Quote from: mikeywith on December 01, 2023, 07:08:19 PM

I think we as a community failed big time.

14 years have passed, and we have not built anything truly decentralized

- No decentralized forum/community platform
- No truly decentralized exchange
- No truly decentralized mining pool
- No truly decentralized mixer

Too much power/responsibility is put in the hands of a few, creating terrible single points of failure. It's only a matter of time before they start banning everything that contributes to users' privacy/anonymity on the blockchain. We need to start looking for alternatives to everything we use today, something truly decentralized by ownership.

Best post I've read so far.

There's a reason Satoshi designed Bitcoin in such a way that it would become truly decentralized eventually (initially it started centralized on a single PC -> Satoshi's computer).

What would happen to bitcointalk.org if theymos died? The forum would most likely die too.

Someone should design a decentralized forum protocol... maybe something like Nostr.

ps: TBH, I don't think most people here care about "freedom" or "decentralization", they mostly care about losing their precious signature campaign income. Let's be honest, shall we?

I've never visited this forum to make money, I'm merely here for discussions. That's the purpose of forums.

Quote from: philipma1957 on December 01, 2023, 11:40:47 PM

Quote from: BlackHatCoiner on December 01, 2023, 11:27:04 PM

Quote from: joker_josue on December 01, 2023, 11:05:50 PM

And I can answer: "There are torrent sites that you can do, it's a matter of searching on those sites."

With the exception that you should never suggest anyone to search a mixer on the Internet, unless you want them to get scammed.

Quote from: alani123 on December 01, 2023, 11:11:16 PM

Like, we can't expect anyone to migrate to Russia for simply running a forum.

I meant to host the forum elsewhere, not migrate elsewhere. I'm not a lawyer though. It's possible that as a US resident, hosting a legally operating site in Africa could lead to legal consequences in the US.

Quote from: alani123 on December 01, 2023, 11:11:16 PM

But there already exist trustless and decentralized ways to mix coins.

Sure, but this in-forum censorship makes me wonder. If I don't have the right to even talk about anti-government activities like this instance, how valuable decentralized alternatives are?

I know what you'll say, theymos wasn't blackmailed to enact this type of censorship, and that it has been done as precaution. It's just that, from my perspective, privacy-protecting tools become less and less available as time goes by. This year, a bill was proposed to discriminate against any coin which isn't controlled inside a KYC-ed exchange. Mixers fall apart, one after the other. Open-source, privacy-proclaimed services like Wasabi partner with anti-privacy organizations. Where are we heading to?

very likely a George Orwell 1984 style world.

This will definitely happen if people don't take a stand against Digital ID.

I've tried to warn them, but to no avail...

Governments are NOT your friend.-

Quote from: DooMAD on Today at 12:13:04 AM

Quote from: philipma1957 on December 01, 2023, 11:40:47 PM

very likely a George Orwell 1984 style world.

That's what some governments appear to be pushing for, sure. But there are enough determined people within this community who won't stand for that sort of thing. They harder they push, the harder we push back.

Again, people are talking here as though we've lost something. Everyone can continue to use these services if they choose to. We simply have to maintain the thin veneer of discretion about it. And one day we'll likely find ways to build protocols to replace these services so that the whole thing becomes impossible to shut down. Then we win. It's not as bleak as it looks.

It's pretty "bleak" if you lose $1200/month. Wink

For some people in poorer countries this is higher than the minimum wage... Shocked