“A state is any entity that can retroactively pardon crimes. If you forgive murder, you get an army. If you forgive assault, you get police. If you forgive theft, you get taxes. The concept of “a sovereign power to change the rules of a limited number of people and give them permission to do acts that are inherently criminal” allows states to wash their hands when they do something inherently wrong. This gives us a very clear definition of what we can do. . ” @leashless
The recent jailing of the Samourai wallet developer signals a new attack by the US government on privacy, economic freedom, and especially the use of cash.
They accuse Samurai’s owners of making unauthorized transfers and not adhering to strict anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing measures.
First, they are accused of money laundering, a crime that would not be considered a crime in any libertarian legal system. In any system of social organization, whether minarchist, capitalist, libertarian, anarchist, agorist, or any other reasonably rational form; For a crime to occur, there must be a victim.. This means that punishment is not acceptable unless it comes at the expense of others. For there to be a victim, there must be non-consensual harm to another person. Only communist or pro-communist systems can tolerate aggravated fascism that punishes individuals even though they have never harmed anyone.
Money laundering under current law essentially involves concealing the illicit source of funds obtained through illegal activities, and then (illegally) introducing the funds into the legal financial system to determine whether the funds came from legitimate activities. It consists of the act of giving the impression that In other words, it’s a harmless crime. In other words, it is clearly an act that should not be punished. It is even an act that should be rewarded. Aren’t “criminals” who decide to use their money to acquire goods and services that do not harm third parties doing society as a whole a favor? Does preventing the use of money by criminals benefit society? Why should countries prevent the use of money when they already prohibit acts that are harmful to third parties that cause someone to become a criminal? Are voluntary disclosure programs and amnesty programs promoting the very same acts as money laundering crimes? However, the difference is that the action is legal. So, given that money laundering laws sporadically allow this behavior, why not always? ) is harmful to society, why is it allowed? Either money laundering shouldn’t be illegal because it really causes no harm, or money laundering laws should be illegal because they harm society..
On the other hand, the practice of terrorism can be defined as the exercise of control over others based on inflicted fear. Terrorist financing is therefore financial assistance to entities dedicated to controlling others based on a given terror. In this Samurai Wallet case, Tornado Cash, Silk Road, and many others like it, states have failed to demonstrate funding for the terrorist suspects they claim to be fighting. If we really want to fight terrorist financing, we should start by fighting taxation and money printing.. The only officially proven major financial instrument contributing to the terrorist economy. In the case of his three cases mentioned above and many others, there is no doubt that the state is arresting people in order to instill fear in other developers of similar businesses.
Finally, it should be noted that the state has no legitimacy to issue and control the licenses and permits that are inherent in each person’s humanity. In a reasonably rational system of social organization, men’s private actions that do not affect third parties are not subject to state regulation. If one person owns a lake and allows others to fish there, the state has nothing to do with it and can neither “grant” rights nor, in this example, take away a “fishing license.” There’s nothing to do. Similarly, if a person voluntarily accepts it and wishes to provide remittance services to others who are not victims because they have not been harmed or have no claims against that person, the state There is no room for intervention.
Fortunately, Bitcoin solves all of this by abolishing state funds and opening up the possibility of transmitting value in a decentralized peer-to-peer manner without intermediaries. However, the path to hyper-bitcoinization is not without obstacles, and will not be without obstacles. Maintaining the status quo and seeking maximum control over individuals is not something Leviathan will lose without a fight. In the meantime, many innocent people will pay the price for daring to participate in activities not explicitly approved by the world’s rulers. But I believe that ultimately the fight for freedom will be won by all of humanity. We are better than them in every way: we produce more, we are smarter, more creative, and more resilient. And even if the hand-to-hand combat of each individual against the state is physically lost by the former, as in the case of this samurai wallet, in the long run it is decentralized and there are much more than them. The battle will be won with the help of the insurmountable walls that Bitcoin and cryptography will help you build.
This is a guest post by Camilo JdL. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
