"Mad at the Internet" - a/k/a My Psychotherapy Sessions

[Null]

really long winded way of saying "if you have access to crypto, you don't need to use a crowdfunding platform to send money to people".

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Hasn't anyone setup something like Patreon combined with a crypto exchange?

I know that "if you have access to crypto, you don't need access to a crowdfunding site", but how about one that allows normies to buy crypto so as to be able pay it to content creators they want to fund?

 

[Trig.Point]

really long winded way of saying "if you have access to crypto, you don't need to use a crowdfunding platform to send money to people".

A platform could add value by providing invoices (prompting supporters to commit to regular payments), supporter tiers (which Patreon has shown is important for gaining backers), and the ability to put content behind a paywall.

Hasn't anyone setup something like Patreon combined with a crypto exchange?

A crypto exchange is going to have to overcome way more hurdles than a regular crowdfunding site. It kind of defeats the purpose of funding a creator with crypto if you still have to use a credit card.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

It kind of defeats the purpose of funding a creator with crypto if you still have to use a credit card.

But maybe not for normies (the vast majority of who don't deal in crypto at this moment in time), it wouldn't surely?

Or two connected entities - one to turn credit card/debit card payments into crpyto, and then another which is the Patreon-with-crypto company?

Then you'd have to hope that the payment processors wouldn't find any reason to fuck with your 'exchange', I suppose. At least it'd be at one remove though.

 

[Trig.Point]

But maybe not for normies (the vast majority of who don't deal in crypto at this moment in time), it wouldn't surely?

I'm a normie, and I figured out how to buy and use crypto securely in an evening (only to discover later that there was a bitcoin ATM a 10 minute drive away).

If people decide that they need to buy crypto they'll figure it out.

 

[Null]

Patreon combined with a crypto exchange

Oh you mean crowdfunding with those things so insanely overregulated in the US that most simply refuse to do business with American citizens at all because of the anti-money laundering requirements of the US Patriot Act? Can you guess why that wouldn't work?

Repeal the Patriot Act. I'll repeat it until I'm blue in the fucking face. None of these clever fucking ideas work because of the Patriot Act.

Want crowdfunding for everyone? Repeal the Patriot Act
Want fair exchange of crypto currencies? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want every American and American business to have a payment processor? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want to stop the NSA from spying on everyone? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want banks to act like banks and not overbearing mothers? Repeal the Patriot Act.

Repeal the Patriot Act, Repeal the Patriot Act.

When you talk to poltiical candidates you should be asking them "What are your plans to repeal the anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act?"

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

Oh you mean crowdfunding with those things so insanely overregulated in the US that most simply refuse to do business with American citizens at all because of the anti-money laundering requirements of the US Patriot Act? Can you guess why that wouldn't work?

Why would it have to be US-based? Would say, a Swiss-based crowdfunding company maybe be viable? I dunno.

EDIT: That wouldn't make any difference, would it as they'd still have to comply with the Patriot Act to deal with USians?

I'm a normie, and I figured out how to buy and use crypto securely in evening (only to discover later that there was a bitcoin ATM a 10 minute drive away).

If people decide that they need to buy crypto they'll figure it out.

Someone or something's got to act as the 'glue' though to organise and arrange everything so that content creators get paid, like Patreon IMO.

It's just not going to happen any time soon with crypto the was it is right now, that people will just spontaneously start to give their favourite content creators money using it.

People are lazy and simple. They need some kind of service where they can just point their credit/debit cards/banking details and forget about it (until they never remember to stop, hopefully).

 

[Null]

Why would it have to be US-based? Wouldn't say, a Swiss crowdfunding company maybe viable? I dunno.

NO!!!!! The US controls the entire global economy! If you want to accept American money, you must play nice with the US Government! Swiss banks that do business with Americans, Russians, and Chinese SELL YOUR INFORMATION TO YOUR GOVERNMENT, and most REFUSE to do business with Americans. They DO NOT WANT your money because of the Patriot Act!

There is no magic "GO OVERSEAS" loophole to the Patriot Act! They own you! REPEAL IT. It is not the 1990s anymore!

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

NO!!!!! The US controls the entire global economy! If you want to accept American money, you must play nice with the US Government! Swiss banks that do business with Americans, Russians, and Chinese SELL YOUR INFORMATION TO YOUR GOVERNMENT, and most REFUSE to do business with Americans. They DO NOT WANT your money because of the Patriot Act!

There is no magic "GO OVERSEAS" loophole to the Patriot Act! They own you! REPEAL IT. It is not the 1990s anymore!

I don't deny that the Patriot Act has always seemed like onerous bullshit, but you'd have to come up with some mighty convincing ways of persuading normies how badly it can, and does affect them?

First question they'd ask about all this is, "Why the hell should I care about money launderers?".

 

[Null]

I don't deny that the Patriot Act has always seemed like onerous bullshit, but you'd have to come up with some mighty convincing ways of persuading normies how badly it can, and does affect them?

First question they'd ask about all this is, "Why the hell should I care about money launderers?".

Normies will never wake up and this will kill the US. Only the big corporations succeed in the wake of this sort of regulation and they will use it to kill alternative tech, which is what they've been doing. I can't offer any advice for swaying public narrative, people are too stupid and they get what they fucking deserve, which will be South African tier domestic terrorism, backed by JP Morgan Chase. I hope I live long enough to see the headlines.

 

[Sgt. Pinback]

...advice for swaying public narrative...

I don't know - but that what Twatter's good at, I guess - getting things into some part of the normie consciousness. I wonder what'd happen if someone managed to seed stories and information about how the Patriot Act is bad for regular people and get some stupid hashtag trending, like #abolishthepatriotact on Twatter?

Would it even be allowed to start trending, or would that shit be shut down right fast I wonder?

 

[Distant Stare]

Does this have to be something that normies can use? Were normies using NP2?

Yes and yes. If normies cant use it, you have no chance of growing. NP2 was normie friendly because you could use your regular card.

Yes, a crypto solution to this problem would be niche, but it would be better than nothing, which is what some of NP2's members have now.

The only reason why we are using crypto is because you cant use regular banking. Anything is better than nothing, but that does not mean anything is a "solution" to the systemic problem we face.

 

[Least Concern]

A platform could add value by providing invoices (prompting supporters to commit to regular payments), supporter tiers (which Patreon has shown is important for gaining backers), and the ability to put content behind a paywall.

I agree. Saying "with crypto you don't need a Patreon clone" is like saying "with PayPal you don't need a Patreon clone." Having a platform which prompts subscribers for payment, confirms the payment, and provides access to the bonus content is what we're talking about here, not so much the method of getting money from person A to person B. (Heck, with crypto, the service wouldn't even need to be a middleman in terms of the financials. It could just check the blockchain to see if a payment of the correct amount was sent from the subscriber's wallet to the content creator's wallet.)

I'm a normie, and I figured out how to buy and use crypto securely in an evening (only to discover later that there was a bitcoin ATM a 10 minute drive away).

Bitcoin ATMs tend to have pretty lousy exchange rates. I suggest you check the price you're getting versus an online exchange and confirm that the convenience and privacy of being able to pay with cash is really worth the unfavorable exchange rate you're going to get before you use one.

 

[Trig.Point]

Bitcoin ATMs tend to have pretty lousy exchange rates. I suggest you check the price you're getting versus an online exchange and confirm that the convenience and privacy of being able to pay with cash is really worth the unfavorable exchange rate you're going to get before you use one.

I didn't really care about the exchange rate (it wasn't outrageous), the shop that installed the ATM needs to see something for it. I'm happy to use ATM's and pay a little more, for the convenience and knowing it encourages Bitcoins uptake.

 

[Disheveled Human]

If in 10 years crypto is still viable I will eat my hat. The shit is not gonna go anywhere because people not invested in it give no shits about its success and governments hate it because it threatens them. Cash in while you can is my suggestion.

 

[Distant Stare]

If in 10 years crypto is still viable I will eat my hat. The shit is not gonna go anywhere because people not invested in it give no shits about its success and governments hate it because it threatens them. Cash in while you can is my suggestion.

@Null might know why, but how is it even still anonymous when every transaction is public? Can't the NSA just see what wallet is transferring funds from what exchange? If all of the exchanges glow-in-the-dark, why does the NSA have an idea who is sending money to who?

And if you are trading BTC for something more anonymous, what is to stop those tokens from being banned from trading on exchanges?

 

[Disheveled Human]

@Null might know why, but how is it even still anonymous when every transaction is public? Can't the NSA just see what wallet is transferring funds from what exchange? If all of the exchanges glow-in-the-dark, why does the NSA have an idea who is sending money to who?

And if you are trading BTC for something more anonymous, what is to stop those tokens from being banned from trading on exchanges?

I just don't see how it can ever become "legitimized" long term, countries will band together and make it illegal to trade crypto which will impact the value. Most people will not care to argue it and blindly support the countries decision on banning it. The only people I see defending crypto is people who have invested in it or own a large enough amount. Its a tricky situation. People thought the TOR networks were fool proof but look they caught the dude that ran the silk road operation. If they want it shut down bad enough they will shut it down. Imagine thinking Banks and Institutions are helpless to stop an alt-currency operation. These fuckers are so smart they could probably just highjack it and take it over if they really wanted to.

 

[Least Concern]

@Null might know why, but how is it even still anonymous when every transaction is public? Can't the NSA just see what wallet is transferring funds from what exchange? If all of the exchanges glow-in-the-dark, why does the NSA have an idea who is sending money to who?

You are right in that the Bitcoin blockchain is a public ledger that records that Wallet A sent X BTC to Wallet B. And if the feds can prove that you control Wallet A and a drug dealer controls Wallet B, you're in trouble. So the anonymity aspect of Bitcoin is often overstated in the normie consciousness.

There are other cryptocurrencies, most notably Monero, which have mechanisms for anonymizing transactions such that if you have access to Wallet B, you can see that Wallet A sent you XMR (the Monero currency), but it's very difficult for other people to trace that transaction through the public blockchain. I won't pretend to understand how it does that, but if you go to most "dark web" stores currently, you'll see most transactions happening in XMR instead of BTC.

Anyway, it's important to note that an exchange is not necessary to make a transaction from Wallet A to Wallet B. You can host your own wallets on a computer or even a cell phone. If neither Wallet A nor Wallet B are hosted at a glow-in-the-dark exchange, then the glowies won't know who is doing that transaction (unless they already know who controls those wallets somehow). This is why smarter "dark web" buyers and sellers will just use exchanges to do the initial USD-to-crypto conversion and the final crypto-to-USD conversion and use non-exchange wallets in between.

 

[Sam Losco]

Oh you mean crowdfunding with those things so insanely overregulated in the US that most simply refuse to do business with American citizens at all because of the anti-money laundering requirements of the US Patriot Act? Can you guess why that wouldn't work?

Repeal the Patriot Act. I'll repeat it until I'm blue in the fucking face. None of these clever fucking ideas work because of the Patriot Act.

Want crowdfunding for everyone? Repeal the Patriot Act
Want fair exchange of crypto currencies? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want every American and American business to have a payment processor? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want to stop the NSA from spying on everyone? Repeal the Patriot Act.
Want banks to act like banks and not overbearing mothers? Repeal the Patriot Act.

Repeal the Patriot Act, Repeal the Patriot Act.

When you talk to poltiical candidates you should be asking them "What are your plans to repeal the anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act?"

At this point even if you repeal it, things will continue as is. They now know it's a great way to shut down wrong think. You'd have to repeal it and then pass legislation mandating payment processors to do business with anyone regardless of political ideology. But that would be hard to pass because all the morons would be screaming about Nazi's and white supremacists.

 

[An Ghost]

I can travel to another country and spend hundreds or buy thousands in electronics online and my bank doesnt blink. I try to buy $10 in crypto and they block it at every turn.

At this point even if you repeal it, things will continue as is. They now know it's a great way to shut down wrong think. You'd have to repeal it and then pass legislation mandating payment processors to do business with anyone regardless of political ideology. But that would be hard to pass because all the morons would be screaming about Nazi's and white supremacists.

Just find a couple antifa who have been banned after being labeled "terrorists" or trannys kicked off paypal for using their tranny name instead of their dead name.