February 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

SpaceX Accused Of Sex Harassment, Retaliation In Calif.
by Gunnar Larson 08 Feb '24

08 Feb '24

SpaceX Accused Of Sex Harassment, Retaliation In Calif. <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794870?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> By Hannah Albarazi California's Civil Rights Department has received complaints that SpaceX has fired engineers who raised concerns about sexual harassment, gender discrimination and a hostile work environment created by CEO Elon Musk's public comments, according to complaints viewed by Law360 on Tuesday. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794870?nl_pk=4126fe73-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/governmentcontracts/articles/1794870?nl_pk=4126fe73-…>

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Justice Department and Federal Partners Recognize Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Mutilation
by Gunnar Larson 08 Feb '24

08 Feb '24

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-federal-partners-reco… Justice Department and Federal Partners Recognize Zero Tolerance Day for Female Genital Mutilation Tuesday, February 6, 2024 Shareright caret For Immediate Release Office of Public Affairs The Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP) joined federal partners, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center (HRVWCC) and the FBI’s International Human Rights Unit (IHRU), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and others today in recognizing the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). “Female genital mutilation, a form of gender-based violence and child abuse, will not be tolerated today — or any day — in the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department and our law enforcement partners remain committed to holding perpetrators accountable and to providing support for victims of FGM using every tool available to us.” “Female genital mutilation is a devastating crime affecting the lifelong emotional and physical wellbeing of survivors,” said Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Ending this human rights abuse will take a multidisciplinary approach from law enforcement, including community outreach, education, and training. Today and every day, the FBI stands with women and girls against FGM and all forms of violence.” “This international observance provides an opportunity to recognize this global issue, while raising awareness of those whose lives have been claimed or who have suffered life-long effects from this abhorrent practice,” said Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). “HSI, along with our global partners, is dedicated to ending this practice, advocating for victims, and bringing perpetrators to justice.” Federal law enforcement agencies have engaged in many initiatives aimed at protecting those in the United States who have been subjected to, or who may be at risk of, FGM: The Justice Department’s Office of Victims of Crime awarded over $5 million in 2020 and 2021 in three-year grants through a grant program to support community projects designed to increase direct services, education, and community partner engagement to stop the victimization of women and girls through FGM. For more information, please see www.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh241/files/media/document/ojp-news-10302020.… . Federal law enforcement authorities actively investigate allegations of FGM within the United States and abroad. Agencies collect tips and leads from the public and partner with NGOs that will relay information if they suspect a child is in imminent danger of being subjected to FGM or taken out of the country for purposes of FGM. Individuals suspected of FGM may be investigated by the HRVWCC and prosecuted by the Justice Department as appropriate. The FBI’s IHRU proactively conducts outreach to NGOs and provides frequent trainings to educate both the public and the FBI workforce on the FGM violation. These trainings provide awareness to the public about this form of abuse, which is a federal crime, as well as provide the FBI workforce the necessary tools to investigate and prevent instances of FGM. The Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) administers federal grant funding authorized under the Violence Against Women Act to prevent and address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. Funds from certain OVW grant programs may be used by grantees to provide culturally specific victim services and responses to FGM. HSI launched Operation Limelight USA, a premier FGM outreach and education program, in 2017, which has been recognized domestically and internationally as a critical outreach effort to combat FGM by the Women in Federal Law Enforcement and the World Class Policing Awards. Examples of other agency initiatives aimed at protecting women and girls at risk of FGM can be found in the STOP FGM Act 2022 Annual Report of the Attorney General. FGM is a form of child abuse, a serious human rights violation, and, since 1996, a federal crime in the United States. In 2013, Congress amended the federal FGM statute, 18 U.S.C. § 116, to prohibit taking a girl out of the United States for the purpose of performing FGM. In 2021, the STOP FGM Act 2020 was signed into law, strengthening existing law by expanding the scope of punishable acts and increasing the maximum penalty. Violations of this law may result in imprisonment and potential removal from the United States. According to UNICEF, more than 200 million women and girls have been subjected to FGM, which refers to procedures that injure the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. While primarily concentrated in North, West, and Central Africa, as well as parts of the Middle East and Asia, FGM also occurs in the United States. Established in 2008, the HRVWCC furthers HSI’s efforts to identify, locate, and prosecute human rights abusers in the United States, including those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, genocide, torture, extrajudicial killings, FGM, and the use or recruitment of child soldiers. The HRVWCC leverages the expertise of a select group of agents, lawyers, intelligence and research specialists, historians, and analysts who direct the agency’s broader enforcement efforts against these offenders. Members of the public who have information about victims or suspected perpetrators engaging in FGM or other human rights abuses are urged to call the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or the HSI tip line at (866) 347-2423. To submit a tip online, visit tips.fbi.gov or the HSI online form. Tips may be provided anonymously.

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What's In NY's Draft Guidance On AI Use In Insurance
by Gunnar Larson 08 Feb '24

08 Feb '24

What's In NY's Draft Guidance On AI Use In Insurance <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1789098?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> Last week, the New York State Department of Financial Services released proposed guidance for insurers on the use of artificial intelligence systems and external consumer data and information sources for underwriting and pricing purposes, and these standards will likely help form the basis of an eventual nationwide insurance regulatory framework on AI, say attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1789098?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1789098?nl_pk=3dfd2fd…>

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The military-entertainment-complex. A viable company
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 08 Feb '24

08 Feb '24

Six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the June 7, 1942, edition of the Chicago Sunday Tribune trumpeted news of a stunning American victory over a Japanese armada at the Battle of Midway. “Jap Fleet Smashed by U.S.; 2 Carriers Sunk at Midway: 13 to 15 Nippon Ships Hit; Pacific Battle Rages,” the front-page headlines read. And in the center of the page, an intriguing side story: “Navy Had Word of Jap Plan to Strike at Sea.” It was a fascinating, and detailed, description of much of what American intelligence knew beforehand of the enemy’s fleet and plans. Indeed, it was too detailed. The report — 14 paragraphs long — suggested a secret U.S. intelligence coup, and it became one of the biggest and potentially damaging news leaks of World War II. The leak hinted that the United States had cracked a Japanese communications code, sparking fury in the Navy and the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and starting an “espionage” probe by the FBI. It also led to a sensitive grand jury investigation for which testimony would be sealed for more than seven decades. In December, Elliot Carlson, a naval historian in Silver Spring, Md., along with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Naval Institute Press and the Organization of American Historians, among others, won a court fight to unseal the old testimony in the case, which is kept in the National Archives. “This is the only time in American history that the United States government has … taken steps toward prosecuting a member of the media under the Espionage Act,” Katie Townsend, the Reporters Committee litigation director, said in an interview. This week, with leaks again making big news, the United States marks the 75th anniversary of Midway, the epic 1942 battle that raged from June 4 to June 7 and turned the tide of war in the Pacific theater. The American assault on the Japanese fleet was “the single most decisive aerial attack in naval history,” according to historians Jonathan B. Parshall and Anthony P. Tully Battle of Midway footage from 1942 documentary 1:15 The United Staves Navy released a documentary that contains footage from the Battle of Midway in June 1942. (Video: U.S. Navy) The Japanese navy was crippled by the loss of four aircraft carriers — all of which had been used in the attack on Pearl Harbor — and hundreds of planes and sailors when it was ambushed by a smaller U.S. force that had been forewarned by good intelligence. American code breakers had figured out where and when the enemy planned to strike, and the military acted accordingly. But it was critical that the Japanese not learn of the breach, lest they change their codes and confound their U.S. foes. Yet, here, the day the battle ended, was an American newspaper suggesting such a breach to the world. Chicago Sunday Tribune front page. (Chicago Tribune) “The strength of the Japanese forces with which the American Navy is battling … was well known in American naval circles several days before the battle began,” the Tribune report began. “The advance information enabled the American Navy to make full use of air attacks on the approaching Japanese ships.” The story went on to describe the three parts of the planned Japanese attack: a striking force, a support force and an occupation force. It detailed how many ships were involved, and named the ships and their types. “It was a huge scandal,” Carlson, who is working on a book about the case, said in a telephone interview Thursday. “It enraged the Navy high command. It enraged the Roosevelt administration.” The story did not explicitly say a code had been broken, Carlson said. But “any knowledgeable reader of that story would have known that [it] had to come from American cryptanalysis of the Japanese naval code,” he said. “The Navy … thought any reasonably intelligent person reading that story would say, ‘Hey, the American Navy has broken the Imperial Navy’s operational code.’ ” The secret deal the Associated Press made with the Nazis during WWII The Navy’s information on Japanese plans had been gleaned from weeks of scrutiny of enemy message traffic being conducted in the compromised code. U.S. intelligence officials were able to predict what direction the attack would come from and what time of day it would start, and experts were off by only 24 hours in forecasting the date the attack would begin, according to historian John Costello’s study of the Pacific war. At first, the United States was unsure where the enemy planned to attack. Japanese communications kept referring to a location code-named “AF.” The Navy guessed it was Midway, but it had to be sure. To find out, Navy Capt. Joseph J. Rochefort, a code breaker, suggested a ruse. Midway was instructed to issue an emergency call in plain English saying that its water distillation plant had broken down. The report was duly picked up by enemy eavesdroppers, who radioed superiors that “AF” was running short of water, according to Costello. When the Japanese fleet approached Midway, the Americans were lying in wait. The Japanese force was virtually wiped out. But the U.S. fleet was hurt, too. The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown was sunk, and an entire squadron of 15 torpedo planes was shot down. Only one man, Ens. George Gay, survived the doomed attack of Torpedo Squadron 8. Several American pilots downed in the battle were picked up by the Japanese navy. They were interrogated and executed, and their bodies were thrown into the ocean, according to historians Parshall and Tully. The Tribune story ran in other papers, including the old Washington Times-Herald and the New York Daily News. It carried no byline and bore a Washington dateline, but it was the product of a Tribune war correspondent in the Pacific named Stanley Johnston. An Australian who had once mined for gold in New Guinea, Johnston had been aboard the aircraft carrier USS Lexington when it was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea in early May 1942, Carlson said. Johnston was a World War I veteran with a trim mustache and had fought at Gallipoli as a teenager. He had started as a war correspondent for the Tribune in Britain in 1940, according to a 1942 Tribune profile. Known as “Johnny,” he had almost been killed when German planes bombed the Dover hotel where he and other reporters were staying. When the United States entered the war, the Tribune sent Johnston to the Pacific, where he asked to be assigned to the Lexington because there were no other reporters on board, the newspaper said later. “He’s been a recurring puzzle and mystery all these years for the Navy,” Carlson said. In the Coral Sea, the Lexington was crippled by enemy dive bombers and torpedo planes, and it suffered post-attack explosions so serious that it had to be abandoned. But most of the nearly 3,000-man crew was rescued, including Johnston. The carrier was then sunk by an American destroyer. Johnston and other Lexington survivors were eventually put aboard the Navy transport USS Barnett and started for San Diego. While they were en route, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, armed with the latest intelligence, “circulated a message to all of his commanders at sea giving them a little preview … about the battle of Midway that was going to occur in four or five days,” Carlson said. Among other things, the crucial message — No. 311221 — laid out in detail the makeup of the enemy force. “That particular dispatch showed up on the Barnett,” Carlson said. “It was not intended to go there, but it turned out the transport ship had the equipment to decode whatever it wanted to.” The dispatch wound up in the hands of the Lexington’s rescued executive officer, Cmdr. Morton T. Seligman, who happened to be bunking with Johnston. “So you put him in the same room with the dispatch, and the Navy and everybody else put two and two together. Much of the content of Nimitz’s dispatch appeared in Johnston’s story.” Johnston later testified that he had gleaned the crucial information from a “scrap of paper” with doodling on it, which he found on a table in the ship’s crowded quarters, and which he then threw away. Johnston landed in San Diego on June 2, and was in Chicago on June 4. When he heard about the unfolding battle, he told his editor he had some “dope” on the Japanese fleet, according to a 1942 report to the Navy and the Justice Department by former U.S. attorney general William D. Mitchell, who was handling the investigation. Johnston was told to write the story. “The description in the article of the Japanese Midway fleet is almost an exact duplication of the information contained in the Nimitz dispatch,” Mitchell wrote, and Johnston later admitted copying a document with “some statement on it about the Japanese fleet.” Johnston almost certainly saw and copied the dispatch, Mitchell believed. But there was no proof that he knew the dispatch was secret. “The fact that it was left lying around would indicate its lack of ‘secrecy,’ ” Mitchell wrote. Plus, he feared a criminal prosecution could reveal further wartime secrets. The Roosevelt administration wanted to pursue it anyhow. In Chicago, in August 1942, federal prosecutors seated a grand jury, which heard testimony. In the end, no one was indicted. The testimony was sealed, and remained so until last December. The Justice Department had argued against unsealing it, saying that such testimony should always remain sealed to protect witnesses and the innocent. But after more than seven decades, the courts ruled in favor of the historian. Carlson said Johnston’s story did not help the Japanese. “They never heard of the article,” he said. The Japanese did soon change their code, but not because of the leak. “They changed it because it was due to be changed,” he said. Twenty years later, on Sept. 13, 1962, when Johnston died of an apparent heart attack at age 62, the Chicago Tribune ran his obituary on the front page. Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report. Read more Retropolis: By Michael Ruane Michael E. Ruane is a general assignment reporter who also covers Washington institutions and historical topics. He has been a general assignment reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin, an urban affairs and state feature writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a Pentagon correspondent at Knight Ridder newspapers. Sumner Redstone, my source for this, suggests graymail saved this case going to trial. Very Assange.

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Ex-Seton Hall Prez Says School Stood By As Chair Retaliated
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

Ex-Seton Hall Prez Says School Stood By As Chair Retaliated <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1794654?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> By Ryan Harroff Seton Hall University's former president has launched explosive whistleblower claims alleging the school failed to act on his multiple concerns about the school's former board chair, prominent criminal defense attorney Kevin Marino, including that Marino allegedly tried to negotiate a lucrative exit package for the then-dean of the law school amid an ongoing embezzlement probe. Complaint attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1794654?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1794654?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…>

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SpaceX Accused of Sexual Harassment as Fight With Ex-Employees Intensifies
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

SpaceX Accused of Sexual Harassment as Fight With Ex-Employees Intensifies https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-06/spacex-accused-of-sexual…

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High Court Rejects COVID App's Emergency Apple Appeal
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

High Court Rejects COVID App's Emergency Apple Appeal <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1794322?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> By Bryan Koenig Justice Elena Kagan refused Monday to grant immediate high court relief that could have opened up iPhones to alternative distribution outside the App Store, rejecting a petition accusing the Ninth Circuit of "egregious error" in declining to revive antitrust allegations over Apple's rejection of COVID-19-tracking and bitcoin apps. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1794322?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1794322?nl_pk=6416fd97-1dc4-4e0…>

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NYCB Downgraded to Junk; Shocking Charts for Citigroup, Barclays and Deutsche Bank
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/02/nycb-downgraded-to-junk-shocking-cha… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: February 7, 2024 ~ New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) closed out 2023 with a share price of $10.23. At the closing bell yesterday, its share price was $4.20 – a year-to-date decline of 59 percent. More pain is expected today as the credit rating agency, Moody’s, cut the regional bank’s credit rating two notches to junk after the market closed yesterday. Moody’s noted in its downgrade that a third of the bank’s deposits lack FDIC insurance. Uninsured deposits were a key factor in the rapid meltdown of Silicon Valley Bank in March of last year as $146 billion in deposits attempted to exit the bank in the span of 48 hours, leading to the FDIC being forced to take the bank into receivership. NYCB’s rapid share price descent began on January 31 when the bank filed an 8K form with the SEC indicating a $260 million net income loss in the fourth quarter; a dividend cut from 17 cents to 5 cents; and a $552 million provision for credit losses on commercial real estate – an area of growing concern by the credit rating agencies. As of September 30 of last year, the Federal Reserve ranked NYCB the 28th largest banking institution in the U.S. At that time, it was reporting $111 billion in assets. As of December 31, 2023, it reported assets of $116 billion. NYCB’s share price is now 76 percent below its level of January 2, 2008, the year of the worst Wall Street financial crisis since the Great Depression. But far more troubling is the fact that the share prices of three global mega banks, Citigroup, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, have lost even more in market value in the same span of time. (See chart above.) As of September 30, 2023, Citigroup had assets of $2.4 trillion; Barclays had assets of $2.01 trillion; and Deutsche Bank had assets of $1.49 trillion. While Barclays is a U.K. bank and Deutsche Bank is a German bank, both banks are heavily interconnected to U.S. global banks via derivatives and trading. According to the audit performed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) following the 2008 financial crash, Citigroup received secret cumulative loans from the Fed totaling $2.5 trillion from December 2007 through July of 2010; Barclays received $868 billion; and Deutsche Bank received $354 billion. At the time, the American people had no idea that Citigroup was insolvent and being propped up by the Fed or that foreign banks were getting hundreds of billions of dollars in handouts from the U.S. central bank. (See chart below from the GAO audit.) And if bank regulators wants to worry about uninsured deposits today, perhaps New York Community Bancorp’s total deposits of $81.4 billion should not be at the top of their deposit worries. According to the FDIC, as of June 30, 2023 there were 4,645 federally-insured commercial banks and savings associations in the United States. Uninsured deposits at all 4,645 institutions totaled $7.134 trillion at the end of the second quarter. But according to call reports filed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup’s Citibank, as of June 30, just those four banks accounted for $4.185 trillion of uninsured deposits, or 59 percent of all uninsured deposits at all 4,645 federally-insured institutions. That is an irresponsible concentration of risk in the U.S. banking system, tolerated by a dysfunctional regulatory system that has been captured by banks, their lobbyists and the MAGA sycophants that sit on the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees in Congress. Citigroup’s Citibank, the bank that blew itself up in 2008 and received the largest taxpayer and Fed bailout in global banking history, reports in its call report for June 30, 2023 that 85.5 percent of its $1.338 trillion in total deposits are uninsured. The breakdown is as follows: It has $548.33 billion in uninsured deposits in its domestic offices plus $595.4 billion in deposits in foreign offices. (The FDIC does not insure deposits on foreign soil.) Those two figures tally up to $1.144 trillion in deposits lacking FDIC insurance out of a total deposit base of $1.338 trillion. The breakdown for the other three mega banks are as follows: 59 percent of JPMorgan Chase’s deposits lack FDIC insurance; 51 percent at Wells Fargo; and 49 percent at Bank of America. Until the Glass-Steagall Act is restored by the U.S. Congress, the U.S. banking system will continue to lurch from one banking crisis to the next. (See Former New York Fed Pres Bill Dudley Calls This the First Banking Crisis Since 2008; Charts Show It’s the Third.) GAO Data on Emergency Lending Programs During Financial Crisis GAO Data on Fed’s Emergency Lending Programs During 2007-2010 Financial Crisis

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Hack Disrupts Pa. Courts A Week After Ga. Cyberattack
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

Hack Disrupts Pa. Courts A Week After Ga. Cyberattack <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1793927?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> By James Boyle A cyberattack Sunday night on the Pennsylvania court system's website has disrupted several public-facing services Monday, nearly a week after a similar incident tied up online systems in Fulton County, Georgia. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1793927?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/insurance/articles/1793927?nl_pk=59612751-8689-4b1e-…>

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An Open Letter to Bloomberg on Modern BitLicense Logic
by Gunnar Larson 07 Feb '24

07 Feb '24

Dear Bloomberg: Thank you for pioneering innovation spanning all facets of global finance. For the last 15 years, Bloomberg has served as a wise friend offering daily, quality inspiration. Interviewing Mayor Mike Bloomberg on occasion as a young journalist and advancing to become a global executive and regular Bloomberg Breakaway attendee has fostered a dream of learning from top global business idols. Forever inspired by Bloomberg’s pioneering contributions to the culture of New York and global financial innovation, today’s memo highlights our now eventful journey to fundamentally modernize New York's BitLicense and global regulatory logic. - Our global team <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S3hI4G7QYR7PmlKlc7oQHhl4RnroLYF-/view?usp=…> is comprised of seasoned professionals who cumulatively represent decades of industry experience across various fields and disciplines. - Our strategic partnerships <https://news.bitcoin.com/ternio-joins-visas-fast-track-program-as-new-enabl…> with the world’s leading financial, healthcare services <http://mydr.co/> and mobile payments providers support the key aim of our endeavor: to attain the legitimate financial inclusion and economic prosperity of all the excluded, under-privileged and under-served, offering financial inclusion and global citizenry. Pioneering global virtual currency innovation is in part due to pedigree responsibility as a “Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar,” (UG) a “Blockchain Scholar” (GR) and a principle creator of “United Nations AudioVisual Library on International Law <https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BweeaClFZ8c0dDNDWGFveVFTXzlOTjhXY2tKS2FZN2…>.” Humble scholars and UN esteem are indeed supportive. However, our working example of success is modeled on Bloomberg's business of international excellence, pioneering many of the world's greatest financial systems and technology frameworks out of New York. *The New York BitLicense vs. Global Regulatory Arbitrage* The 2015 BitLicense mandate was envisioned as synonymous with New York’s leadership of next-generation global innovation. New York’s contemporary virtual currency innovation rests with a modern BitLicense with cross-border logic (similar to New York human rights law <https://dhr.ny.gov/law#HRL298a>). 1. Today many New York firms have various legacy regulatory arbitrage frameworks. 2. The utility concept behind virtual currency is in its cross-border appeal. 3. Modern European regulation shares this logic. New York’s BitLicense does not, therefore creating a virtual currency “Crypto Bank” regulatory arbitrage loophole between Europe and New York. New York banks’ traditional engagement of regulatory arbitrage has overflowed the BitLicense and correspondingly is responsible for global virtual currency marketplace manipulation. Circumnavigating this problem is key to modern BitLicense logic. Given the inherent universal cross-border nature of virtual currencies, there is no real good reason for New York firms under the BitLicense mandate to manipulate other global markets via regulatory arbitrage. Engaging the New York Department of Financial services’ new “Conditional BitLicense” framework as a vehicle, we have signed our clear intent to win the Superintendent's Conditional Approval and other necessary regulatory approvals of modern virtual currency logic. - BitLicense members today should not be surprised by New York wasting no time issuing modern logic and that virtual currency regulatory arbitrage is a lawless New York rights concern affecting <https://dhr.ny.gov/law#HRL298a> over 1 billion people. - European regulation has allowed our team to build these concepts which are theoretically illegal in New York, thus creating global loopholes. - Africa is the most concerning “virtual currency regulatory arbitrage market” directed outside of New York and Europe jurisdictions. African consumers are being manipulated most. United States consumers also are affected at various levels. European consumers have a favorable environment, but do not have the “dynamism” New York affords. Working in New York, European and African jurisdictions as “Blockchain Scholars,” we tested the concept of our Modern BitLicense Logic at our “sister” University in Africa <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S3hI4G7QYR7PmlKlc7oQHhl4RnroLYF-/view?usp=…>, and interestingly Goldman Sachs out of New York was a lead investor. The key observation is that New York banks “own,” or lead investment in, the European and African marketplace leaders. At every level, New York’s BitLicense is the most significant hurdle to the global virtual currency industry. Given our own experience in these markets, we have found that Goldman Sachs has fine tuned global virtual currency regulatory arbitrage. To be fair, we have reported on various other Silicon Valley firms leveraging the BitLicense, given that Valley firms like Robinhood <https://thecapital.io/article/robinhoods-brand-fake-vs-paypals-crypto-corru…> use New York banks, like Goldman Sachs, as a key actor. Note, as some of the industries top “real global scholars” we understand it would be a mistake to be adversarial to the current New York environment. Like Boomberg, we aim to be very impressive in terms of successfully shepherding/persuading meaningful New York innovation. *The Art of Diplomacy* Rather than a merry-go-round, the process of change is like a slide, and Modern BitLicense Logic is necessary. As a matter of New York law, there is no other option. The process of filing complaints or legal mediation is sub-par. Furthermore, if virtual currency firms want to game regulatory markets they honestly should forfeit the prestige of New York’s BitLicense. 2020 will go down in history as New York banks continued to profit heavily under regulatory arbitrage frameworks while virtual currency reached global proportions. New York’s newly announced “Conditional BitLicense” framework offered our group the perfect opportunity to earn a “Conditional License” and suggests advancing the BitLicense mandate with “modern logic.” - The interests ensured through interpretations of specific provisions in the existing national and supra-national legal framework (civil law, securities law, bankruptcy law, international human rights law) call for New York to clarify the rights of the public and obligations of BitLicense members engaged in the global virtual currency economy. - BitLicense regulation must preserve a technology-neutral, principle-based, non-discriminatory framework for the next generation of modern New York virtual currency public policy, naturally to support innovation within the limits imposed by overriding international public interests. As a proud New Yorker, the only option is to be a “real scholar,” and the job would not be complete without New York regulator approval and campaign for cross-border modernization of the BitLicense logic in any way possible. *Vast Undue Economic Hardship* Bloomberg has championed actions to promote an inclusive economy -- one in which people have the chance to move themselves and their families out of poverty, one in which systemic racism does not limit opportunities and one in which all people can fully participate. Without this inclusivity, the global economy will not be able to live up to its full potential and people will suffer. As we have reported <https://thecapital.io/article/new-yorks-raging-regulatory-arbitrage-racket-…>, virtual currency fraud is a serious problem for such a developed country as the United States, whose bank regulators have drawn attention to the increase of these crimes. Having discovered that an unregulated virtual currency sphere (such as in Africa, or other developing markets) is very popular among virtual currency fraudsters <https://www.americanbanker.com/news/jpmorgan-chase-warns-of-upcoming-fine-o…>, the New York State Department of Financial Services concluded that this kind of regulatory fraud was threatening US national security. Research on the social importance and credibility <https://thecapital.io/article/robinhoods-brand-fake-vs-paypals-crypto-corru…> of good institutional design from an organizational perspective seeks to prevent undue hardship requiring significant expense or difficulty (including a significant interference with the safe or efficient operation of international operations due to the seniority system of New York banks who are playing global markets). - Factors to be considered in determining whether an undue economic hardship exists shall include, but not be limited to, special requirements or conditions that are imposed upon an applicant or class of applicants in circumstances where similar requirements or conditions are not imposed upon other applicants. - Consumer protection is an umbrella term covering a group of laws and organizations that protect the rights of consumers and foster the free flow of accurate information in the marketplace. Consumer protection laws are designed to prevent businesses from engaging in fraud or unfair practices, to protect individuals from scam artists, and to identity thieves and crooks. - A New York State resident or corporation is in violation if found to have contributed to an act committed outside New York State against a resident of this state or against a corporation organized under the laws of this state (or authorized to do business in this state) that would constitute an unlawful discriminatory practice if committed within New York State. - If the New York State has reason to believe that a non-resident person or foreign corporation has committed or is about to commit outside of this state an act which if committed within this state would constitute an unlawful practice, such act is in violation. Speaking generally, at least during its 2015-2020 implementation phase, the BitLicense has likely contributed to increased cross-border virtual currency market manipulation. Specifically, we reference our individual hardship example in New York, Europe and Africa with concern to Goldman Sachs’ cross-border manipulation as a violation of New York Human Rights law. *New York Human Rights Law* Our analysis of the factors that drive cross-border differences in the implementation of BitLicense reform link the resulting heterogeneity to cross-jurisdictional arbitrage. In this manner we identify New York in a “virtual currency regulatory crisis” – to the extent that the BitLicense is unevenly implemented – as a source of new and unchecked global financial risk. Given the nature of traditional regulatory arbitrage, it is key to differentiate the BitLicense and understand New York’s universal nature <https://dhr.ny.gov/law#HRL298a> of Human Rights Law. - The science of pure virtual currency design and human rights are universal movements to end ins <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutionalisation>titutionalized <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutionalisation> discrimination and disenfranchisement <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disenfranchisement_in_the_United_States>, and to offer quality consumer financial product access without cross-border regulatory segregation. - We trust that virtual currency regulatory arbitrage can be addressed via BitLicense modernization and that New York regulators share our logical provisional interpretation of cross-borders with respect to human rights. Our experience in Europe and Africa points to the necessity to work with New York regulators directly without BitLicense member interference. This approach is not to purposely irritate the esteemed Superintendent or rock the boat that is New York State and risk disrupting the system that guarantees our future. *Conditional BitLicense Approval* Modern BitLicense Logic’s opportunity is to meet a new global standard for virtual currency regulatory innovation while protecting market integrity by stringent standards applicable to all law-abiding business enterprises. In our case, a few approvals are necessary and are proposed via a hybrid model under the supervision of the Superintendent. Following this desire, we have navigated the five step process for Conditional review. 1. *Inform*: Applicants inform NYDFS of the intent to collaborate with a specific BitLicensee and provide a copy of the draft agreement between the applicant and the BitLicensee. 2. *Submit: *Applicants submit information on the expected type of business and the perceived risks, among other things. 3. *Review: *NYDFS begins its substantive review after all of the requested documentation has been submitted. 4. *Contract: *NYDFS and the applicant enter into a supervisory agreement defining the scope of the applicant’s business, shared responsibilities with its sponsor BitLicensee and NYDFS’ level of oversight. 5. *Approve:* If NYDFS approves the application, a Conditional BitLicense is issued. Every day of delay in ambiguity of Modern BitLicense Logic poses a problem for those who want to offer additional products and services at international scale while staying within the letter of the law. Currently, we believe that our Conditional application is ready to enter stage four and seek to begin negotiation of the supervisory agreement. Bloomberg as the prime example of global prestige and success fuels our desire to be best in class in providing global virtual currency financial services out of New York. Warm regards, *Gunnar Larson* Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar | Blockchain Scholar Conditional BitLicense Applicant (Global Team Lead) New York, New York 10001 -- *Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xNY.io> | Bank.org <http://Bank.org>* MSc <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> - Digital Currency MBA <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-646-454-9107 New York, New York 10001

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