The events which occurred during August 2022, are more important for our privacy now, than ever.
Everything start on 8th of August 2022, when one of the U.S. Departments sanctioned Tornado Cash service as a laundering cryptocurrency machine, for all U.S. citizens and other citizens transiting the United States.
sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash, which has been used to launder more than $7 billion worth of virtual currency since its creation in 2019. This includes over $455 million stolen by the Lazarus Group, a Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Additionally, Treasury declared, that they will fight against any cryptocurrency mixer's technology.
Treasury will continue to aggressively pursue actions against mixers that launder virtual currency for criminals and those who assist them.
Who is criminal
This is stressed in the Treasury statement. But the question is, who are those who assist criminals? Maybe everyone will use Tornado Cash or have some Tornado Cash code on their personal computer.
Even Tornado Cash is developed as an Open, Decentralized, and Free tool running as a smart contract on top of the Ethereum blockchain.
So everyone, who invests their own money in the ETH and likes to transfer or donate to someone anonymously via Tornado Cash is already stepping over the law line. Moreover, everyone who will receive some ETH via Tornado Cash by the joke will step thin line of Treasury rules.
The government's Department of the Treasury put every user of Tornado Cash together with criminals in their mixer and mixed everything so well, except citing: unless exempt or authorized by OFAC.
So, if you are a U.S. citizen and have or had something in common with Tornado Cash, and do not like to violate U.S. sanctions, I highly recommend checking their FAQ, which is updated frequently.
Trust
Most of us chose Government to Serve and Protect, to be effective for us. Most of us put our trust in them during election day. People listen to what they promise and what kind of plan they have for the future.
Yes, most of us are counting that Government and Government Institutions will protect citizens from scammers and digital criminals, but not make everyone criminal.
Fight, fight with money laundering, but not at the cost of our privacy and freedom of speech.
Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.
Friedrich W. Nietzsche
The world resonates
Implications quickly spread a few thousand miles away from Washington, because afterwords the Tornado Cash developer was arrested in Amsterdam by Dutch financial crime authorities.
Crypto and Developer Communities reacted quickly with articles, videos, and comments all over social media.
The protest took place in Amsterdam against the arrest of Tornado Cash Developer.
The protestors, who included Pertsev’s wife Xenia Malik, waved placards demanding his release and chanted “open source [code] is not a crime.
Privacy Protest
The biggest protest will take place on October 31st, 2022 in New York City, Washington Square Park at 6:00 pm and is organized by Douglas Tuman:
Douglas is well known for Monero Talk weekly podcast, which he hosts with Sunita. The relentless promoters and ambassadors of the monero cryptocurrency, free speech, and privacy. Organizers of Monerotopia and correspondents of many libertarian meetings.
Privacy Meetup Mottos
As the monerotopia web page presents, the mottos are:
Unite to fight for our right to PRIVACY, FREEDOM, PUBLISH, ENCRYPT, FREE SPEECH, TRANSACT, LIBERTY, USE CASH
The plan is also to have three speakers, but the subjects of the speeches are not yet announced.
Participation
Everyone can participate anonymously in that event, just by showing up at Washington Square Park.
As Douglas said, is highly appreciates signing up anonymously on the monerotopia.com web page and reserving Free Anon Mask* - limited time only.
How to Attend
1. Purchase an anon mask anonymously with crypto today (Monero preferred and recommended).
2. Save your order ID.
3. Show up at the park in Halloween disguise and collect your mask anonymously :-). (Just show us your order ID)
4. *Terms for free masks: You will get reimbursed for your mask at the event when you show your e-mail receipt with your order number. All reimbursements will be in Monero. If you pay with another currency, you will be reimbursed the original XMR amount we received.
Bottom Line
Let's Sign Up and declare, that Privacy is not a crime.
See you there, with or without an anon mask.
