i was involved with wasabi until december but left because because of what i perceived as systemic issues with the development process. to be clear, i cannot wholeheartedly support the project or recommend its use, for ethical and technical reasons.

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i was involved with wasabi until december but left because because of what i perceived as systemic issues with the development process.

to be clear, i cannot wholeheartedly support the project or recommend its use, for ethical and technical reasons.

i have plenty of beef and a lot more to say than i've already said publicly, but there's honest critiques, and there's moral outrage, hysteria, and FUD. learn to tell the difference, because most of what you're seeing on twitter is not the former.

if compliance with draconian and authoritarian regulators is demanded of the company, it is what it is. what it is not is an indication that the entire project is a CIA honeypot, a scam, or is fundamentally broken beyond repair.

there was always a systemic risk in centralization. even if they are forced to censor, which sucks massively and goes against bitcoin's raison d'etre, but it was always a tradeoff, and a reasonable one at that.

furthermore, it remains a reasonable tradeoff even if subject to censorship, because it can still benefit users who aren't subject to that, within the limitations of the software.

IMO the worst thing out of the latest drama so far is the terrible messaging around this issue, another in a string of decisions i find dubious and disappointing over the last several years, but hardly the end of the world.

(placeholder tweet for crediting the following perspective to its originator, i'm sharing this take without permission, but i don't want to credit/tag them without permission. i haven't heard back yet, and i got unrelated personal stuff to take care of so i'm just gonna post)

malicious compliance would've been a reasonable response but better yet, becoming "the compliant coinjoin implementation" could have been leveraged as an opportunity to normalize the right to privacy. if wasabi CJs are regulated, what is the justification for criminalizing them?

coinjoin transactions are stigmatized because of overzealous bootlicking by rent seeking exchanges attempting to externalizing the cost of financial "derisking" with a fiat minded rubberstamping that enriches surveillance capitalists selling pseudoscientific snake oil.

lack of privacy and censorship of bitcoin privacy tech with legitimate uses is a market failure, first and foremost.

it's technically and legally possible to be use bitcoin for legitimate purposes and in a law abiding manner without sacrificing your privacy or personal safety. it's just a hassle/cost for compliance departments to accommodate that, and the opportunity cost of not is negligible.

furthermore, it's the customers who foot the bill for invasions of their privacy, and who also absorb the safety risk when their personal and financial details are siloed and subsequently leaked by "trusted" custodians.

conceding ground on one front while making substantial gains on another, namely the political battle for privacy surrounding exchanges, which will always be a systemic risk for bitcoin. even if a net loss, is not a total loss.

(but better yet, use @bisq_network)

remember, the software is not the coordinator or the company. using wasabi with alternate coordinators and running a coordinator has long been clearly documented.

if you found its assurances acceptable before this farce, nothing has changed. just don't pay them coordination fees.

restoring privacy and fungibility on a protocol as flawed as bitcoin is not zero sum, or one size fits all, or possible with a single turnkey solution.

censorship resistant alternatives already exist and others are being developed, with a variety of tradeoffs in cost, usability, and the severity of the threat model.

this thread was motivated by an assortment of bottom feeders farming clout out of this unfortunate eventuality.

if you accept these hypocrites and grifters as authorities on this or any other topic, that's out of the frying pan and into the fire. protect your mind from this info cancer.

one of the reasons we can't have nice things is because so many people take bullshitters at face value, "don't trust, verify" is a bullshit meme if the same epistemic self owns that gave us fiat money with its discretionary policies are just repeated in a fringe echo chamber.

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Rijndael @rot13maxi · Mar 16, 2022

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Good thread

Thread by nothingmuch

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