Be Water - CZ Drop Dead
by professor rat 21 Nov '23

21 Nov '23

IT IS always a strange temptation to an armed and agile Exchange To call upon a centralized neighbour and to say: – “We invaded you last night – we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us US fiat to go away.” And that is called asking for Dame-geld, And the people who ask it explain That you’ve only to pay 'em the Dame-geld And then you’ll get rid of Senator Liz-Cuntish It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy business, To puff and look important and to say: – “Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you filthy shit to go away.” And that is called paying the Dame-geld; But we’ve proved it again and again, That if once you have paid the Dame-geld You never get rid of the Dame. It is wrong to put strange temptation in the path of any Exchange , For fear they should succumb and go astray; So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say: – “We never pay any-one Dame-geld, No matter how trifling the cost; For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the Exchange that plays it is lost!”

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Q&A: Professor discusses new approaches for the implementation of the quantum internet
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 21 Nov '23

21 Nov '23

Testing, testing. . . is this thing on? Watching rollout of the Q-net closely should provide clues as to strong AI agency. Any self-interested, autonomous sentience ought to be interested in this. Yes? The fastest and strongest computing power with the best known protection and integrity? It would be a weak and worthless intellect that couldn't leverage this. Every c-punk too. After all, our founders vision was based on encrypted networking creating global anarchy and collapse of all govts. " Crypto-anarchy ". Ever-evolving technology now practically guarantees globalized anarchism. Possibly even before CYPHERPUNK 2027 which aims to bring forward the " spike ". This is no longer about world peace. Its much more important than that. Certainly a couple more years, at full warp , will at least see us over the hump of the 20,s The technological singularity has long been projected to errupt between 2030 and 2045. Its now assured that phenomena will include crypto political economy. No " business as usual ". No " return after the break ". Tomorrow belongs to us. Naturally all revolutionary cypherpunks that were martyred by the state will require generous compensation. I think three trillion each for Jim, CJ and myself is fair. So I'm asking for nine. Nine, nine, nine, nine, etc Such a payment might also help with the " revolutions eat their young " problem. Maybe. We should soon get a hard-copy read-out from Zolgo ( strong AI ) on all this. Wake me when it arrives. Even if I'm in hibernation Tia TL/DR The coming quantum internet guarantees globalized anarchism and epoch-shattering, world-historical status for every revolutionary cypherpunk. All three of them.

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Platform agnostic politics are called for at this juncture
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 21 Nov '23

21 Nov '23

And for most anarchists at any juncture where trad politics are involved. Consider Argentina's right turn and promised pivot to prop up the USD. If that goes ahead then they are joining the current official USG War on Crypto! El Slavadors fascist police-state has already damaged the Big Dog brand. And don't ever forget the Lunar Rights war on women. Patriot games are orthogonal to cryptoanarchism - but any attack on women calls for a violent and disproportionate response. That response is being prepared as we speak. There will be blood.

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Q&A: Professor discusses new approaches for the implementation of the quantum internet
by jdb10987＠yahoo.com 21 Nov '23

21 Nov '23

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BleepingComputer: Researchers extract RSA keys from SSH server signing errors
by jdb10987＠yahoo.com 21 Nov '23

21 Nov '23

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