The Daily Gwei - A Red Letter Day - The Daily Gwei #524
As I’m sure you’re all well aware of by now, the U.S Treasury Department has sanctioned Ethereum-based privacy tool Tornado Cash and associated addresses. On top of this, Circle has frozen all the USDC that had been deposited into Tornado Cash’s smart contracts. Obviously this is one of the strongest moves a government body has made against something in crypto and it may unfortunately just be the beginning. An overall sad 24 hours for the crypto ecosystem
It really reinforces the fact that we need to decentralize *everything* if we want any of the stuff we're building to work long-term
We either get truly decentralized apps/services or we get CeFi/TradFi but just "on a blockchain" First off, and as I said in my tweet above, this move from the treasury department really just reinforces the fact that we need to decentralize everything in crypto. From the front-ends to the RPCs to the smart contracts themselves - if any layer in the stack is centralized, then the whole app/service becomes compromised and easily censorable. I also think that Tornado Cash wouldn’t of been sanctioned like this if the app itself didn’t work - clearly it works very well as a privacy-preserving tool and it’s something that has probably given U.S law enforcement grief in the past (hence the move to sanction the app). There are inevitably people pushing the same old line we’ve all heard before - “if you’ve got nothing to hide then you’ve got nothing to fear”. But valuing privacy has little to do with having “nothing to hide” and everything to do with not wanting people snooping around your business - especially not the government. I mean, we all very readily gave up our financial privacy by switching to digital banking instead of using cash for most transactions but I believe this is because we had little choice in the matter (aka we had no alternative). Crypto is that alternative that gives us the choice to have a fully-private digital financial life if we want to - that’s incredibly powerful and obviously scary for governments since they like having total view of everyone’s financial life (for a number of reasons). So, where to from here? Well I’m no legal expert so I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the legal/regulatory arena - will we see a reversal of this decision from the U.S or will they double down and start applying sanctions to other privacy tools like Aztec, Zcash and Monero? Will they go even further and make it illegal for people to use non-KYC’d exchanges like Uniswap? Or will they go even further than that and force centralized exchanges to not allow withdrawals to people’s own Ethereum address? Sadly, at this time, I think that anything is possible. I know at times like this it’s somewhat difficult to “keep the faith” in our ability to continue to build and use decentralized apps & services, but I think it’s now more important than ever for us to do so. The path we are on was never going to be easy - we are building things that the powers that be would rather not see built - but if you read some history you’ll notice that this has always been the case. And as I’ve said before, the only way to test if something is truly decentralized is to have nation states try to control it. Have a great day everyone, Enjoyed today’s piece? I send out a fresh one every week day - be sure to subscribe to receive it in your inbox! Join the Daily Gwei EcosystemAll information presented above is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. If you liked this post from The Daily Gwei, why not share it? |
Older messages
The ETH Milkshake Theory - The Daily Gwei #523
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Banana, chocolate, or ETH flavored?
Poor Critics - The Daily Gwei #522
Monday, August 1, 2022
Ethereum critics leave a lot to be desired.
What's Your ENS? - The Daily Gwei #521
Friday, July 29, 2022
The future of finance is human-readable Ethereum.
Value Accrual - The Daily Gwei #520
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Searching for the crypto-assets that actually accrue long-term value.
Social Decentralization - The Daily Gwei #519
Monday, July 25, 2022
It matters more than anything.
You Might Also Like
Trump’s pro-crypto pledge could see day-one executive orders, industry players hope
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
A Bitcoin strategic reserve, access to banking services, and the creation of a crypto council are among the items on the industry's 'wishlist.' ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
State of the Network’s 2024 Year in Review
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
A data-driven overview of events that shaped crypto in 2024 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
OKExChain: Will the Federal Reserve and Jerome Powell Prevent the U.S. from Creating a National Bitcoin Reserve?
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
In the early hours of today, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made it clear during a press conference following the monetary policy meeting that the Fed has no intention of participating in any
Crypto community cheers as Trump names pro-crypto advisors Stephen Miran and Bo Hines for economic and digital ass…
Monday, December 23, 2024
Trump fosters economic expansion and digital innovation with Miran and Hines at the helm of economic and crypto councils. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
📈 BTC-to-Gold ratio hit a historical peak on 17 Dec; Crypto.com renewed its partnership with Formula 1 until 2030
Monday, December 23, 2024
BTC-to-Gold ratio hit a historical peak on 17 Dec; Crypto.com renewed its partnership with Formula 1 until 2030; Crypto.com and the Philadelphia 76ers unveiled Web3 mobile game 'Spectrum Sprint
Bitcoin Hits A New ATH Once Again After Touching $108K
Monday, December 23, 2024
Monday Dec 23, 2024 Sign Up Your Weekly Update On All Things Crypto TL;DR In this issue, we dive into: Bitcoin Hits A New ATH Once Again After Touching $108K Avery Ching To Become New Aptos Labs CEO As
Yi He on Binance Alpha and Wallet: Most Projects Are Air, Facing Talent Shortage in Web3, and Wallet as an Airdrop…
Monday, December 23, 2024
This article is a summary of a recent AMA hosted on Binance's official Twitter, focused on the relaunch of Binance Wallet. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Finish signing in to Crypto.com DeFi Research
Monday, December 23, 2024
Here's a link to sign in to Crypto.com DeFi Research. This link can only be used once and expires in one hour. If expired, please try signing in again here. Sign in now © 2024 Crypto.com 1
Reflections and Rest | Black Flag DAO Weekly Rollup
Sunday, December 22, 2024
Catch Up With What Happened This Week in Black Flag DAO ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Options traders bet big on Bitcoin reaching $120K despite low odds
Sunday, December 22, 2024
High open interest at $120000 strike price shows the market is betting on a big finish for Bitcoin in 2024. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏