A few moments outside of this DRK world we've all become so comfortable with and you realise just how little understanding there is of Bitcoin's major flaw.
This is longish - please bear with me.
Yesterday Circle announced a global launch of a new
BTC banking platform. It appeared in the Press section at bitcointalk and got strong endorsement from the first few commenters. I was intrigued enough to check whether Circle had found a way to avoid the Draconian measures used by Coinbase - measures to apply American laws or requirements to international customers in order to appease their government enough to hold a license. I was astonished to find the Circle requirements are far more arbitrary and restrictive than those of Coinbase. A trend is emerging, which I paraphrase as:
Buy your
BTC (the currency of the future) from us. We will track how you use it - forever - and if we do not like how you use it we will snitch to our Secret Police, regardless of where in the world you live, and we will cancel your account. Here is a long list of things we do not like, many of them perfectly legal in all jurisdictions. We will add more to the list from time to time, should we feel inclined to or if we are coerced into doing so.
I posted the relevant Circle Terms Section in the Press thread and, so far, nobody has batted an eye. I am not sure what to make of that aspect.
Anyway, what struck me throughout all this is that the problem is perfect for DRK to solve, but hardly anyone knows about the problem yet, let alone the solution.
Here is the actual wording from the international (not American) terms at the Circle site. I have added bolding:
-- snip --
17. Restricted Activities
Using the Services to make the following types of payments is prohibited, and Circle reserves the right to monitor for payments that relate to:
any Restricted Persons or persons or entities located in Restricted Territories (as each term is defined in Section 29);
weapons of any kind, including but not limited to firearms, ammunition, knives, or related accessories;
controlled substances including but not limited to narcotics, prescription drugs, steroids, or related paraphernalia or accessories;
gambling activities including but not limited to sports betting, casino games, horse racing, dog racing, lotteries, games of chance, sweepstakes, games of skill that may be classified as gambling (i.e. poker), or other activities that facilitate any of the foregoing;
constitute money-laundering or terrorist financing;
any sort of ponzi scheme, pyramid scheme, or
multi-level marketing program;
goods or services that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, or proprietary rights
under the laws of any jurisdiction otherwise constitute counterfeit goods;
debt settlement, refinance, or credit repair services;
court ordered payments, structured settlements, tax payments, or tax settlements;
the sale of money orders or cashier’s checks or any unlicensed money transmitter activity;
lottery contracts, layaway systems, or annuities;
counterfeit goods; or
any other matters which we communicate to you that are unacceptable from time to time and which, for example, may be restricted by our and your payment partners.
In the event that Circle learns that you are making any such prohibited payments, Circle may suspend or terminate your Circle Account.
-- End Snip --
This cries out for a meme along the lines of: They will encircle you unless you use DRK! Disclosure: I have mined
BTC since 2011. I very much want it to succeed, but there is a choke point where fiat and
BTC meet that is being increasingly exploited. Perfect opportunity for DRK marketing, imho.
