Dave Emory’s entire lifetime of work is available on a flash drive that can be obtained here. (The flash drive includes the anti-fascist books available on this site.)
COMMENT: We’ve done several shows about Bitcoin–apparently conceived by people from Siemens spin-off Lantiq, which was capitalized by Golden Gate Capital (formed by alumni of Bain Capital–Mitt Romeny’s firm.) Those programs are: FTR #‘s 760, 764, 770, 785.
Derivative of the fascist doctrine stemming from the Austrian school of economic theory, Bitcoin is inextricably linked with the milieu of Edward Showden and the libertarian wing of the GOP.
A horrifying–though predictable–story from the Daily Mail illustrates the moral, practical and philosophical bankruptcy of libertarian philosophy. (A tip of the hat to “Participo” for this story.)
Kiddie porn freaks (with an apparent sadistic bent) have been using Bitcoin to finance online videos with the children being tortured with lit cigarettes.
Aside from the potential for such activity to be utilized by organized crime syndicates and intelligence services for a variety of purposes, this will certainly obviate the need for rigorous surveillance of the internet.
We here a great deal about “freedom” these days, particularly in connection with the internet.
Real freedom, however, can only exist when married to responsibility. The propagation of activities such as the one described in the story below underscores the depravity of many of those who argue for an unmonitored internet, on which “anything goes.”
One of Europe’s top police officers has warned of a sickening online trade in child torture porn.
Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, said offenders are using the untraceable online currency Bitcoin to pay for depraved ‘shows’, performed live on webcams, which see young children raped and burned.
He said: ‘The level of depravity seems to be descending year on year, frankly, including what seems to be in vogue now, which is live webcam ‘shows’ of toddlers not just being raped but being burnt with cigarettes.
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Sickening: Mark Wainwright warned that online predators were paying to watch children be raped and burned live on webcam
‘Sorry, but it’s happening online and it’s extremely difficult for us to identify.’
Mr Wainwright warned that Bitcoin — a ‘crypto-currency’ based on mathematical formulae and independent of any government or central bank — is propping up a criminal black market.
He also warned that police and politicians were struggling to keep up with the pace of online crime, thanks to widespread anonymity online, and easy access to encryption technology which can make criminals almost impossible to track down.
Mr Wainwright warned that the principle that everyone’s online activity should be anonymous by default needs to be challenged in order to police the internet effectively.
(*further enhancing the requirement for a virtual panopticon — participo)
He criticised the sluggish response from the police, politicians and big businesses, saying that equivalent levels of crime in the physical world would be ‘front page news.’
Everything you need to know about bitcoin
Black market: The Bitcoin cryptocurrency is being used for illegal activities, Mr Wainwright warned
–Black market: The Bitcoin cryptocurrency is being used for illegal activities, Mr Wainwright warned
He told The Times: ‘It is frustrating that we are not getting the message out, at least not loud enough for legislators to hear it.’
The Internet Watch Foundation pressure group has recently claimed to have found evidence of an email scam directing people to underground websites where the sick ‘shows’ could be seen in exchange for Bitcoin.
With the means shut down anything it wants on the internet, just whom in the government is protecting these sites?
A large swath of the commercial ‘Dark Web’, potentially around a third of it including Silk Road 2.0, just went dark:
While a strong case can be made that the shutdown of these Dark Web sites is just an extension of a damaging Drug War that shouldn’t exist in the first place, that’s certainly not the nature of all of the activities on those sites. Still, it’s worth noting that Tor creator Roger Dingledine told reporters that that TOR officially does not condone using Tor for any illegal activities:
As we can see, with Silk Road 3.0 already online the age of the endless Dark Web whack-a-mole is upon us. Putting aside the likelihood that this ends up being an endless cat and mouse game between law enforcement agencies and the internet user and putting aside the pointlessness of the Drug War, it will be interesting to see how the Tor community itself deals with the worst Tor abuses. Especially since, contrary to Roger Dingledine’s claims that Tor doesn’t condone illegal activity, the whole Tor project basically requires it:
Yes, as we can see, while Roger Dingledine may state that “TOR was created to protect people’s privacy and anonymity, and we don’t condone its use for these illegal activities,” it’s also pretty clear that Tor’s developers recognized that those non-condones activities are required for Tor to be truly anonymizing for the real purpose Tor was developed by the US government (giving spooks a means of communicating anonymously). That illegal activity is the haystack that the spooky needles need to hide. And, at the same time, a third of the Dark Web just got shut down even though it relies the anonymizing tool championed by Edward Snowden and Jacob Appelbaum (himself a Tor developer) that’s supposed to allow these sites to operate in an untraceable manner. Have fun peeling that onion.
Let’s hope there’s some sort of horrible flaw in this study, given the horrible findings:
So it sounds like there at least might be a way for the Tor user community to block these services.
Will such methods get used? Well, that will probably depend on the leadership of the Tor developer community. Good luck with that...
Well, here’s an example of “ransomware” blackmailers actually convert their ill-gotten bitcoins into actual cash: they used the traditional financial system and its traditional services. Services like looking the other while while you engage in blatant money-laundering:
While it’s not clear, it appears that ransomware victims were going specifically to this service to exchange cash for the bitcoins they needed to pay off the ransom:
So was this service almost acting like a laundering-service for ransomeware victims that wanted to keep their payments quiet too? If so, that certainly raises questions about the volume of ransomware crimes committed, but you have to wonder how victims would have known to such a service unless the ransomers directed them there (which would be extremely high risk) or these ransomware victims are, themselves, the types of individuals that just happen to know where to go when you need launder your purchases of bitcoins (one group of cybercriminals ransoming another?).
Either way, that sure sounds like the type of bank you do NOT want to find yourselve doing business with, although it’s unclear if the two banks that allowed the “Collectables Club” to set up bank accounts for additional laundering-purposes were actually going to be punished. So it’s probably ok if you find yourself doing business with a bank like that...assuming you’re also a bank. It’s one of the fun quirks of money-laundering!
“The Collectables Club account records show thousands of incoming deposits in varying amounts from individuals, some of whom in wire transfer instructions noted that their payment was for Bitcoins. Additionally, the bank records also showed numerous payments were made to entities that sell Bitcoins in exchange for U.S. dollars and other currency”.
Well, now we know there’s a opening in the market for bitcoin ransomware money-laundering services which means a whole new round of “Collectables Club” are probably on the way. Of course, those future “clubs” are going to have to be even sneakier at masking their bitcoin-related activities than “Collectables Club” if they want to avoid getting caught (not really) and that means something else collectors should keep in mind: the numismatic coin market might be in store for some unusual additions.
ISIS parks its cash in Bitcoin, experts say
By Heather Nauert Published November 25, 2015 FoxNews.com
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Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins are seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris, France, May 27, 2015.
Bitcoin (virtual currency) coins are seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris, France, May 27, 2015. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier )
Just days after the hacker group Anonymous pledged to hunt down Islamic State members and launch cyberattacks against their accounts, a separate group of techies claims it has identified a key funding avenue for the terror network – bitcoin accounts.
Ghost Security Group, a collective of computer “hacktivists,” says it has located several bitcoin accounts that ISIS uses to fund operations. One account contained $3 million worth of bitcoin, a GhostSec member told Michael K. Smith II, a co-founder of Kronos Advisory, a national security advisory firm.
GhostSec “wants to make an impact in counterterrorism,” Smith said, adding that the GhostSec member reached out to him because government officials were not paying close attention to the allegations.
Related: Has Anonymous’s war against ISIS been doing more harm than good?
Smith said U.S. counterterrorism officials are concerned that ISIS is acquiring gold and using numerous financial tools, including bitcoin, to tap into markets. A Treasury Department spokesperson said the agency couldn’t comment on accounts allegedly linked to terrorists unless the department has taken public action.
But bitcoin – an unregulated form of online currency that circumvents the traditional banking system – is on the government’s radar, since it could serve as an ideal placeholder for terrorist assets and provide a way for terrorists to exchange money. The bitcoin website, bitcoin.org, describes the ease with which anyone can send and receive virtual funds:
“Sending bitcoins across borders is as easy as sending them across the street. There are no banks to make you wait three business days, no extra fees for making an international transfer, and no special limitations on the minimum or maximum amount you can send.”
Bitcoin is considered the first worldwide, decentralized currency; it can be sent from person to person without the third-party involvement of a financial institution. Bitcoin accounts are set up with virtual money, but the digital funds can be cashed in for real money or goods.
Related: #BrusselsLockdown request for social media blackout prompts flood of cat pictures
A GhostSec member said ISIS’ virtual currency amounts to between 1 percent and 3 percent of its total income – between $4.7 million and $15.6 million. The Treasury Department estimates that ISIS generates between $468 million and $520 million annually. The terror group’s primary sources of revenue are robbery, extortion, oil sales, ransom payments and overseas donations, according to the Treasury Department.
But it doesn’t take a fortune to pull off a terror attack. Even large-scale attacks can be relatively inexpensive. The 9/11 Commission determined that it cost between $400,000 and $500,000 to plan and carry out the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
GhostSec hackers insist the alleged ISIS bitcoin account was not linked to the Paris attacks, but they say it shows that terror networks have found a way to transfer assets without easy detection.
Related: Sony’s PlayStation 4 could be terrorists’ communication tool, experts warn
“The bitcoin universe is decentralized by design,” according to Juniper Research, a firm that identifies online market trends. “They’re built by random players around the world. They’re transferred seamlessly via nameless digital wallets.”
Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright, a senior fellow at the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies, says terrorists are increasingly utilizing 21st century technology to transfer assets and finance operations
“Terrorists need anonymity,” Wright said. “Countries have gotten very good at tracking terror financing in the years since 9/11. Networks have looked for new ways to do it, and it appears they’ve found it in bitcoin.”
Related: Anonymous declares ‘war’ on ISIS, vows cyberattacks
Government officials have become increasingly concerned about these unregulated financial systems, and the U.S. is starting to apply money laundering regulations to cyber currencies. Firms that issue or exchange bitcoin are required to maintain records and report transactions of more than $10,000.
Individual states, too, are passing laws designed to regulate bitcoin exchanges. New York recently enacted a regulatory framework, and California will start governing the exchanges next year. “The U.S. government is working with a broad coalition of governments around the world to disrupt ISIL’s financing and to sever its access to the international financial system,” a Treasury Department official told Fox News.
Related: Why darknets are murky recesses of the hidden Web
But few foreign nations, have specific regulations that govern bitcoin use. The European Commission is expected to release regulations by 2017 that would affect European Union nations.
Bitcoins, meanwhile, are increasingly becoming mainstream. Following requests from donors and financial advisers, Fidelity Investments announced last week that its charitable fund will permit bitcoin donations. Last year, the online retailer overstock.com started accepting payments in bitcoin. Dell, Microsoft, Expedia and DISH Network also allow bitcoin payments.
There were 1.3 million bitcoin users last year, according to Juniper Research. It estimates there will be 4.7 million users by the end of 2017.
Heather Nauert currently serves as a news anchor for FOX News Channel (FNC) and also provides viewers with the top headlines of the day during FOX & Friends (weekdays 6–9AM/ET). Nauert originally joined FNC in 1998 and rejoined as an anchor in 2007.
The investigation of Coin.mx, the bitcoin trading platform charged with facilitating money-laundering, especially for purveyors of ransomware, now includes the indictment of the former head of the credit union that the people behind Coin.mx eventually took over to facilitate the scheme. Considering that this same criminal network also conducted an extensive major hack of JP Morgan’s customer records, there’s a good chance this is one of those cases that could go in a lot of different directions, which raises the question: is the Coin.mx investigation going to take a look at Ron Paul? It seems possible. After all, when Ron Paul finally came around to Bitcoin in 2015, it was Coin.mx that held his hand:
“Voices of Liberty (formerly the Ron Paul Channel) recently released the interview below, which features Paul and a representative from Coin.mx bantering about crypto. The interview is actually a three-part series, and Paul reveals himself as having done a great deal of Bitcoin homework between 2013 and now.”
Yep, Ron Paul’s Bitcoin baptism was declared to the world via a series of interviews about Bitcoin from a Coin.mx representative. In May 2015. It wasn’t the best timing:
“The filing from the US Attorney in Atlanta also asserted Shalon was behind a criminal Bitcoin exchange, Coin.mx, which went out of action in July after it was accused of laundering money (Coin.mx is no longer operational and could not be contacted for comment). Bizarrely, just before the closure of the site but months before prosecutors claimed Coin.mx was knowingly used by Shalon and his partners to funnel money from a cornucopia of criminal activity, two-time Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul carried out a three-part interview with a social media expert contracted by the exchange.”
Yeah, Ron’s timing could have been better. That is, unless it was great timing...for Coin.mx’s credibility:
So was Ron Paul’s big splash into the world of Bitcoin, in part, an attempt to legitimize one component of a vast criminal enterprise or was he just the right useful idiot at the right time? Either seems possible, although, from an Occam’s Razor standpoint, perhaps useful idiocy is a little more possible. It’s a reminder that when useful idiocy is the lesser of two evils, legacies of lunacy can suddenly become extra useful.
At least there’s one less enterprise out there for ransomware peddlers and other criminals to launder their bitcoins. Let’s hope that gives the people currently Ransomware-ing hospitals at least a bit of a headache.
While criminal activity has long been one of the earliest potential applications of Bitcoin and factors driving demand for the currency, it turns out there’s one particular Bitcoin-facilitated online criminal activity that might actually be generating bitcoin demand from all sorts of legitimate business in anticipation that they will need to participate in that criminal activity. Involuntarily:
“A small survey by corporate networking company Citrix indicates that some IT professionals are even stockpiling bitcoins so they can pay up quickly in the event ransomware strikes their network. Out of 250 IT and security workers at U.K. companies with more than 250 employees, a third said they were stockpiling the currency. A researcher at Cornell recently tweeted that the university’s treasurer created an account with the Bitcoin exchange Coinbase so as to be ready if ransomware struck.”
A third of the corporations in the survey said they were stockpiling bitcoins just so they could quickly pay off ransomware attacks? Well, now we know that the Bitcoin community knows that the mere threat of ransomware is increasing corporate demand for Bitcoins. And that means ransomware might be morphing into one of Bitcoin’s best means of making inroads into the business community. Yikes. Watch out for those unexpected email attachments.
This is one of those stories where it’s important remember that you can’t unread things, so, you know, proceed with caution because there’s going to be some stuff you’d rather unread after you read them:
A San Antonio man, Cody Alexander Stoops, just become the first person convicted as part of a massive child porn bust in 2015 that involved the FBI identifying 215,000 people using a Dark Web website known as “Playpen” that reportedly included images and videos that went beyond sexual abuse of young children and included torture and even water boarding the kids with human waste. Stoops himself was reportedly a relatively “light” user of Playpen, but he also ran several groups on the Kik encrypted messaging app that were dedicated exclusively to trading child porn. During the period the FBI was monitoring Stoops the Kik groups he ran loaded more than 100,000 posts and one of the people also caught using Kik ran a group called “youngtorture.”
It’s a reminder that the casual acceptance of profound evils like the distribution child porn that are routinely brushed off by the Cypherpunk culture as ‘just the cost of privacy’ includes a casual acceptance of things so horrific it’s psychically scarring just to read about them:
“The material was so extreme that aside from toddlers being sexually assaulted, they were tortured with numerous items and waterboarded with human waste. It even shocked veteran FBI agents who investigate those cases, and the judge.”
And note how the Playpen users don’t appear to have been identified using traditional ‘human intelligence’ detective technique. Instead, some sort of “special techniques to obtain information about its users” was employed, which suggests a vulnerability in Tor or some other link in the crypto-chain was exploited:
This is a key point, because one of the frequent arguments we hear in favor or setting up a about why the public shouldn’t be concern about cypto technology creating effectively impregnable networks that can operate with both impunity and ease across the globe is that authorities can just use more “human intelligence” to infiltrate these networks (like terrorist networks) in real life. But for something like Playpen, the entire thing is designed to operate exclusively in the digital space, with the exception of when they’re actually torturing kids in real life to create the images. In this case, there was clearly some sort of “special technique” that allowed users to be identified, but it’s important to realize that such “special techniques” are considered unacceptable by crypto-enthusiast and building systems without such vulnerabilities is considered a top goal of the movement. And it’s probably just a matter of time before such systems are developed and available to future ‘Playpens’.
So if you’re tempted to assume that bust of this network of 215,000 child torture porn consumers is an example of how society can deploy Cypherpunk technologies without worrying about enabling things like child torture porn rings, keep in mind that this case is actually an example of how the Cypherpunk technologies used for this criminal ring aren’t completely impregnable at this point in time. And if these technologies were completely impregnable we would probably wouldn’t be reading horrific, psychically scarring stories about a giant child torture porn ring. Because it would still be quietly running.
Two steps forward, one step back, and hopefully a few steps forward if announced plans come to fruition. That’s kind of how we could describe the state of affairs in the fight over the use of cryptocurrencies in child sex abuse media (CSAM) content. Crypto is still being used in this online marketplace, and seemingly by fewer but more sophisticated actors capable of utilizing the various anonymity technologies that have been developed to make the use of cryptocurrencies untraceable. It sounds like law enforcement has been able to crack down on a number of CSAM perpetrators via the ability to retrace cryptocurrency transactions, but not all of them. Skilled actors remain, with cryptocurrency “mixers” services increasingly used to effectively launder their financial trail. In that sense, it’s been a two steps forward one step back situation.
But then there’s the other potentially very significant development on this front. And not just the CSAM front but cryptocurrency’s use for illegal activity in general: the US Treasury recently announced a new rule regarding mixers (also known as “tumblers”). Under the proposal, US financial institutions and financial agencies will be asked to identify, collect and report certain information related to international mixer transactions, including personal and transactional information. Keep in mind that these mixing services are a crucial element of modern day anonymity with cryptocurrency transactions. Without the ambiguity created by mixers, crypto transactions are essentially public. These new rules are potentially a very big deal that strike at the foundation of the whole crypto gambit.
If implemented, the rules would be the first time the US Treasury uses powers granted in the wake of 9/11. They’ve even been dubbed “death-knell” rules because they could end up spelling the end for even foreign banks that are deemed to be threats to US national security. In fact, cracking down on Hamas’s use of cryptocurrency for fundraising is the ostensible reason for the new rules, although observers note that the department was likely working on them for much longer. The rules were first proposed in mid-October, with a 90 day public review period. Which is nearly up.
That’s the potentially very big development in the cryptomarkets. Under a best case scenario, we see the new rules put a real dent on the CSAM trade. But then there’s the worse scenarios, like the bad actors finding new ways to continue using crypto currencies while evading law enforcement. That’s the cat and mouse game that’s about to unfold in this space, with potentially massive implications for the future of cryptocurrencies. Money laundering and crime really is one of the biggest real world uses for cryptocurrencies. What’s going to happen crypto markets if US authorities start enabling the identification of people currently getting away the criminal activity through mixer services? There’s nothing stopping the US from sharing that information with governments around the world. This isn’t necessarily just a US law enforcement story.
From the start of Bitcoin, there’s always been the question of just how much will society tolerate the existence of a platform that can so easily be used to facilitate some of the worst kinds of crime, like terrorism and child abuse. That questions has always been answered, in part, by people pointing out that the blockchain doesn’t necessarily allow for real anonymity and law enforcement has options. But it sounds like the situation has always been more complication, with some criminals getting caught but the most sophisticated criminals staying one step ahead of law enforcement with services like mixers. What happens if the mixers are put out of operation? Will a new trick pop up that continues to allows crypto users to maintain their anonymity? If not, how will the crypto sector respond? How much of the present day crypto demand is criminal in nature and shy enough of exposure to law enforcement that they’ll abandon crypto altogether if the risk is too high? These kinds of questions part of what makes the new US Treasury rules are story to watch. It’s a huge stress test for the entire crypto sector coming up. And if we’re lucky, the CSAM predators are going to fail that stress test spectacularly:
“Now, after years of evolution in that grim cat-and-mouse game, new evidence suggests that online vendors of what was once commonly called “child porn” are learning to use cryptocurrency with significantly more skill and stealth—and that it’s helping them survive longer in the internet’s most abusive industry.”
As awful as this news is, we shouldn’t be surprised. It was really just a matter of time before the generic skills used to obscure crypto-trails started getting applied to the child porn sector. And it’s particularly disturbing to learn that 2023 was apparently a year when CSAM purveyors got significantly more successful in evading law enforcement. Apparently by increasingly relying on the services of “mixers” that effectively engage in group laundering. But in a way this increased sophistication of CSAM networks is a good thin in the sense that it’s happening in response to people getting caught via the crypto. It’s an evolving game of cat and mouse:
And that brings us to a potentially significant development in the efforts to crack down on the CSAM crypto-trade: the US Treasury Department announced a proposal back in October that would entail the first-ever use of powers granted in the wake of 9/11. So called “death-knell” powers that can compel financial institutions, including foreign banks, into handing over information to the US treasury. Information that could include the personal identities of people involved in transactions. Under the proposal, US financial institutions and financial agencies will be asked to identify, collect and report certain information related to international mixer transactions, including personal and transactional information. In other words, no more anonymous mixing. It’s the kind of regulation that could effectively be the death-knell for the Mixer industry, at least assuming the threat of US sanctions is enough to Mixers who don’t comply out of business:
“The U.S. Treasury Department’s unprecedented proposal—using laws usually deployed against foreign banks and foreign jurisdictions—will require special record-keeping and reporting for any financial transactions involving international mixers. The potential targeting of an entire class of transaction represents a significant regulatory step meant to shape the future of the global financial system. ”
For the first time ever, the US Treasury Department is planning on deploying powers original granted in the wake of 9/11. Powers dubbed “death-knell sanctions” that can close foreign banks and other financial institutions believed to be national security threats. It sounds like ‘mixers’ anywhere in the world potentially face US sanctions if they don’t identify, collect and report certain information related to mixer transactions including personal information, which really would be a death-knell for an industry that exists to execute money laundering by obscuring the ownership of crypto currency. It’s a highly targeted crackdown on what is a relative niche form of laundering since the vast majority of money-laundering today is done through the traditional banking system as has been the case for decades. This is a good time to recall how the UN announced in 2009 that hundreds of billions of dollars in drug cartel money helped keep the banking system afloat during the 2008 financial crisis. But it’s the kind of targeted crackdown that could, hopefully, put a major dent in the ability of groups that don’t have access to the traditional banking system. Like terrorists. Or child abusers:
And note how, while the October 7 attacks and cracking down on Hamas is the stated reason for this proposal, it was something regulators had likely been working on for months, long before the attacks. Crypto mixer services are simply too blatant a laundering mechanism to ignore:
Also, note that the 90 review period should be up any day now, so it’s possible these new rules will come into effect sooner rather than later:
2024 could end up being a wild year for the crypto markets. Thanks to a crackdown on anonymity. Because as the following Wired piece (also by Andy Greenberg) notes, without these mixing services all crypto transactions are essentially public:
“As the Treasury doubles down on its push to cut off crypto-based money laundering—and now points to Hamas as a new impetus for that crackdown—TRM Labs’ Redbord cautions that US regulators shouldn’t go too far in censuring services that do, in some cases, offer financial privacy to legitimate users. After all, without mixers, most cryptocurrency transactions are fully public in nature. “I think the challenge for regulators is, how do we thread the needle between stopping illicit actors from using these platforms but at the same time allow regular users to enable some degree of privacy?” Redbord says. “I think the concern is that this could very much be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.””
Mixing services aren’t just a convenience. They’ve been a vital anonymity tool that have existed for almost the entirety of the cryptocurrency era. It’s not clear there are alternatives to these middle-men obfuscating the public blockchain trails. And while the new regulations only involve financial institutions that do business with US customers, it’s not hard to imagine laws like this spreading to governments around the world, whether the reason is fighting terrorism, money-laundering, or child sex abuse. There’s no shortage of excuses for governments to impose these kinds of rules:
That’s all part of what’s going to make these new “mixer” rules a story to keep an eye on. This could be a very very big deal. Arguably the biggest deal in the history of crypto currencies. For all the hoopla about the power of cryptography in ‘securing’ cryptography, it’s long been the ability of these mixer services to operate as for-profit obfuscating transactional middle-men that has enabled cryptocurrencies to operate as platforms for anonymity. An ability that was heavily predicated on the willingness of governments to tolerate the existence of these kinds of business. So it appears we are in store for both a stress test of the viability of cryptocurrencies to operate in an environment where mixers are cracked down on, but also a potential political stress test on the willingness of politicians to implement these crackdowns. Will the Biden administration face political heat over this move? Or is protecting the anonymity of terrorists and child porn peddlers a bridge too far even in today’s political environment? It’s also a kind of test of the power of US sanctions. Will there be governments willing to operate as mixer safe havens? Time will tell. But a potentially historic new regulation that could effectively kill crypto-anonymity — or at least make it a lot harder to maintain — is about to come into force. A long overdue stress-test that will hopefully break the things that should have been broken years ago.