Friday Finance 4/7/2023: Lockdown

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It seems like just the other day we were dealing with the lockdowns from the pandemic. Whether you feel they were necessary or not, these physical restrictions put the brakes on a lot of peoples plans and did lasting damage to small and large businesses of which we are still seeing the effects.

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It is time again for another Finance Friday/Friday Finance. This is a series I started where I talk about random bits of financial stuff that I have seen, gathered, or experienced during the week. I hope as a reader you find it informational, entertaining, or both. I also hope it can generate some good discussion and edify the Leo community.

In a similar fashion, those same lockdowns are now being imposed on our finances to keep many of us in the United States from entering or exiting crypto. I've received no less than five emails in the past couple of weeks from various exchanges letting me know that they are ceasing operations in the US and I should get my funds off their platform sooner rather than later.

Bittrex

I know I am a bit behind the curve on this one, but Bittrex is one of those exchanges I have used in the past that sent me an email. This one hurts a little more than the others because for people in the US it was one of the only ways for us to buy Hive.

Of course we all know the Hive wallet was usually "undergoing maintenance" on Bittrex and actually moving your Hive out of Bittrex after you bought it was always a crap shoot. Despite all of that, it was still one of the easiest ways to pick up some Hive short of writing a blog post.

I'm pretty disappointed in this. I was half joking the other day when I said that this is going to lead many of us to making back alley deals with people we don't know just to buy a BTC or two.

Choke Point 2.0

Someone mentioned a while ago in the comments on one of my posts that they don't really subscribe to many conspiracy theories. I'd have to say that I am kind of the same way. While there are a handful that I do think are plausible, I like to believe the more optimistic side of life.

That being said, the evidence for operation choke point 2.0 definitely seems to be building up. Squeeze things just enough so that these centralized exchanges stop servicing users in the US. Then drop the legislation they have been talking about which bans the use of VPN's and you have effectively limited all access to crypto.

It makes you wonder what might happen to all of those BTC ATM's that have been popping up all over the country lately. Are we going to see fines on the owners of those companies? Fines for the people who have them in their establishment?

Let's say they do allow them to continue to operate... At that point it is going to be come more important than ever for there to be an easy (decentralized) way to swap from BTC to Hive.

I've never really messed around with swap.BTC too much but I am guessing there isn't a ton of liquidity in that swap.HIVE/swap.BTC pool. Maybe I am wrong. Please correct me if that is the case.

Project Blank

If you have been reading my posts this week you know that I have been on the road, so again, I am a bit behind on the news that Project Blank has officially launched. Of course we have been using Blank/Threads for a while now, but the fact "wen" is now official is pretty cool.

I also have to take this chance to admit I was wrong. Last time I was talking about Threads I was adamant that there needed to be a mobile app for it. After watching one of the @leofinance AMA's, @khaleelkazi made a really good point about how restrictive the Apple and Google Play Store's can be. Having a mobile browser native site that is responsive and works really really well will ensure that they don't have to jump through all those hoops or worry about the app getting de-listed.

I totally get it now and I can see how that is a much better plan than having a mobile app. I'd still like to see a way one day to be able to log into your account with your Apple ID or Google ID, but maybe that is down the road.

Finally, I've seen some people talking lately about how Thread's is mostly just people reposting/sharing a link to their main blog post. Personally I do this myself because the initiative developed by the folks at @ocdb with #posh and #gosh is just too good to pass up.

I think it should be taken into account that some people aren't seeing it that way. Of course you can never please anyone, and I don't want OCDB to stop doing what they are doing, but maybe change the optics on that?

Perhaps as Project Blank grows those threads won't be as prevalent. Maybe it is just something that requires some time and more users to even itself out.


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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced

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18 comments
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I haven't traded on Bittrex in a while. I'm in NY and they kicked us out a long time ago. Are they closing US operations or did they just de-list HIVE?

It's looking like Chokepoint is real. The government is weaponizing all departments against its people. We're seeing it with the Trump case (FBI DOJ and NY and Georgia), and we're seeing it with the use of CFTC and SEC against the crypto community. Now they've weaponized the IRS claiming they're only going after rich people but I'll lay money they'll be coming after the middle-class and crypto folks as well. I'd be shocked if we don't see any crypto tax cases in the near future.

This was also why I was against regulation from the start. These people only serve their own interests. They rarely treat people fairly and their approach to regulation is always heavy-handed.

We also have corporate fascism growing in this country. Anything the government can't do they'll get corporations to enforce for them. It's become a loophole that many seem to embrace.

Conspiracy theories are conspiracy facts now! We have big problems, and they're not going away anytime soon!

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Trump made his own bed. I am not buying that he is a victim in any way shape or form on that one. As for the other stuff I would tend to agree with you. I was really hoping some of these crypto firms could get the lobby working for them to counteract some of this BS, but that just hasn't been the case. Yeah Bittrex is shuttering all US operations.

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Agree with Trump making his own bed. The guys a bafoon but they handling it shady.

I can't believe Bittrex is closing US ops. I wonder how many other companies will leave the US. That's really shameful, they were such a great exchange back in the day. I really missed trading there.

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We are going to have very limited options. It will be BTC which they know they can't touch and then DEXs to move out of that... Just to be clear I was all for biden getting in trouble for the docs too. If he did the same thing he should be just as accountable.

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So I guess I can start offering "back alley deals" for HIVE users in the US..... well that is good because BRAVE shut down my creator account but I am on Bittrex and Binance so swapping Hive should be my next niche! !LOLZ

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For sure! We will have to meet up! My buddy and I were at the bar tonight and he was saying he is interested in buying some more. I told him he better hurry before it gets really hard...

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With Bittrex and Binance gone, what is the best way to get Hive? While I can use them here in Japan, my Japanese banks report all activity to the US as a result of a new US law a few years ago. The Japanese banks are required to get my SSN and report everything and all the works. So I skip that and just do my crypto business with my US bank account. Right now I buy doge with Uphold and then transfer that to Hive-Engine and trade it for swap.hive there. But how long will I still have that option, I wonder...

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Getting BTC on Coinbase is going to be my go to option. Then I can use mandala or swap.BTC on the secondary level if liquidity is there.

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Hopefully I can keep getting bitcoin off Coinbase! I don’t like signing up for all those other exchanges anyway lol but it is definitely screwing and stifling business and innovation.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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Yeah, as long as I can still buy BTC I am good. Just have to find different ways to move it into something else.

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I still think an app needs to happen even if it's annoying or restrictive. Otherwise, I have a feeling that a lot of people won't visit the site. Most people won't go through the hurdle.

Posted Using LeoFinance Beta

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I can see that, but maybe it will be a different group that does that. Then once people are on the web stuff is easier. I think khal has some good reasons. He explained them well.

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