EU moving towards total monetary surveillance and banning all anonymous payments

3 years ago by makeasnek to c/privacy

shrugal 192 points 3 years ago

Clickbait headline. The underlying article lists much more reasonable restrictions:

  • Anonymous cash payments over €3,000 will be banned in commercial transactions
  • Cash payments over €10,000 will even be completely banned in business transactions
  • Anonymous payments in cryptocurrencies to wallets operated by providers will be prohibited

So non-commercial transations are fine, as are crypto transactions to non-custodial wallets.

path: 0 8673925, hotness: undefined, score: 192, children: 12
makeasnek 56 points 3 years ago

Commercial transactions -

Aaah, the kind of transaction that most transactions are?

Operated by providers

Aah, so any business which accept crypto must KYC every one of their customers. This makes accepting crypto especially burdensome, which is half the point of this legislation in the first place.

So non-commercial transations are fine, as are crypto transactions to non-custodial wallets.

Unless you're using the wallet to buy or sell something. You know, the thing people use money for.

Why does the government need to have every transaction reported to them? Crime is bad because it causes harm. If harm is being caused, that means a person or entity is causing that harm. That means there is evidence. Follow that.

Police have more surveillance and crime-detecting tools than at any point in human history. Nearly every category of crime, particularly violent crime, is on a decades-long downtrend. We all travel with GPS monitors in our pockets. We all use credit cards instead of cash. We all are recorded by CCTV 90% of the places we go. We don't need to give them more financial surveillance because 'crime'.

path: 0 8673925 8676366, hotness: undefined, score: 56, children: 3
shrugal 20 points 3 years ago

I'm not saying these rules are perfect, but it doesn't help if you argue against rules that don't exist.

Commercial transactions are not "all" tx, and above 3000€ are obviously not the most common tx.

I do think the crypto restriction with no lower limit is too much, and I don't get why they focus on custodial wallets, but it's again not "all" tx.

Why does the government ...

Money laundering, tax evasion and corruption are real crimes with real consequences, and knowing about the flow of money is pretty much required to be able to detect them. It's a trade-off with privacy, so imo setting some limit for anonymous payments is the right thing to do. Idk if 3000€ is perfect, but it does seem reasonable.

Police have more surveillance and crime-detecting tools ...

We need some amount of oversight and surveillance, so imo it's not good enough to just exaggerate every proposal to the extreme and reject it on those grounds. These rules are not a total crackdown on anonymous payments, but they might still be too restrictive. But you kill every discussion about that if you just make up different rules entirely, instead of arguing about the rules that were actually adopted.

path: 0 8673925 8676366 8694426, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 0
sugar_in_your_tea 6 points 3 years ago

so any business which accept crypto must KYC every one of their customers

No, any business must use a KYC custodian for their wallets. I don't think they'll need to KYC their customers, they'll just need to account for those transactions in their accounting.

So if the company accepts Monero, the Monero wallet would need to be with a custodian, but you'd be free to use Monero to buy stuff and remain anonymous. At least that's my read.

path: 0 8673925 8676366 8702505, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
Ferk 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 8673925 8676366 8692730, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
TCB13 37 points 3 years ago

more reasonable restrictions:

None of that is reasonable.

path: 0 8673925 8678523, hotness: undefined, score: 37, children: 0
OsrsNeedsF2P 16 points 3 years ago

And these limits will be tied to inflation?

path: 0 8673925 8679510, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 0
FarraigePlaisteach 16 points 3 years ago

What's the difference between commercial and business? I thought they were synonymous.

path: 0 8673925 8677316, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 1
shrugal 11 points 3 years ago

I think they are used synonymously in this article, but business could also mean B2B transactions, so between two businesses.

path: 0 8673925 8677316 8679384, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
SnotFlickerman 10 points 3 years ago

That's all pretty damn reasonable...

path: 0 8673925 8674637, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 2
possiblylinux127 17 points 3 years ago

Unless you want to buy something with cash. Once they cross the line they won't stop until cash and anonymity are gone

path: 0 8673925 8674637 8675136, hotness: undefined, score: 17, children: 1
sugar_in_your_tea 4 points 3 years ago

Yeah, that's my concern as well. However, most large cash purchases are things that are tracked anyway, like vehicles, houses, etc.

path: 0 8673925 8674637 8675136 8702559, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
kugmo -14 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8673925 8679644, hotness: undefined, score: -14, children: 0
LWD 72 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8710332, hotness: undefined, score: 72, children: 4
naut 3 points 3 years ago

why would someone limit me how I can spend my earned and 40% already taxed (taken) money? I gave my life time to earn it, they take half of it and still forbidding me to use it?

path: 0 8710332 8737460, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 3
chiliedogg 7 points 3 years ago

Hiding money in anonymous crypto is a way to avoid paying taxes or launder money.

Trump made crypto trading cards so Russia and Saudi Arabia could contribute to him anonymously.

path: 0 8710332 8737460 8737805, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 2
naut 1 point 3 years ago

So if that is a problem, focus and investigate, why I have to do anything with that? And that is US, this is EU.

path: 0 8710332 8737460 8737805 8738661, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
lemmylem 1 point 3 years ago

Source?

path: 0 8710332 8737460 8737805 8739224, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
cupcakezealot 65 points 3 years ago

sorry but banning anonymous payments is pretty good for fighting corruption...

path: 0 8698433, hotness: undefined, score: 65, children: 25
LWD 34 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8698433 8702727, hotness: undefined, score: 34, children: 3
jol 18 points 3 years ago

Yes, but now there's an explicit law over which they can be prosecuted

path: 0 8698433 8702727 8704331, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 1
LWD 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 8698433 8702727 8704331 8709947, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Akisamb 4 points 3 years ago

This is not true in France. Politicians that have proven fraud are arrested and charged. In France we have Sarkozy, Cahuzac, Fillon that were all charged with crimes.

They were president, minister and presidential candidate respectively. I'd be surprised if it was different in the USA. I'm seeing that trump is also being charged, the system seems to be working.

path: 0 8698433 8702727 8737519, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
tooLikeTheNope 20 points 3 years ago

Consumers payments deserves their privacy, but business ones needs absolutely to be fully traceable.

Could it be possible to use two different yet identical interchangeable currencies, one traceable for making business only, and one untraceable for consumers retail transactions?

loosely i.e.

  • wages are Business currency converted and paid in Consumer currency, accounted for the amount paid to the consumer in his name
  • end-users/home/consumer purchases are made from consumers anonymously in Consumer currency, and this is converted converted into Business currency upon transaction, keeping only the consumer name anonymous but tracing everything else
  • B2B transactions are made in Business currency, fully traceable

... I don't know there is probably still a loophole

path: 0 8698433 8703036, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 0
ToxicWaste 19 points 3 years ago

I am pretty sure the lesser part of corruption is cash. Probably more stuff like exchanging a lucrative contract for political support.

They are not stupid. Afterall cash needs to be explained, a good contract gives you cash and the explanation.

path: 0 8698433 8700979, hotness: undefined, score: 19, children: 7
cupcakezealot 6 points 3 years ago

Cash is mostly traceable at point of contact unless you keep it in a money bin and don't spend it, though..

path: 0 8698433 8700979 8701184, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 1
sugar_in_your_tea 11 points 3 years ago

Not necessarily, it's only traceable if you generate receipts on both sides. I don't know about EU law, but in the US, you only need to report cash deposits if they're over $10k, and if your deposits are always over $10k (e.g. you're a big retailer or something), another $10k here and there won't raise any eyebrows.

Cash is still king when it comes to corruption since it's easy to exchange it for favors w/o generating a receipt at all.

path: 0 8698433 8700979 8701184 8702262, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
utopiah 5 points 3 years ago

Can't say in terms of proportion cash vs. non-cash but one might want to watch the Qatargate recent documentary on Arte which shows that somehow a 700k EUR luggage was found in the house of a MEP. Piles of cash sound outdated yet clearly still exist nowadays.

path: 0 8698433 8700979 8703684, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 3
Safipok 1 point 3 years ago

Geoblocked

path: 0 8698433 8700979 8703684 8734811, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 2
utopiah 2 points 3 years ago path: 0 8698433 8700979 8703684 8734811 8804409, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
agressivelyPassive 3 points 3 years ago

The 500€ bill was removed from circulation because it was used almost exclusively for corruption and illegal trade.

path: 0 8698433 8700979 8706615, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
Endward23 8 points 3 years ago

But fighting corruption is not a goal I'm ready to pay any prize for.

path: 0 8698433 8733118, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
humbletightband 3 points 3 years ago

Russia almost did it. Now it's finally free of corruption!

Haha , nope. It's way more corrupt than before. You can even purchase on the dark web a list of items your person of interest bought this year.

path: 0 8698433 8723170, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
naut 3 points 3 years ago

so ban it only for government (people and assets) related transactions

path: 0 8698433 8737481, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
summerof69 2 points 3 years ago

True that. The system that we have is the product of many painful lessons, taught to us by global crises and crimes. People, who oppose this system, should stop reading nonsense on reddit and 4chan, and start with books and lectures from educated economists.

path: 0 8698433 8739013, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
uis 0 points 3 years ago

Putin's corruption works fine without anonymous payments

path: 0 8698433 8946593, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 2
cupcakezealot 0 points 3 years ago

i mean does it really? russia is heavily sanctioned to the rest of the western world.

path: 0 8698433 8946593 8946594, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 1
uis 1 point 3 years ago

Putin is not Russia

path: 0 8698433 8946593 8946594 8946595, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
BruceLee -9 points 3 years ago

I order to participate in the fight again corruption, would you mind sharing with us the list of payement you made this week? Please use the following format :
[date], [time] - [nature of the payement] - [transaction amount] - [beneficiary]

One transaction per ligne, in a chronological order.

path: 0 8698433 8701708, hotness: undefined, score: -9, children: 4
sugar_in_your_tea 27 points 3 years ago

That's literally what businesses do, it's called accounting. And if you read the underlying article and/or law, you'd see that this is targeting businesses, not individuals.

path: 0 8698433 8701708 8702285, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 0
Lmaydev 9 points 3 years ago

You've just invented accounting haha

path: 0 8698433 8701708 8702956, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
Gooey0210 4 points 3 years ago

There's a special status for some people in Russia, it's called Foreign Agent, and I believe they need to write down everything they spend money on this way

path: 0 8698433 8701708 8705955, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
cupcakezealot 2 points 3 years ago

i mean banks and law enforcement can already get that information

path: 0 8698433 8701708 8703024, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
SnotFlickerman 54 points 3 years ago

This doesn't seem that much worse than American rules that have already been in place for a long, long time.

As it is, large payments or withdrawals must be reported to federal agencies, anything over $10k. This applies to cash transactions as well and the forms the IRS requires you to fill in a $10k+ cash transaction can be found here.

The biggest difference would be the impact on cash transactions and crypto transactions in the EU.

I'm pro-privacy, but a lot more crypto facilitates crime than not, so I don't really know why people would be shocked that governments would attack crypto specifically here (literally almost all ransomware uses crypto). Looks like way more of a crackdown on crypto than cash, but maybe that's just me. (On top of the fact that a lot of crypto isn't privacy-oriented. Looking at you, Bitcoin)

Related: https://www.nbcnews.com/...

Two years ago USA put in rules for commercial digital transfers over $600 to be reported. Just pointing out that the EU's rules don't seem particularly draconian when weighed against already existing rules elsewhere.

path: 0 8671704, hotness: undefined, score: 54, children: 8
agent_flounder 31 points 3 years ago

This doesn't seem that much worse than American rules that have already been in place for a long, long time.

Do you really want to be like the US, though? I think maybe that's not a great idea. (Source: am from US)

path: 0 8671704 8679163, hotness: undefined, score: 31, children: 0
possiblylinux127 27 points 3 years ago

Just because one country has it doesn't mean another should adopt it

path: 0 8671704 8675185, hotness: undefined, score: 27, children: 0
Outtatime 20 points 3 years ago

And the USA system is bullshit and I'm against it.

path: 0 8671704 8678533, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 0
Juviz 12 points 3 years ago

Here in Germany Cash payments for houses are a great way of laundering money for the mafia. Similar roles have als been proposed a while ago

path: 0 8671704 8672135, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 4
RaoulDook 26 points 3 years ago

Still not a good enough reason to reduce the privacy and freedom of any citizen. I don't care if the mob uses cash, let the police track the serial numbers of their cash if they catch them doing crimes or whatever. The mob isn't my problem, but losing freedom is bad for every citizen.

path: 0 8671704 8672135 8673025, hotness: undefined, score: 26, children: 1
Crow_of_Minerva 0 points 3 years ago

The mob isn't your problem unless you live in a society shaped heavily by them. In that case, this act has more pros than cons

path: 0 8671704 8672135 8673025 8706769, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 0
AnagrammadiCodeina 3 points 3 years ago

Italian here. Our right wing government who blinks an eye to all small entrepreneur in Italy (there are A TON here) recently increased the max cash payment from 2k to 5k. This is definitely a way to say "please be free to recycle a bit more oney" and to gain votes in exchange.

It's incredible how Germany, Austria, or Switzerland to name a few have this crazy high cash payment.

In fact our "ndrangheta" for example (Mafia from Calabria) expanded a lot in Germany due to this.

path: 0 8671704 8672135 8673001, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
Crow_of_Minerva 1 point 3 years ago

Italian here too. It's sad how the EU has to make us do the smart things as we are incapable of them

path: 0 8671704 8672135 8673001 8706790, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Obonga 42 points 3 years ago

This thread is a dumpster fire. Can someone explain to me why i should be concerned about the tracking of payments that as an average person will not happen outside of buying huge stuff like a car? While no one is forced to answer me i would like you to refrain from vague statements like "this is attacking your privacy", because i am interested in how. If you think its obvious feel free to ignore.

I think the biggest point that i could see being a problem is the crypto stuff because i once made a anonymous donation via monero (that because i was concerned but the target needed privacy). It was about 30€ or something. Would that be illegal under the new guidelines? And if so, why would i care, since it is supposed to be anonymous.

path: 0 8698319, hotness: undefined, score: 42, children: 32
Shyfer 32 points 3 years ago

Anonymity is important for various reasons. You can't predict everything bad a government will try to do to stifle freedom that a person may want to avoid. Off the top of my head, I could see someone trying to pay for an abortion or something like that in a southern state where it's illegal, for health reasons to save their own life.

path: 0 8698319 8702549, hotness: undefined, score: 32, children: 4
Obonga 18 points 3 years ago

I think this is actually a very good example, thank you.

People from europe sometimes come a long as assholes ("wE aRe NoT iN tHe ShItTy UsA") while ignoring that political stability is not guaranteed. Neither is democracy. Sitting here germany i look very nervously at the many countries shifting to the right and getting more authoritarian.

I pray to all gods that the times we live in wont be very interesting for historians to come...

path: 0 8698319 8702549 8706114, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 1
Shyfer 7 points 3 years ago

I think that's a big reason I'm so pro-privacy. I'm sure if the US weren't a couple steps ahead of you guys towards fascism, I'd prioritize other things, too. Hopefully you all can stop the march towards the right of your government before it gets worse.

path: 0 8698319 8702549 8706114 8710474, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
Lmaydev -18 points 3 years ago

This is Europe not that dumpster fire of a country.

path: 0 8698319 8702549 8702998, hotness: undefined, score: -18, children: 1
AtmaJnana 29 points 3 years ago

The same Europe that is home to Orban and Vucic and Erdogan? Yeah, good thing you never elect right-wing ideologues with a penchant for authoritarianism.

path: 0 8698319 8702549 8702998 8703160, hotness: undefined, score: 29, children: 0
ToxicWaste 9 points 3 years ago

To me the problem is that you wouldn't be able to buy a car anonymously anymore, while it leaves the really rich pretty much untouched.

Art is a well known angle for money laundering or giving someone a huge sum of money pretty much without any regulation. Contracts for construction or even consulting are another way.

I don't have access to this kind of playground - chances are, you neither. But the people supposedly targeted by this kind of law (corrupt politicians, organised crime, ...), do have access to these things and are therefore not impacted.

path: 0 8698319 8701138, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 6
agressivelyPassive 11 points 3 years ago

You have to register a car anyway. Where exactly is the problem?

path: 0 8698319 8701138 8706629, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 5
ToxicWaste 0 points 3 years ago

nothing to hide nothing to fear, huh?

And i thought at least after Snowden we learnt this is bs...

path: 0 8698319 8701138 8706629 8709573, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 4
agressivelyPassive 4 points 3 years ago

So you want people to be able to drive several tons of literal murder machines without any form of registration?

path: 0 8698319 8701138 8706629 8709573 8709630, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 2
undergroundoverground 2 points 3 years ago

What a sophilistic reply. No, car insurance is a thing. The purchase will no longer be anonymous, after you purchase car insurance for the car you just bought.

"You know, for all those totally, 100% legitimate and completely anonymous car purchases people make, that definitely won't be used by organised crime: honest."

path: 0 8698319 8701138 8706629 8709573 8738293, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
pedroapero 8 points 3 years ago

I use Monero for donations too on a regular basis. From what I understand, the people accepting donations would no longer be allowed to sell them to professional platforms (silly as those are the ones KYCing).

path: 0 8698319 8698804, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 2
sugar_in_your_tea 2 points 3 years ago

I think they would be. If they're operating as a business, the requirement is that their wallet(s) is at a custodian, so all transactions can be audited. You could still donate to that charity, and that charity would still be able to sell them or use them to buy stuff from another entity, but there would be a paper trail for the charity and the businesses they interact with. It doesn't impact the person donating, only the receiver.

path: 0 8698319 8698804 8702368, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
pedroapero 1 point 3 years ago

That would make sense. Thx

path: 0 8698319 8698804 8702368 8703074, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Safipok 6 points 3 years ago

Let's say you have political beliefs and would like to donate to such causes, March against genocide, stand with local essential workers, union fee. Some places like Hungary might be very dangerous if everyone knows what you spend money on.

path: 0 8698319 8734928, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
LodeMike 4 points 3 years ago

You don't need it right up until you need it.

path: 0 8698319 8706985, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
Mubelotix 4 points 3 years ago

"It's not about me so I don't care"

Principles

path: 0 8698319 8735234, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
mea_rah 3 points 3 years ago

Depending how inflation goes €3k limit will soon be in the territory of regular smartphone price or any slightly more expensive household purchase. AFAIK €1k 3 decades ago would be about €3k now.

That is assuming no one tries to push the limits lower, which is almost guaranteed to happen.

path: 0 8698319 8706327, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
pelicans_plight 1 point 3 years ago

Well I'm not in the EU, but in my situation I live in a shithole in the US called Tennessee. I have cancer that can be removed, but I don't have the quarter of a million for the surgery. It's been impossible to get a surgeon to even look at me, 2 years looking and still no surgeons will even let me in their office.

I need medications but the med I need the most is $8000 a month, it suppresses my autoimmune system and alows me to heal. My cancer is vary rare, it's called a neuroendocrine tumor, it's caused by extreme stress, this is because I'm a natural born empath, but saying that out loud usually gets a knife in my back from anyone near me carrying dark energy.

But to get to the point, I can get some meds occasionally for cheap, as long as they're sold for cash, but if that gos away then I definitely will die much faster. Seems on par for the life I've lived, care about everyone, then have everyone try to kill me.

path: 0 8698319 8701862, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 10
Obonga 4 points 3 years ago

Yeah i have heard about crypto being used to get cheaper medication, but i had forgotten, so thanks for taking your time and sharing this example.

I wish you the best health possible, better and cheaper medications and people that make your life better

path: 0 8698319 8701862 8706218, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 1
pelicans_plight 1 point 3 years ago

Thanks, I'm vary used to it by now, but still appreciated.

path: 0 8698319 8701862 8706218 8706987, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
agressivelyPassive -4 points 3 years ago

So, because the US can't get its shit together and you can't get medical help for neither cancer nor psychological issues, the EU - with pretty good universal healthcare - should allow cash payments without limit?

path: 0 8698319 8701862 8706671, hotness: undefined, score: -4, children: 7
pelicans_plight 0 points 3 years ago

Hey bud I'm glad narcissism, is working out for you. I really hope you're old so it don't catch up.

path: 0 8698319 8701862 8706671 8706900, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 6
agressivelyPassive 0 points 3 years ago

For a supposed empath you act remarkably similar to an ahole.

You're describing a problem that literally does not exist in the EU to justify that a law in the EU is wrong. That's not very smart.

I wouldn't argue for tougher gun laws in Germany because you guys keep getting your children shot either.

path: 0 8698319 8701862 8706671 8706900 8707086, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 5
undergroundoverground 0 points 3 years ago

There isn't really. Most people are unaware that most crash transactions and withdrawals anywhere close to those amounts will almost always have to be reported to the government of whatever country you're in. But, you know, EU bad....

There's no wholesome reason to need 10k in cash. Even the examples here of paying for an abortion is a problem with reproductive freedom and not cash. You're not suddenly going to get away with it because you "sneakily" withdrew 10s of 000s in cash, right before you travelled to a state where abortion was legal. Political donations can be made in small, repeated sums. Specifically, as they dont sell large value items.

Unless you're a hired assassin, a paedophile network, a corrupt politican or a drug cartel it's not going to effect your business.

In reality, most of the nay sayers are people who take cash payments for the work they do to avoid paying the taxes the rest of us have to pay, for the things we all use.

path: 0 8698319 8738202, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 0
LemmyHead 0 points 3 years ago
  • tacking of payments gives those in power (banks, [bad] governments,...) Mechanism to completely profile and manipulate you. Your spendings says EVERYTHING about you. You might not care because you're living in peaceful and stable (e.g. not in economic crisis like Venezuela) times, but the world and many governments are visibly changing for the worst. It gives them unlimited power to introduce any kind of taxes and fines or means of blocking you from moving away with your money to somewhere else. You don't agree? They can still get to your money.
  • limiting cash or anynomous payments takes away your financial freedom and strongly increases your dependency on banks. Banks put limits on your money that you can't fully control, they block your transactions for whatever they find suspicous. They can charge you whatever they want. There's a lot of corruption and money laundering with banks, that are the the most regulated institutions in the world ( except for armies probably), proving that even with a lot of control and legislation, those in power can still do whatever the fuck they want. Banks also take risks with your money and there have been crisises caused by them before. Most of them invest in oil, war and other ventures that are profitable for them. They manipulate markets for profit and for the worse of the common man. There's a lot you can read about those things. Becoming so strongly dependant on banks give governments limitless power on what to do with your money and block it whenever they want. Truckers protested against government in Canada => bank accounts blocked.

Whether or not some or all of these examples matter to you, one thing you have to understand and always defend is: you are the boss of your of money. Your ownership and control over your money is evenly linked to how much freedom you have.

Another thing you also have to understand, even if you think full visibility and control for governments is a good thing to solve crime, corruption and/or money laundering: there are and have ALWAYS been black markets. And the worse countries are off, the stronger these markets become.

path: 0 8698319 8714820, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 0
Mango 24 points 3 years ago

Three easy payments of $999.99!

path: 0 8703080, hotness: undefined, score: 24, children: 2
kilgore_trout 2 points 3 years ago

The limit is not by single payment but by purchase/receipt.

path: 0 8703080 8722238, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
monsdar 1 point 3 years ago

Isn't a simple solution to split the purchase then? I will buy the tires for 8000€ and the rest of the car for 9000€.

I know this is nitpicking and they're not doing this for cases like the above. People targeted by this will have other simple solutions to work around it.

path: 0 8703080 8722238 8722884, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
MonkderZweite 20 points 3 years ago

They track the trade of art too?

path: 0 8693804, hotness: undefined, score: 20, children: 4
agressivelyPassive 3 points 3 years ago

How do you think they're paying for art?

path: 0 8693804 8706693, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 3
MonkderZweite 2 points 3 years ago

Money > Art > Suspicious business.

Suspicious business > more Art > more money.

path: 0 8693804 8706693 8708897, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 2
agressivelyPassive 2 points 3 years ago

more money.

....soooo someone paid money? Which would fall under the regulation.

path: 0 8693804 8706693 8708897 8709562, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
Mubelotix 0 points 3 years ago

NFTs invented nothing, they copied the shady scam/money-laundering business of IRL art

path: 0 8693804 8706693 8708897 8709562 8735328, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 0
Outtatime 16 points 3 years ago

Anybody who defends these actions by the EU is a poopy face

path: 0 8678489, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 0
electric_nan 16 points 3 years ago

It's OK to be an outlaw.

path: 0 8680724, hotness: undefined, score: 16, children: 0
Gooey0210 15 points 3 years ago

I think people should create new and stronger communities to fight stuff like that

Topics, groups, etc, where people discuss and organize system fighting

path: 0 8687289, hotness: undefined, score: 15, children: 0
Gargari 15 points 3 years ago

Grab #Monero

path: 0 8686962, hotness: undefined, score: 15, children: 6
pedroapero 7 points 3 years ago

So that you can't sell later ?

path: 0 8686962 8698707, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
Fridgeratr 7 points 3 years ago

Yeah, lose all your money so you don't have to worry about it being surveilled!

path: 0 8686962 8699614, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 2
Mubelotix 2 points 3 years ago

More than 97% of monero buyers are in profit right now. Nobody on earth lost more than 10% buying monero

path: 0 8686962 8699614 8735348, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
LWD 0 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8686962 8699614 8735348 8736995, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 0
LWD 3 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8686962 8702837, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
Mubelotix 1 point 3 years ago

Yeah but it's hard to get hard money like gold coins or silver. Holding currency isn't an option

path: 0 8686962 8702837 8735388, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
cypherpunks 11 points 3 years ago path: 0 8671383, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
blazera 10 points 3 years ago

all Im thinking of is how payment processors have been acting as legislators lately to outlaw porn.

path: 0 8710883, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1
crispy_kilt 7 points 3 years ago

Thanks, US puritanism.

path: 0 8710883 8722802, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
Pantherina 8 points 3 years ago

Wtfff

path: 0 8674212, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
possiblylinux127 7 points 3 years ago

This feels like satire

path: 0 8673356, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
HawlSera 5 points 3 years ago

creepy

path: 0 8687242, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
doom_and_gloom 4 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8740148, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
naut 3 points 3 years ago path: 0 8737555, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
summerof69 3 points 3 years ago

Are you seriously suggesting me to contact my MEP based on the clickbait title you've written? Wow.

path: 0 8739075, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
tired_n_bored 2 points 3 years ago

I'm all for privacy and I'd use Monero all the time, but this kind of regulations heavily damaged the mafia so tbh let's go for it. I'm not gonna spend 3k per transaction regardless

path: 0 8690829, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 5
abcxyz -3 points 3 years ago

Lol, what a shill. I guess that's because the mafia follows rules?

path: 0 8690829 8691324, hotness: undefined, score: -3, children: 4
tired_n_bored -1 points 3 years ago

If banks and shops don't accept and give paper money to randoms, bad people have a more difficult life.

It is not only bombs and guns, it's an intricated system of black market, black job that Redditors from other countries have no idea about 👍

path: 0 8690829 8691324 8697333, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 3
abcxyz 4 points 3 years ago

Enjoy your distopia and thank you for enlightening me of how money laundering, black market and kyc works. Keep parroting "security" and "for the kids" though ;)

path: 0 8690829 8691324 8697333 8705224, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 1
tired_n_bored 1 point 3 years ago

Man I am on your side. I love privacy and security. I can't stand "for the kids" rhetoric. I wouldn't be using Lemmy otherwise. But The limit to 5k€ per transaction is really useful, has already damaged mafia, and prevents big chunks of money to go untraced, leaving room for privacy for regular people. In an ideal world I would be against such action, but I do believe this is the best thing to do when 10% of your GDP is produced illegally.

I also want to apologize for my previous message which could have been interpreted as passive aggressive, it was not intended as such.

path: 0 8690829 8691324 8697333 8705224 8735358, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
cuchilloc 1 point 3 years ago

I’m sorry sir, it looks like you are exhibiting individual thought, we need to open you up and change your brain for a government approved Brain-a-tron.

path: 0 8690829 8691324 8697333 8697549, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Linkerbaan 1 point 3 years ago

So a ban on crypto and CCP like control over all finances?

path: 0 8739506, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Cyberjin 1 point 3 years ago
path: 0 8774942, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
onlinepersona 0 points 3 years ago path: 0 8697776, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 3
BreakDecks 10 points 3 years ago

If you have €50,000 worth of Monero, they can't know and won't care. If you transfer it to someone else you'll be under the radar. If you try to cash out your Monero, they'll find out and you're in deep shit. Monero is worthless to most people if you you can't exchange for fiat.

path: 0 8697776 8699386, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 1
onlinepersona -2 points 3 years ago

It's not a problem to get large sums of money out of money:

  • create a foundation, allow donations, get a few donations in monero, tada
  • spread it out to friends and family, let them take out the money in cash, receive money

Probably if you are able to fly to a country where there's lax rules on crypto exchanges and residency, you can get an address there, sign up for an exchange and get the monero out in that currency. I'm sure if you asked a tax advisor how "optimize taxes" they'd give you a bunch of financial instruments to "not launder" money.

Honestly, these laws will probably mostly apply to people with large sums of money most normal people wouldn't dream of transferring anonymously.

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

path: 0 8697776 8699386 8700100, hotness: undefined, score: -2, children: 0
sugar_in_your_tea 7 points 3 years ago

This is for businesses, and businesses are required to have proper accounting and audits.

path: 0 8697776 8702467, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
Squizzy -1 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8691370, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 0
Jumi -1 points 3 years ago

I most likely will never have 3000€ in cash, much less 10000€ so I don't really care.

path: 0 8689809, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 4
Noodle07 2 points 3 years ago

Not a trade worker then I guess?

path: 0 8689809 8696452, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
Jumi 1 point 3 years ago

What is a trade worker?

path: 0 8689809 8696452 8699315, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
9point6 0 points 3 years ago

Not with that spirit, a few bad years of hyperinflation and that could be your hourly wage

path: 0 8689809 8695765, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 1
Jumi 2 points 3 years ago

In that case I have bigger problems anyway

path: 0 8689809 8695765 8699298, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Squizzy -7 points 3 years ago

I have spent €3000+ in cash a few times in the last few years but I dont really mind this tbh.

path: 0 8691399, hotness: undefined, score: -7, children: 1
Mubelotix 2 points 3 years ago

Don't give up on your rights just because it's easier to be lazy and not defend them. Stand for all them, whatever they might be

path: 0 8691399 8735438, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
shortwavesurfer -18 points 3 years ago

So, Europe limiting people's freedom, even more. Why am I not surprised? Use Monero and build the circular economy. Give the middle finger to these clowns. People in the US need to do the same thing because we are headed down the same path. That's why I always suggest if you have Monero not turning it back into Fiat ever.

path: 0 8672084, hotness: undefined, score: -18, children: 26
sugar_in_your_tea 7 points 3 years ago

You obviously didn't read it. This is specifically targeting businesses, not individuals, so you'll still be able to use Monero and whatnot to buy stuff from companies, they just need to have their crypto wallets at a custodian (presumably for tax transparency). Likewise with cash transactions, large transactions are rare and unnecessary between businesses.

path: 0 8672084 8675137, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 4
admin 5 points 3 years ago

If that is actually the case, the crypto portion is at least not that bad. The 10k limit on cash transactions is just not feasible in some industries though.

path: 0 8672084 8675137 8690876, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
szczuroarturo 2 points 3 years ago

Yeach im most worried about used car market. Thats the only place that i know of where large amounts of cash is exchanged most often.

path: 0 8672084 8675137 8690876 8695673, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
sugar_in_your_tea 2 points 3 years ago

I'm pretty sure this is business to business, not customer to business. So you could still buy that €11k car, the bank would just need to deposit it instead of handing that €11k to the wholesaler in cash (they'd need to use a bank transfer for that).

I could be wrong though, it just depends on what "business transactions" means. Is it only B2B, or B2C counts too?

path: 0 8672084 8675137 8690876 8695673 8699924, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
pedroapero 2 points 3 years ago
path: 0 8672084 8675137 8698866, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
possiblylinux127 -1 points 3 years ago

Monero is a terrible investment long term. Pricing is hard because the value is always changing

path: 0 8672084 8675149, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 12
shortwavesurfer 4 points 3 years ago

What do you mean? I've been using Monero for over a year and in that time one Monero has always equaled one Monero. /s

It's only when you price it in fiat currency that the price changes.

path: 0 8672084 8675149 8675456, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 11
possiblylinux127 3 points 3 years ago

How about against the price of gold? You also will see it change

path: 0 8672084 8675149 8675456 8675572, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 10
shortwavesurfer 3 points 3 years ago

True, i have never measured it against gold. Though my guess is that price action would be pretty muted since both are decently stable.

path: 0 8672084 8675149 8675456 8675572 8675626, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 9
smileyhead -3 points 3 years ago

Use Monero, burn the planet, don't buy anything useful with it as it can be made illegal after one legislation and don't forget to actively swap it between 10 other different cryptocurrencies. Also thanks to Microsoft for hosting Monero official source code repository.

path: 0 8672084 8676660, hotness: undefined, score: -3, children: 7
shortwavesurfer 2 points 3 years ago

burn the planet

How much energy does it take to run the banking sector?

don't buy anything useful with it as it can be made illegal after one legislation

Yeah, good luck with that. It's censorship resistant. So that legislation doesn't fucking matter.

actively swap it between 10 other different cryptocurrencies

Funny as most stuff can be purchased in Monero without swapping.

Also thanks to Microsoft for hosting Monero official source code repository.

which could be easily changed at any time.

path: 0 8672084 8676660 8677018, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 6
JackRiddle 5 points 3 years ago

Please do remember that the banking industry provides banking for the entire world, instead of ~ten thousand people. It does cost a lot of energy, yes, but the energy per person is far less than with any cryptocurrency.

path: 0 8672084 8676660 8677018 8690401, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 5
shortwavesurfer 0 points 3 years ago

The point of crypto is for everybody on earth to be their own bank and be part of the financial system, which is something the banks cannot do.Also, the bank's banking system and governments have gotten us into the situation we are in now where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. I don't know who said it, but I heard a quote once that said something to the effect of, let me control what a man uses as money, and I care not who makes his laws.

path: 0 8672084 8676660 8677018 8690401 8691348, hotness: undefined, score: 0, children: 4
privacy
privacy

@lemmy.ml

login for more options
51431
5294
5152

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don't promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

go to feed...