1/ If you are not paying attention to it already, you should definitely keep an eye on the so called "RESTRICT act" a piece of legislation that will open up the doors for unprecedented government overreach over its citizens. Let's break that down! 🔨

So this Bitcoin ETF is going to make supper of real Bitcoin very hard in many places. In Slovakia for example they have 40% income tax on "virtual assets" (they still use these statespeak words), but it's 0% for ETFs after holding for one year. And these bitcoiners are always crazy libertarians with guns, they only eat meat and they want you to buy hardware wallets, pay transaction fees to some miners, use addresses and engrave some words into metal plates that they test for apocalypse readiness. Why not capitalize on the fact that this culture is growing, by few clicks in their brokerage account web interface, tax free? Especially if these people believe that state is here to provide "services", and is not fundamentally bad or immoral? I believe Bitcoin provides protection against: monetary inflation, confiscation of property, excessive taxation, capital controls and surveillance. ETF only covers the monetary inflation aspect. But what if you don't need the others? I used to say that you are getting worse product for the same price. But now due to difference in taxation, the ETF Bitcoin is cheaper if you are a normies, you sell and pay taxes (my strategy is not to sell but to short fiat, which is also tax free and you make money on the short as well - I teach it in Crytocurrencies: Hack your way to a better life and course on harnessing the value of Bitcoin without having to sell it: both are in my eshop). So what would you tell these people? Should they buy the ETF instead of real Bitcoin? And why not?

"Looking at freedom as the highest possible value of human life should ultimately inspire us to build systems that allow people to play an active and central role in determining the future of their lives." - @CypherpunkGuild c4ss.org/content/57383

Dystopia is in full swing in Europe and achieving true anonymity from mobile devices is a big problem. In the following article you will learn that it is still largely possible. How to maximize anonymity when accessing the Internet on mobile: nethemba.com/how-to-maximize…

"Law enforcement agencies in the United States, at the federal, state, and local levels, have been using a secretive government program to gain access to phone records of individuals who are not suspected of any crime." techpolicy.press/guise-of-ch…

Time to talk about security in web3. Usually protocol developers when talking about security are referring to securing assets / state via cryptography and economics. User security is usually not discussed, so let's dive into what we need to truly build secure web3. 1. Software user is interacting should be secure end to end. Supply chain attacks are becoming more prominent, where a library that wallet app is using has malicious code that can steal user funds or leak private key. 2. User must be by default protected from interacting with malicious or risky contracts. Similar to browser visiting suspicious website you get a warning, when you are trying to send transaction to a contract that hasn't been audited, hasn't had any tx before, or explicitly was added to black list - should get a warning. Wallets should warn about contract updates as well. 3. Browser and wallets should default mix-in traffic to avoid websites and RPCs to be able to targeted attack users. 4. Secure containers for apps. When launching new smart contract or updating existing one - there is largest risk of failure. Putting it into a secure container that limits how much value can be transacted out at any time would allow to contain potential issues. This would allow to create insurance for these products as creates limiting downside. These limits can increase over time as there is less risk of issues. 5. Account system that have 2 factor authentication with additional anti-threat prevention systems. Such system can analyze transaction content to understand if something suspicious is happening and require additional confirmations. Rotation of keys on suspicious activity or active threats like known vulnerabilities in the software. e.g. @NEARProtocol's dev wallet had a 2FA from day 1, which prevented assets from being stolen even when all other crypto assets were compromised. 6. Account system that supports tiered system to allow to easily transact with small amounts while require more confirmations when using. 7. When transacting peer to peer, using escrow contract to allow receiver to claim, which prevents sending to wrong address and removing need in doing test transactions. e.g. @NEARProtocol has linkdrop / @keypomxyz model for this, where funds are stored in escrow and user can just send a link to recipient which without needing to know their address. Most of these require a combination of wallet standards & on-chain register to keep track of security information like contract audit registry, blind vulnerability disclosure and more tools to secure web3. Add more security features you think web3 needs to have in comments to truly become mainstream.

🚨 ledger library confirmed compromised and replaced with a drainer. wait out interacting with any dapps till things become clearer. cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@ledger…

Yes, there is this thing called libertarianism, and it's the best you can do for yourself and others. Don't eat the bugs. 🚫 🦗 x.com/Resist_CBDC/status/173…

Right, because people need to remain disenfranchised, miserable, and poor. x.com/WatcherGuru/status/173…

"The U.S. Department of the Treasury has been pushing for lawmakers to grant it extended powers to battle illicit finance using crypto. One of the government's requests is for special jurisdiction over non-U.S. stablecoin issuers, such as Tether." 🤡 coindesk.com/policy/2023/11/…

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Language being proposed as law in Ireland means this could literally happen to you for having a meme on your phone

More Anarcho-Capitalists in power, less libs! We like. x.com/ningshensorei/status/1…

I wrote a short book called "Cypherpunk visions and trends 2023-2025" in January. I called for open source AI. The fact that a cypherpunk wants open source AI is not particularly interesting, what is interesting is, that the values of Cypherpunks start to align with wider societal needs - better money, free media, open technologies. hackyourself.io/product/cyph… More of the chapter in reply.

"Gas fees on the Polygon network reached as high as $0.10 during a mad rush to mint an Ordinals-inspired token called POLS." 👀 linkedin.com/posts/cointeleg…

Never a joy from the IRS. coindesk.com/consensus-magaz…

Soon in Slovakia. When the database of all people who declare their crypto income leaks from the Slovak tax office.

This is true. But you should also get to a jurisdiction that doesn’t have a sovereign debt crisis. And where property rights are respected. Because bankrupt states will attempt seizures. forbes.com/sites/nicksibilla…

📣 @NEARProtocol partners with @nymproject, to enhance encryption and metadata privacy within its ecosystem. With Nym's agnostic layer-0 privacy tech, we'll see improved encryption and concealed blockchain traffic across NEAR. cointelegraph.com/news/near-…