@ LiโฟฮสLiรธฮท ๐ดaยณ
2025-06-07 11:01:50
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐๐ถ ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐ถ: ๐ง๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ด๐๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ ๐๐ป ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฝ๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐
https://image.nostr.build/7e577a38aec5c81a3f21b4066fdea471392e092797235c1492cb7dc60520ca9e.jpg
In this article I will explain why I believe there will be a division in the crypto industry, between RegFi (Regulated Finance) and ecosystems that will seek not to be regulated, which regulators define as the black market, and that is why I use the acronym DarkFi, (Dark Finance) in โhonorโ of them.
Dark.Fi exists. It is an anonymous blockchain development platform for creating applications on its L1, based on privacy. It is not yet on the main network at the time of this writing.
In recent years, cryptocurrencies have gained popularity as an investment option and an alternative means of payment.
Although adoption is not yet massive, the growth is notable, and has sparked the interest of financial institutions as a growing business, and subsequently of governments, in terms of regulation.
There are various sources of information, and not all of them are the same. Crypto adoption is difficult to measure due to the anonymity of self-custody wallets, and it is very good that it continues that way, in my opinion.
The most prudent sources estimate that the number of cryptocurrency holders worldwide is around 400 million people in 2023 (5% of the world population).
Other reputable sources, such as Finder.com, cite that the global average of cryptocurrency owners towards the end of 2023 was 15%, reaching a rate of 17%.
Let's look at some data on the global adoption of cryptocurrencies.
https://image.nostr.build/b73139e5e011b2ad069d67a2cb067385638ee44a23cf881674b75f6e8d6d0b40.png
https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/2023-global-crypto-adoption-index/
https://image.nostr.build/713e02aa63b9571a399f74f89ccae89da9dab71e28b8d4485065fc49ed4fad04.png
https://www.statista.com/chart/30867/ranking-of-countries-on-the-global-crypto-adoption-index/
Anyway, the fact is that adoption is growing, and that is the main point of attention of regulators.
Arguing to provide a legal and regulatory framework to protect cryptocurrency investors and users, governments are imposing new legal regulations to seek to reduce the risk of fraud and prevent the use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities, such as money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Another important reason that governments base their creation of new laws is that, given the growth of business and the incursion of financial institutions, it is key for them to guarantee financial stability, so that the State does not lose control over the economy.
The vast majority of governments, and especially those of the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US), seek to maintain a monopoly on the issuance of money. Small countries like El Salvador have allowed Bitcoin to be money, but it is an exception, since most States consider Fungible Tokens issued on the blockchain as assets and not money.
But what is the limit of laws to not invade the privacy and business decisions of people, and private institutions? What is the limit of regulators to advance the market to the point of hindering it?
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ. ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐.
Several countries have established legal and regulatory frameworks to address the blockchain industry related to cryptocurrencies.
There are two types of stablecoins, depending on their support: some with a reserve in fiat currency, and others, the algorithmic ones, which are not backed by fiat money but by a computer code to keep their reserves stable to be linked to a fiat price.
In my opinion, the first cryptocurrencies will be the most regulated in the crypto industry, while the second will be banned in most countries.
I believe that stablecoins will be the new CBDC.
Japan has become one of the leaders in cryptocurrency regulation, being the first country to introduce a license for cryptocurrency exchanges and establishing strict requirements for the security of digital assets.
The European Union has proposed new regulations for cryptocurrencies, based on the regulatory framework of the Markets in Crypto Assets (Mica).
Recently, a vote was taken on an anti-money laundering bill in the European Parliament, which requires cryptocurrency companies to collect more data on users, and which tools that provide anonymity services will be banned.
The United States is also stepping up its actions. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Binance, alleging that the company operated as an unregistered stock exchange and illegally offered and sold securities, including the BNB cryptocurrency, for which its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, was prosecuted and is detained, and pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in 2023 and was sentenced to four months in prison.
The Department of Justice has arrested the founders of Samourai Wallet, accusing them of facilitating the means to launder illegal money, since they have developed a digital interface to mix bitcoins and obfuscate the blockchain tracking of Bitcoin in their Layer 1.
These are just some examples of the increase in government action against the crypto industry.
But recently, in the Trump presidency, the United States has made a turn in its policy for the crypto industry and tries to capture much of the market, being more permissive with its use, and in my opinion it is because they want to implement a large dollar monetary reset; but that analysis is very extensive, and is the subject of other articles that I have published.
Several countries, such as Switzerland and Malta, have so far established cryptocurrency-friendly regulatory frameworks to attract companies and investors to their jurisdictions (at least for now).
๐๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐ฉ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ญ'๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ง๐.
Privacy is not a crime, says the well-known cypherpunk slogan, but it seems that for regulators, it is.
They usually send the message that if you have nothing to hide, you should not fear KYC (Know Your Customer), that is, handing over all your data when you carry out activities with financial institutions (name and surname, identity document, residence address, telephone number, etc), because they โtake care of usโ from terrorism and money laundering by criminals.
The first problem with KYC is the theft of personal information, since a centralized institution owns your data, and there is a single point of failure.
The second problem is the misuse of data, such as the sale of information, and although this dishonest action is punishable by law, they do it in a way that makes it look like it was a leak, and that it was not the holders of the information themselves who are marketing it.
The third problem is the surveillance system imposed by regulators, which can take away freedoms. Many governments are tyrannical, and others are not so much, but they still invade the privacy of citizens. Without going any further, in the 2020 pandemic, in some way and to different degrees, we all suffered from the prohibitions and confinement.
As I said, privacy is not the only goal; there is also the need for governments to collect taxes, and the voracious action is now also directed at the crypto industry. As an example is the recent case of Roger Ver, the entrepreneur and early Bitcoin investor, and therefore baptized 'Bitcoin Jesus', who was arrested in Spain, with a request for extradition from the United States, accused of tax evasion.
Regardless of whether he is guilty or not, it is striking how the United States Department of Justice highlights his nickname in the note published for this arrest: โMan Known as โBitcoin Jesusโ Evaded Nearly $50M in Taxesโ, highlighting that it is a crypto investor who committed the fraud, sending a strong message to the industry.
Trump has not commented on the matter. He has commuted Ross Ulbricht's life sentence for drug trafficking, but has not intervened for Roger Ver for alleged tax evasion.
๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ช๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐
Tough regulations will cause the crypto space to be divided into two main groups of development.
One will be the blockchain industry as a modern banking system that will respect increasing regulations, it will be banking 3.0.
Another will be a marginal ecosystem, in which the cryptoeconomy will be developed as a peer-to-peer activity in unregulated free markets, which the legal system will surely call the black or illegal market.
Some modern cypherpunks divide cyberspace into two large groups of actors, the Solarpunks and the Lunarpunks. They define the first as the optimistic, naive, and innocent, who do not understand that their brightness invites predators to feed on them, and the second, the Lunarpunks, as those who use darkness to protect themselves and spread light, using the technology of privacy.
You can see the explanation in this entertaining video: ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐
๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐
๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐๐ https://youtu.be/J_Pov8cO7O4?si=mDPrtROx-3Kmfxck
tags: LiberLion Article ; DarkFi