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Art is crime [NFT artist funds seized]

art-is-crime.com

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Re: Art is crime [NFT artist funds seized]

#61

Post by closewith »

muffinthem wrote: post #56
pjc50 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> permissionless NFT sale is illegal and criminal because it cannot be KYC’d, Correct. The technology must be changed or you accept that you're evading the law. Blockchain advocates have long claimed that blockchain would destroy the state. They never seem to have thought about what the state might do in response to threats to its power.

What you are suggesting is the criminalization of using Ethereum unless it is through a permissioned company. This would be a laughably draconian legal landscape. China and Russia’s bans on crypto is not something to look up to.

What he’s describing is the actual regulatory environment in the EU.

Re: Art is crime [NFT artist funds seized]

#62

Post by muffinthem »

closewith wrote: post #60
muffinthem wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this law target NFTs? Eventually a democratic society decides on its laws. If the citizens and taxpayers want to buy and sell NFTs on permissionless blockchains like Ethereum without being treated as criminals, the laws will have to change.

I hate to break it to you, but there are many laws which are unpopular with a subset of a population, but which will not change in living memory. Globally, the trend is towards stricter and more comprehensive regulation of blockchain-based transactions. While you may prefer (as may I) a freer regulatory environment, the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction.

You seem resigned to the fact that any artist that happens to sell above a certain threshold via NFTs will be treated as a criminal, and there is nothing to do but shrug and say that is the way the law is and forever will be in the EU.

Re: Art is crime [NFT artist funds seized]

#63

Post by gizmo »

muffinthem wrote: post #59
closewith wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument seems to rest on the idea that regulating high-value transactions on a blockchain is an unintended side-effect of AML5 (and the upcoming strengthened AML6). If so, you are delusional. Lawmakers are not going to carve out an exemption for blockchain transactions when the explicit goal of the EU is to bring them under robust regulation. Once again, the outcome that is upsetting you is the intended goal of…

I am not saying it is not the law - I am saying the law is ridiculous and incompatible with how users are choosing to transact through permissionless blockchains like Ethereum. I recognize that the OP is being criminalized and I am saying he should not be treated as a criminal for selling art through NFTs simply because there is no regulatory framework for dealing with the lack of KYC on transactions above an arbitra…

One of the primary ways of fighting organized crime is by going after the money. If you can stop people from enjoying the spoils of their crime you win. It’s a constant battle. If illicit funds are funneled through shell companies and a dozen different jurisdictions there is almost no way to prove the money is dirty anymore. So governments pass laws to force transparency.

That’s why companies have to report who their Ultimately Beneficial Owners are, and that’s why there are reporting requirements for the kinds of transactions that are used for money laundering.

Money laundering is a big deal and governments around the world are fighting hard against it. Crypto has gotten too big and now it’s getting regulated. People who believed wrongly that the law wouldn’t apply to them are now getting a wake-up call.

Re: Art is crime [NFT artist funds seized]

#64

Post by iskander »

pjc50 wrote: post #50
iskander wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the mint prices for any works by shvembldr have ever exceeded €10k. I looked up the mint price for The Blocks of Art and it was 0.1eth (maybe $300 at the time), the closest I could find was the high point of an auction for Alien Insects was 3eth (~$9k at the time). In addition to primary sales, there are also royalty payments for secondary sales but I don't think any of his pieces have ever sold for €20…

It seems like he took it out of coinbase in a lump sum, which resulted in a single large inexplicable transaction.

A transfer between your own accounts is pretty straightforward to declare, it's you on both sides.
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