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Right, and that's the point. If an open source project can't receive an anonymous donation without a "compliance nightmare", then what does that say about the l

Right, and that's the point. If an open source project can't receive an anonymous donation without a "compliance nightmare", then what does that say about the laws and regulations which created that nightmare in the first place? Keep in mind that there is, as of right now, no evidence that this cash was "laundered" or in any way associated with any nefarious activity. It's merely anonymous.

acdha 4y ago
> If an open source project can't receive an anonymous donation without a "compliance nightmare", then what does that say about the laws and regulations which created that nightmare in the first place? This makes it sound like this happened in a vacuum, but those laws and regulations are in response to real world events and you have to consider that when talking about whether laws are unreasonable. For example, many people would have ethical objections to accepting a donation from an unknown source (what if the money was generated from some activity I object to?), don't want to deal with potential hassle if the source does something to trigger legal attention, or the risk of a non-zero chance of some unsavory sorts showing up and “suggesting” that you give them some fraction of it as clean cash, etc. Allowing anonymous transactions means that the latter two kinds of events will happen on an somewhat regular basis, which is why most people accept laws requiring financial institutions to know their customers' identities as a necessary cost. If you say magic internet money is exempted from those requirements, well, there are going to be a whole bunch of surprisingly well-funded open source projects in Mexico paying salaries which make FAANG employees weep with envy.
pavlov 4y ago
Who can receive $400k today from an unknown source without any questions asked? Nobody — not an ordinary person, not a small business, not a foundation. What exactly makes an open source project so special that it should be exempt from the regulations that apply to everyone else? And if that were the case, what would prevent an open source project from being just a smokescreen for something else? Obscure API implementations paying pseudonymous developers for PRs with anonymous donation money seems like a fine kind of laundering operation.
- Ajedi32 4y ago
  > Obscure API implementations paying pseudonymous developers for PRs with anonymous donation money seems like a fine kind of laundering operation. If that happens then you investigate, find out if it is a money laundering scheme, and bring a criminal prosecution if it is. You don't just assume they're guilty because the transaction was anonymous, or ban privacy tools and conduct mass surveillance on every transaction to make sure none of them are suspicious. It's kinda wild how many people on HN suddenly become anti decentralization and pro mass surveillance whenever the topic of cryptocurrency comes up.

acdha 4y ago

> If an open source project can't receive an anonymous donation without a "compliance nightmare", then what does that say about the laws and regulations which created that nightmare in the first place? This makes it sound like this happened in a vacuum, but those laws and regulations are in response to real world events and you have to consider that when talking about whether laws are unreasonable. For example, many people would have ethical objections to accepting a donation from an unknown source (what if the money was generated from some activity I object to?), don't want to deal with potential hassle if the source does something to trigger legal attention, or the risk of a non-zero chance of some unsavory sorts showing up and “suggesting” that you give them some fraction of it as clean cash, etc. Allowing anonymous transactions means that the latter two kinds of events will happen on an somewhat regular basis, which is why most people accept laws requiring financial institutions to know their customers' identities as a necessary cost. If you say magic internet money is exempted from those requirements, well, there are going to be a whole bunch of surprisingly well-funded open source projects in Mexico paying salaries which make FAANG employees weep with envy.

pavlov 4y ago

Who can receive $400k today from an unknown source without any questions asked? Nobody — not an ordinary person, not a small business, not a foundation. What exactly makes an open source project so special that it should be exempt from the regulations that apply to everyone else? And if that were the case, what would prevent an open source project from being just a smokescreen for something else? Obscure API implementations paying pseudonymous developers for PRs with anonymous donation money seems like a fine kind of laundering operation.

Ajedi32 4y ago
> Obscure API implementations paying pseudonymous developers for PRs with anonymous donation money seems like a fine kind of laundering operation. If that happens then you investigate, find out if it is a money laundering scheme, and bring a criminal prosecution if it is. You don't just assume they're guilty because the transaction was anonymous, or ban privacy tools and conduct mass surveillance on every transaction to make sure none of them are suspicious. It's kinda wild how many people on HN suddenly become anti decentralization and pro mass surveillance whenever the topic of cryptocurrency comes up.