The Treasury Is Expanding the Patriot Act to Attack Bitcoin Self Custody
8 hours ago
- #Financial Regulation
- #Bitcoin Privacy
- #Cryptocurrency Trends
- The Trump administration's 'Crypto Brief' suggested expanding the Patriot Act to include digital assets, leading to FinCen and Treasury proposing guidelines that could outlaw privacy tools like CoinJoin, atomic swaps, and single address use in Bitcoin.
- These proposed measures are seen as an attack on financial privacy, potentially flagging users of these tools as suspicious, rejecting their transactions, and even leading to imprisonment.
- Critics argue that preventing single address use degrades Bitcoin's efficiency and security, making private keys more vulnerable to brute force attacks.
- There's a call to abolish the Patriot Act rather than expand it, advocating for financial privacy for law-abiding citizens instead of catering to the lowest common denominator (criminals).
- Mel Mattison highlights Bitcoin's lower volatility compared to platinum futures, attributing this to institutionalization through ETFs, options, and futures, which suppresses volatility but also caps high returns.
- Bitcoin's evolution into a 'TradFi security instrument' means investors should recalibrate expectations, with 50% annual returns now considered significant.
- Upcoming events include a Bitcoin custody session with Tom Honzik and Marty Bent, a crypto roundtable by the SEC, and a proposed bill for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
- Obscura VPN, designed by a former Bitcoin Core contributor, offers verifiable privacy, works under restrictive networks, accepts Lightning payments, and requires no email.
- Ten31, a major Bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed $200M across 30+ companies, showcasing significant growth in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- The newsletter promotes tools like the Opportunity Cost browser extension for thinking in SATS and daily Bitcoin updates via their platform.