Quote from: amishmanish on Today at 04:36:32 AM

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(Each paragraph will be a response to your reply's paragraph)

Well, you see, that's exactly the point I was making: It was supposed to be a decentralized, reliable currency for peer-to-peer trading. It was not supposed to become a currency I could almost only access through third parties. While I do get your point that it wasn't supposed to be completely private, I can't let my intimacy be taken away this easily by the government like it was nothing. Take a look back at Bitcoin's creator and see how transparent he was about his identity. Spoiler alert: he wasn't. He wanted privacy and he has it.

Satoshi talked about using Bitcoin Core with Tor for more anonymity in some of his BTCTalk posts - I think I can recall that. But hey, there's the big problem I always see: linking the privacy-seekers to tax evasion. If I want to be private, it does not mean I do not pay taxes, that I am a criminal or an illicit activity supporter. This is a very wrong stereotype and the reason why I fear a Bitcoin ban or attacking it through exaggerated and anti-Bitcoin laws will succeed. Because most people have this false link in their mind between Bitcoin, privacy seekers and criminals.

Bitcoin will never be the perfect solution to fiat's problems. However, I can't ignore the fact that our authorities are starting to effectively stomp our heads with increasingly surveillance measures. From laptops with hackable webcams we've reached the point where we buy 10 Alexas to put in every single room and bathroom we have that listens to us 24/7. From street surveillance cams we've reached the point where police departments want to use surveillance drones that follow you around to make sure you obey the law and working with surveillance companies willing to fly surveillance planes, states considering mandatory constant tracking apps for your phone, the gov interrogating all your friends and hiring people to do contact tracing interrogation & investigation if you are found positive with COVID-19 (which is the perfect way to create a web of links between hundreds of millions of people) and so on. I can't support what they're doing just because I have to pay taxes. I never said I don't have to, but give me some air. Don't suffocate me with these surveillance-state like measures because it's starting to look Elysium-style.

I agree that more people coming in will help the ecosystem. But I'm trying to say that we may be just accepting too many invasive rules and laws. You may say I am against the law - yes! I am against the privacy-invasive law! I understand we need to have some regulations regarding BTC, but damn - back in 2017-2018 I wanted to join a stock trading website and I could without all the documents a KYC-enabled crypto exchange asked me for.

If adoption and usage of Bitcoin is important and privacy isn't, then Bitcoin is not for me anymore. I thought all three go together. If we have opposed thoughts and you say privacy isn't a concern for you while I say for me it is, the thing is that I am forced to let my privacy taken away while you are absolutely fine with it. I do not have a choice but to move to more inconvenient platforms that don't even have volume because otherwise I risk having my money abusively seized by an exchange obeying the laws you think are fine. And even then, you'd think I do not pay taxes because I wanted privacy. Do you think that's fair? I am not against the non-abusive laws. I am against forcefully taking my privacy away through the law.

I can compare that with the vaccine situation we are into right now in my country: some people want to get their kids vaccinated, some don't. If mandatory vaccination law comes in, the people willing to get their kids vaccinated are going to be perfectly fine while the ones who don't will have to send their kids to take the injected substance by force. Moreover, if you do not want your kids to take the substance, you'd be sent to some centers regularly where they're going to literally brainwash you and program you to agree with the mandatory vaccination law. I mean literally - every time you leave that center saying "no", you're going to be punished. Not to mention that those not agreeing with the law may be called "terrorists". Why force me to take something just because you think it's fine? Why do I not have the right to say "no"? I am not against the vaccine. I am against forcefully taking my right to say "no" through the law.