The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
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The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
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Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#2Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain.
But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-more.
Ultimately we're far more tracked by corporations anyhow now, and that only barely has to do with the currency we use.
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#3Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain. But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-mor…
I recently had to leave working for a cryptocurrency adjacent startup because my stomach kept getting into knots about how oligarchs are doing a lot of VC funding in the space, and the reason they are funding it is to cement their authority.
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#4Here's a link explaining the original Panama papers, on which this work and detailed analysis is based:
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#5403'd.
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#6Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain. But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-mor…
> the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-more.
While I agree the implications are concerning, I think its difficult to overstate just how much of a stranglehold the US regulatory and surveillance machine has over the global financial system.
Trying to buy and sell things online without sharing your real name or address is functionally impossible for 99% of people (unless you are willing to break the law or learn how to use cryptocurrency). This is because the gatekeepers to the Internets finances (banks, credit cards, etc) are required by law to identify who they are working with.
This makes a sort of sense until you zoom out and see the scope of the problem. Because it is impossible in 99% of cases to move money around online without using those gatekeepers, there functionally is no financial privacy online.
I should not have to share my bloody name or address with anyone to order a god damn box of chocolate.
> Ultimately we're far more tracked by corporations anyhow now,
True, and thats very concerning and should be pushed back against. But when corporations collect data on you, the worst thing they do with that data (generally speaking) is not treat it with care and the data gets stollen / made public.
When the government collects data on you, the worst thing they do with it (generally speaking) is throw you in jail or kill you. The scope of the concern is astronomically higher.
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#7Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain. But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-mor…
Crypto has been pretty unsuccessful at moving large volumes anonymously over a multi year timespan
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#8Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain. But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-mor…
> the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-more. While I agree the implications are concerning, I think its difficult to overstate just how much of a stranglehold the US regulatory and surveillance machine has over the global financial system. Trying to buy and sell things online without sharing your real name or address is functio…
Corporations can deny you credit, change your interest rate, increase your bail, close your account, refuse to do business with you, and generally make your life harder.
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#9Younger me was so excited by bootstrapping new connectivities & systems, resented government survelliance of personal lives. The Manifesto of Cyberspace was scrawled across my brain. But wow, my dislike for how many vast powers in the world are so very un-observable was also high then, & the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-mor…
> the implications of bitcoin & cryptocurrency to let these systems grow & be harder to deal with has only gone up & up & up ever-more. While I agree the implications are concerning, I think its difficult to overstate just how much of a stranglehold the US regulatory and surveillance machine has over the global financial system. Trying to buy and sell things online without sharing your real name or address is functio…
"I should not have to share my bloody name or address with anyone to order a god damn box of chocolate."
You don't. Get off your ass and go buy a box with cash. On the drive over meditate on who generally benefits when given the ability to move large sums of cash anonymously (hint: terrorist organizations, drug cartels, and tax dodging oligarchs).
Re: The Offshore Networks of Oligarchs
#10The premise here is very solid- shut down the small number of people that the Oligarchs depend on, and their ability to operate is curtailed much more effectively than trying to attack the oligarchs directly.