Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

paralleleconomy.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 92 posts

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#81

Post by catapart »

pessimizer wrote: post #76
catapart wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course there are. Like I said, Stripe was competition. It wasn't a side-show because it didn't try to change the game without solid analytical data; instead it just played the same game and tried different methods of achieving the same goals. That's competition: We're both trying to get to the same place, and we're doing it differently. But, again, I don't see the linked site as doing that. Instead, it's trying to…

> right-wing think-tank Who are you talking about? > invest a ton of money before they agonizingly drag out their corporate demise What is so challenging about the business that they're going into other than the fact that they will be under constant attack by censors and monopolists? They seem to be safe as houses otherwise, considering that they're requiring TINs and EINs from business customers, and W-9s and SSNs f…

The people who operate the site are who I'm talking about. And the challenges for the business they're entering in to are scale and compliance. It's pretty wild, to me, to see how many people have to learn this lesson OVER and OVER and OVER again, but it turns out - you can't do ANYTHING alone. No person is an island. If you think you can go it alone, you are simply forgetting the things that got you where you are. And all of that is doubly true in finance where the entire industry is predicated on interoperability. They are trying to do away with all of that and say "I alone can save you". They want you to build an entirely distinct economy, with them, because they can't play well with the existing economy. That's the whole game: "I'll build my own economy. With blackjack! And hookers!" They're saying they want everyone to be able to freely trade, but they're building a separate economy, cutting out the existing financial institutions that don't sign on to their libertarian ideas of a healthy economy. It's a roundabout way of exclusion, but exclusion is the only play they've ever known.

And you wonder what the challenges are, of building and maintaining your own sub-economy? I mean, it seems pretty obvious, but if you're really curious, just pay attention to this group. You'll see the challenges play out in real time and, most likely, overcome them.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#82

Post by kiawe_fire »

Comevius wrote: post #78
kiawe_fire wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can’t tell if this is a parody or not.

To be fair most of us feels that way. Take a peek at Fox News, or Truth Social and Parler, or just look up what Trump, DeSantis or Abbott is doing these days. You tell me if it's a parody or not.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be snarky - much of your comment read to me like a mockery of the hateful things CNN and MSNBC say all day, combined with many of the very things conservatives are posting about the left, with a mix of manic Fox News in between. It felt like it was intentionally hyperbolic in a sort of highbrow parody sort of way.

If you do believe all of that in your comment, then I wonder if you’re victim to hateful disinformation intentionally meant to make it ok to censor, excommunicate, and violently attack a group of people with whom you would otherwise have minor policy disagreements.

Ironically, proving the need for “the other side” to have a parallel economy in the first place.

It’s mostly too bad because, if you believe all the things you said about desiring better education, better healthcare, higher wages being good; and that sexism, racism, and acceptance of business and political elites is bad, then you have a lot more in common with people on the right than you think, and are likely not seeing some aspects of the extremism on the left. (But not your fault - a function of the disinformation).

It’s too bad, because the extremists on both sides are also far more alike than they are different, and they are empowered when we’re against each other.

Not to say there aren’t elements of truth in your comment, too.

The funny thing about having a huge industry of hyper partisan right and left wing cable news and publications pumping out hateful caricatures all day, is that at some point it becomes somewhat self-fulfilling. A feature, not a bug, to be sure.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#83

Post by blisterpeanuts »

pessimizer wrote: post #77
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something in those words reminds me of what some people were saying in early 1930s Nazi Germany: "Serves them right. Goddamn Jews." "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for…

This is an extremely self-serving and deceptive quote from Niemöller, and its life is due to the fact that it works as poetry. The fact is that he cheered them on when they came for the socialists and the trades unionists. He only tacitly supported the rounding up of German Jews because, and I have to paraphrase here, he thought the Jews were "too smart" to "force" Hitler to kill them, and would just leave. His mista…

The words are powerful and iconic. From the linked page:

"Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radically right-wing political movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church. He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration camps."

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#84

Post by Comevius »

kiawe_fire wrote: post #82
Comevius wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair most of us feels that way. Take a peek at Fox News, or Truth Social and Parler, or just look up what Trump, DeSantis or Abbott is doing these days. You tell me if it's a parody or not.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be snarky - much of your comment read to me like a mockery of the hateful things CNN and MSNBC say all day, combined with many of the very things conservatives are posting about the left, with a mix of manic Fox News in between. It felt like it was intentionally hyperbolic in a sort of highbrow parody sort of way. If you do believe all of that in your comment, then I wonder if you’re victim…

There is such a thing as facts and truth. Yes, the partisanship is unfortunate, but it happens. It happened back in 1939 too, and there was a right side back then too. It wasn't flawless by any measure, it was just better than the other side.

The worst example of left-wing extremism you can find is the BLM protests, and as unfortunately as they unfolded the griveances there were not unfounded. The American police is largely unaccountable, corrupt and infiltrated with white supremacists. Antifa itself is often discredited, but it's a response to the rise of far-right extremism. The difference is that antifa is not a major domestic terrorism risk.

Do I have to cite the worst examples of right-wing extremism? Between Trump's criminal conduct and messages and the Capitol attack there is an entire culture and media of political violence, culminating in several mass shootings, cults like QAnon and several militias. Right-wingers live in a bubble of paranoia and victim mentality. They contested the result of the last election violently. They've built a cult of personality around their leader, who must never be questioned.

Most scholars don't think there is an equivalence here, and I don't either. I'm not even a left-winger or whatever, I have my own thing, but they are not equivalent, and when I have to choose the choice is obvious.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#85

Post by Comevius »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #58
Comevius wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Canada convoy protest was peaceful, except for the bribery, threats, assault, dangerous driving and setting a building on fire. That and the $6 billion economic loss, or the fact that nobody wanted them there, or that the protesters were protesting the COVID-19 vaccination mandate. And if that's not enough the whole thing was funded from the United States by Donald Trump donors and an American billionaire called…

Two men tried to set an apartment building on fire. They were apprehended, and were confirmed by the police as unaffiliated with the truckers convoy.

This is hard to believe since there were conflicts between the protesters and the residents, who didn't feel safe. There was a heightened lack of security, a sense of lawlessness during this time. The Ottawa Police Service was unprepared and couldn't respond. It's questionable if someone would have lighted the fire under other circumstances, plus one of the resident Matias Muñoz said that another resident came into the hallway and asked the men what they were doing and they admitted to being part of the trucker protest. The police obviously had an interest in calling the event unaffiliated, obviously the arsonists themselves weren't interested in telling otherwise, although one of them later went back to put out the fire. The residents think that they only did it because they were dumb and looked dumb.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#86

Post by [deleted] »

pjkundert wrote: post #73
rfwhyte wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about the tens of millions of people who actively fucking hated it for being the cesspool of anti-rational, ethno-nationalist, nazi-enabling degeneracy it truly was? Seems to me the folks in the fringe minority (as the convoy types are) are the ones with a "Distorted" perception of reality.

QED. anti-rational? There is no risk in forced medical intervention on a global scale? ethno-nationalist? Do you know who drives trucks here? nazi-enabling? Wut? fringe minority? Hundreds of thousands of families directly supporting with presence, materiel and finances in the face of threats from the highest levels of government, law-enforcement and (unified) media? This example of a very, very commonly recited trope…

[deleted]

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#87

Post by 91234throw »

the_optimist wrote: post #27
egypturnash wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their about page ( https://www.paralleleconomy.com/about/ ) explicitly mentions Parler: We are starting with payment processing. And keep building. We took on big tech and it was us who made Parler the most downloaded app in the world. Unfortunately we did not control Parler. We took on big tech and the success we had was unprecedented. We are back and we continue to take on all entities that want to abridge your fre…

I support and believe in the freedom to be a left-wing radical.

Unfortunately there is no Parallel Labor Voucher Economy. Yet, at least.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#88

Post by imtringued »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #42

In other news, I had trouble finding a crypto payments processor for my small business. Coinbase commerce and OpenNode required so much documentation that it might take me days to assemble to required documents, and BitPay has my account stuck on verification for weeks. Any recommendations? I would love to accept crypto payments but cannot believe how hard it is to onboard a processor.

I literally don't know anything about this topic and the only reason why I know it exists is because I once looked for an example of crypto payment accepting merchants is that I went on serverhunt but, uh, have you tried Coingate?

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#89

Post by smitty1e »

Comevius wrote: post #78
kiawe_fire wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly can’t tell if this is a parody or not.

To be fair most of us feels that way. Take a peek at Fox News, or Truth Social and Parler, or just look up what Trump, DeSantis or Abbott is doing these days. You tell me if it's a parody or not.

I submit that the litmus test is held on 08Nov.

Re: Parallel Economy: Censor-Resistant Payment Processing

#90

Post by kush_ »

Comevius wrote: post #84
kiawe_fire wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be snarky - much of your comment read to me like a mockery of the hateful things CNN and MSNBC say all day, combined with many of the very things conservatives are posting about the left, with a mix of manic Fox News in between. It felt like it was intentionally hyperbolic in a sort of highbrow parody sort of way. If you do believe all of that in your comment, then I wonder if you’re victim…

There is such a thing as facts and truth. Yes, the partisanship is unfortunate, but it happens. It happened back in 1939 too, and there was a right side back then too. It wasn't flawless by any measure, it was just better than the other side. The worst example of left-wing extremism you can find is the BLM protests, and as unfortunately as they unfolded the griveances there were not unfounded. The American police is…

> There is such a thing as facts and truth

I’m sure being extremely condescending and dismissive works wonders for turning people towards your politics. That’s basically the left winger stereotype response to everything (that plus “just trust the science”).

Another stereotype of left-wingers is conveniently ignoring facts and truth as soon as it becomes uncomfortable and challenges their narratives.

Your tolerance for ‘facts’ is more see-through than a pane glass window, and this cognitive dissonance is exactly what drives people to the right. Just look at Sweden

https://www.commonsense.news/p/two-bombings-in-one-night-tha...

Post reply on HN