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Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

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Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#181
post #166
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are right in practice. But it sounds an awful lot bit like the old "I have nothing to hide" argument against encryption, too? Many payment processors do restrict the business they want to deal with beyond what the letter of the law requires. (And that is their prerogative as a private business!)

If they refuse business to let's say gays the government would come after them. How is refusing to serve legal sex workers different?

Which government would come after them? There are lots of different governments around the world, with different views and different laws.

> How is refusing to serve legal sex workers different?

As far as I can tell, in the US discrimination is forbidden against certain protected groups / along certain protected differences only. But you are free to discriminate on all other grounds. Eg a restaurant can legally discriminate against people who don't wear a tie.

The UK rules are similar, see eg https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights

In the British rules, sexual orientation is explicitly mentioned, but your trade ain't. So as far as I can tell, it's illegal in the UK to discriminate against gays but legal to discriminate against sex workers.

(However, a government might come after you, if you do something they don't like, even if it's perfectly legal. Eg the government could just 'randomly' decide to audit your taxes all the time, or 'randomly' apply other regulations and rules more strictly.)

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group for a list of the protected groups in the US. Wikipedia lists sexual orientation, but not vocation.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more the failure of the crypto community over the past 14 years to develop a use for crypto beyond speculation and crime.

A friend of mine that works with crypto gaming companies frequently expresses frustration that every game they see is gambling, slightly disguised gambling, or terrible.

What other kinds of ‘crypto gaming company’ _could_ there be?

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#184
post #36

Bitcoin solves this. Sorry I just had to. I think crypto as an investable asset class is finished. SEC is sending a very clear signal here. It’s entirely the community’s fault for failing to properly manage this space. They actually earned public’s trust (sometime during the pandemic). And then they threw it all away for a few bucks.

Crypto's fate is bound be like those alternative Reddits and Twitters. What kind of users an alternative Reddit attracts? 1. People who don't like Reddit because of privacy concerns or other ideological reasons. 2. People who are banned by Reddit. It turns out group 2 is much larger than group 1 and the community rots. Now what kind of people who cryptos (a.k.a. alternative money) attract? 1. People who don't like ba…

Crypto has a viable micropayments for content story, see e.g. https://stacker.news . An upvote costs a minimum of 1 Satoshi (currently about 0.025¢)

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm really baffled that sex workers and other groups who provide legal services that payment processors don't like aren't embracing crypto. These people also need to pay their bills and not have their money stolen or otherwise disappear in the “fraud all the way down” world of crypto. Cash solves most of these problems, as well as basic intermediate layers like LLCs.

Cash is not reasonable for internet-based transactions. Payment processors like Stripe and Braintree are better, but they have moralising terms of service and will drop you the moment they find out what you're doing, and good luck getting your money out of that. Banks will frequently give you a hard time or not work with you if you're a sex worker so bank transfers are much more difficult and probably more info than…

…and yet these systems all still outcompete crypto for the use cases you cite. We must therefore discern that the risk of getting fucked by payment processors is less than getting fucked by the crypto ecosystem.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#186

[flagged]

Gary Gensler isn't targeting individual crypto users. He isn't even targeting Bitcoin; these suits are related to other coins that fall under ordinary, existing securities regulations. This is just routine civil law enforcement of the sort that occurs in every industry; if crypto is an exception, it's only because companies in that space have an unusual tendency to break the law.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#187

The SEC was meeting with SBF and failed to protect US citizens who sent money to FTX. So far Binance hasn't pulled a ponzi scam (they existed before Alameda/FTX and have never stolen anyone's money). So basically the SEC failed to protect people from that ponzi scammer boy SBF was, but they're going after the like of Binance and Coinbase, who, so far, never stole a cent from anyone?

It's crypto. If you don't act in time the money is just gone. If they wait until Binance actually pulls the Ponzi it will be way too late.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#188

The SEC was meeting with SBF and failed to protect US citizens who sent money to FTX. So far Binance hasn't pulled a ponzi scam (they existed before Alameda/FTX and have never stolen anyone's money). So basically the SEC failed to protect people from that ponzi scammer boy SBF was, but they're going after the like of Binance and Coinbase, who, so far, never stole a cent from anyone?

How do you know Binance hasn't stolen anyone's money? Is there a reputable auditor's statement to that effect? Seems very unlikely when Binance pretends they're not even headquartered in any jurisdiction. Nobody has any idea about Binance's actual money flows and where customer funds have actually ended up.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing in the bitcoin whitepaper about getting rich quick. If that's your goal, go ahead and send your money to FTX, Luna, Voyager, or Binance. But that's not my goal. I'm here so I can have self-sovereignty of my money.

>self-sovereignty of my money. the entire concept of money is a social construct. It's a culture wide bluff that we all agree to never call. "self-sovereignty" is antithetical to the idea of money.

@Alexander B

Specialized ASIC were developed after crypto became popular.

Re: Proposed SEC order to freeze, repatriate Binance.US assets

#190

The SEC was meeting with SBF and failed to protect US citizens who sent money to FTX. So far Binance hasn't pulled a ponzi scam (they existed before Alameda/FTX and have never stolen anyone's money). So basically the SEC failed to protect people from that ponzi scammer boy SBF was, but they're going after the like of Binance and Coinbase, who, so far, never stole a cent from anyone?

Or, they fucked up by not being sufficiently careful before, and now they're being more proactive.
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