E10 - Defending Privacy - Coin Center's Advocacy to US Regulators and Lawmakers

Have you ever wondered what the attitudes of lawmakers and regulators are towards privacy issues with Bitcoin and privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero? This past week, I traveled to Coin Center in Washington, DC to talk with Jerry Brito (Coin Center's Executive Director) and Peter Van Valkenburgh (Research Director) about the regulatory environment and congressional attitudes towards privacy-centric projects in the space.   In this episode, we talk about recent headlines including the Coinbase/IRS John Doe summons case and the Uniform Law Commission's recent cryptocurrency model state law work. Then we talk about financial surveillance law and how privacy projects fit within the regulatory environment in the United States, the importance of distinguishing between open and closed blockchains, and how the Monero community might be able to get involved in Coin Center's advocacy.   Whether you're an American wondering about your rights or about the legal issues with cryptocurrencies or are from another country and simply interested in gaining an insight into American attitudes towards these projects, this episode offers over an hour of in depth and thoughtful information.   If you're interested in reading more about Jerry and Peter's work, check out CoinCenter.org. There you can find the Open Matters paper we discussed in the episode and much more.   Music featured in the show is "The Grind" by Justin Maher and used under a Creative Commons License. https://musopen.org/music/1652/justin-mahar/the-grind/    Interested in trying out cloud computing? Visit https://moneromonitor.com/do for info on how to get $10 towards your first compute node at DigitalOcean (where we host our site!).   Enjoy the show? Please consider donating: 47SMPWHYcn5AfKzYF3c6cX94dCNcijKfdMgkCBTEmMtG4q9u9GdN7YdAmP777hfkmg52xntkDyxwh3nKcdGa2eApFAe5oZx