8mo ago

Trump’s promise to loosen crypto regulations may be boon for extremist groups

www.theguardian.com

Summary

Donald Trump’s potential loosening of cryptocurrency regulations as president could benefit extremist groups like neo-Nazis and terrorists who use crypto for anonymous fundraising.

Far-right groups, such as the Base, already solicit Bitcoin and Monero for training and supplies, exploiting crypto’s anonymity to evade financial scrutiny.

While Biden’s administration has cracked down on crypto over national security concerns, Trump’s pro-crypto policies and appointments could accelerate extremist financing.

Analysts warn that weak private sector oversight and a lack of regulatory enforcement enable such activities, raising concerns about future abuse of cryptocurrencies.

29 comments

Adding that to the list of reasons I dislike crypto and its fanboys (as if I needed another).
- I hold XMR and run a couple algos. I fully understand the need for anonymous payment. Crypto has been co-opted by AnCaps and hackers. It's absolutely appropriate to feel that 90% of crypto are rug pulls and pump and dump shit coins.
- No reason to hate neo nazis in your opinion? Very interesting
  
  No, fuck this. You are not entitled to make insinuations about people's mental state just because they don't agree with your gaslighting bullshit. You need to be banned.
  Edit: brand new account; probably evading some other ban. Get this trash out of here.
  
  “…list of reasons…”
  “…no reason…”
  ?
The fuck is there to loosen? lmao
- Like others are saying, crypto laws are a bit murky
  In general though, it's pretty well in agreement that you're supposed to pay capital gains tax when you sell, I imagine that's something they may try to do away with.
  I bought a tiny amount of Bitcoin probably a decade ago, and have basically been sitting on it ever since. It's of course grown in value significantly since then (though we're still only talking enough for maybe a couple nice dinners or a modest vacation, not life-changing wealth)
  Capital gains tax takes a pretty good chunk out of what I'd earn from it, don't get me wrong, I'd still make money off of it no matter where I tried to cash out, but currently it's hovering right around the point where I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of having one more thing to keep track of and figure out on my taxes for a relatively small payoff.
  If they did away with the capital gains tax on crypto, I'd probably cash out right now (and never look back, I don't feel I need to repeat this experiment)
  I'm not saying that they should do away with capital gains on crypto, just kind of pointing out one way they could get it and how it might affect me personally.
- Lots of companies (edit or parts of their products) have pulled out of the USA due to the lack of clarity in crypto rules. Many have been served with wells notices with the SEC claiming their breaking laws around securities, forcing settlements or making companies fight to stand up for not being a security. The ETFs took years to get approved, and it really only happened because a judge told the SEC to fuck off this year.
  The US has been crippling the US crypto industry for years. Whatever you see is happening in spite of that.
  Fuck Trump, but crypto regs are fucked in the US. Also fuck any crypto person who voted for Trump because of this. Even if he does what he says here, it's not worth it
  Just yesterday an appeals judge finally ruled that a smart contract without admin keys (immutable code) is not property, while people are in jail or being jailed over writing them and being considered the owners.
  Edit: and even with the ETFs approved, the SEC still isn't allowing the providers to offer them how they want. E.g they can't stake part of the ethereum they hold to provide yield/interest even though it's baked into how these blockchains work with proof of stake.
- Payday crypto loans.
The important part of this is Trump launching his new crypto "lending" platform they can't explain. It's surely to be a vessel for bribes to flow into and out of the new administration, and for all his "friends" to try and do all their shady business dealings. Allowing him to keep his new platform/fake-crypto-bank (or even his kids to proxy) while also being able to have it regulated (well apparently deregulated - although it's already the wild west) seems like a HUGE conflict of interest/liability.
- Waiting for the bullshit doge fork that Elon will pump. I'm betting it's called Freedom Coin.
  
  His new "lending" crypto scam is close, World Liberty Financial. He just got 30 million from a China-born "entrepreneur" that I'm sure will not be a conflict of interest. This scam apparently uses WFL tokens they are letting people pre-purchase before they even explain how the scam works lol.
  
  He is stupid he will call it Xcoin or something.
- Oh, sigh, there's so much to dislike about this criminal enterprise that calls itself #47.
What regulations???
And a boon for pump and dumps. Good for big players. Imagine that.

29 comments