Crypto 360°

Thursday, 15 December 2022

Legal Action to Defend Decentralized Crypto

Just today, Elizabeth Warren proposed legislation that would (IMO) effectively regulate decentralized cryptocurrency out of existence: https://decrypt.co/117221/senator-warren-crypto-bill-kyc-self-custody-wallets

The bill would subject miners, validators, and others in the crypto world to "know your customer" and anti-money laundering obligations. It's hard to see how that is compatible with decentralized crypto, and the result would be to force a massive centralization of crypto (at least in the US). Those pushing the bill frame it as a response to SBF/FTX, but of course it's hard to see how a failure of a centralized crypto exchange justifies regulation of decentralized crypto. Plus, KYC & AML have nothing to do with protecting consumers from fraud and, instead, are all about the government effectively spying on those same consumers.

Whether that specific bill goes anywhere or not, it's a sign of things to come. In fact--less dramatic but just as important--the federal agency FinCEN is proposing a regulation that would expand other aspects of the KYC/AML framework to transactions between unhosted and hosted wallets.

Since this is the censorship-free forum, I think it's OK to post this here:

I'm a constitutional lawyer at a public interest law firm called the Institute for Justice, where I defend financial privacy and economic freedom. (Check my bio, where you can see I did a post on r/AMA with verification.) I'm looking into a variety of potential cases to protect decentralized crypto from overbearing KYC/AML regulations, and I'm hoping to connect with folks in the crypto community who would be willing to serve as plaintiffs. So, putting up a signal flare here: If that sounds like it might be you, send me a DM or an email and we can connect.

submitted by /u/FreeRangeLawyer
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/zlzgrn/legal_action_to_defend_decentralized_crypto/