Bitcoin is under coordinated attack. Not from hackers, but from states and its own institutions.
Paraguay now demands reporting on all crypto transactions over $5,000 - even between personal wallets. South Korea is building AI tax trackers. The U.S. DOJ pursues Roman Storm for writing open-source code. These moves signal a global shift: financial privacy is being recast as a crime.
Yet the bigger threat may be internal. Coinbase lobbyists are accused of pushing tax exemptions for stablecoins while sidelining Bitcoin payments. The logic is inverted - stablecoins, pegged to dollars, have negligible gains, making the exemption redundant. Bitcoin, treated as property, remains taxed on every small transaction.
The schism is ideological. Block’s Miles Suter says if Bitcoin becomes just digital gold, the mission fails. Lightning processed $1.17 billion in November 2025. Real usage exists, but D.C. ignores it, favoring a financialized crypto vision centered on speculation.
Layer 2s like ARK introduce new risks. Users need both private keys and a map to their funds to exit - a 'half-key problem' undermining self-custody. VPAC is building independent verification tools, but the complexity reveals a tension: innovation versus sovereignty.
Bitcoin’s value isn’t just in price. It’s in its ability to resist both state control and corporate capture. The current moment tests whether it can survive both.
David Bennett, Bitcoin And:
- I had no idea that Paraguay was this authoritarian.
- That list covers everything.
