"If it's not possible now, it'll never be possible," Musk said of his proposal to simply ignore all federal regulation as a baseline.

He’s just going to get people killed. But that’s ok he doesn’t give a shit anyways, so it’s moot. What are a few thousand dead peasants when we could make big stock number go up?

  • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
    63·
    1 day ago

    I feel like I’m a crazy person, but I’m starting to believe the conspiracy of tech billionaires trying to dismantle the government to create network states. I’m almost certain they will gut the SEC eventually as well, so they can deregulate cryptocurrency. This was a summary I’ve recently read: Day One of Venture Capital Takeover.

    Everyone should google Network States and the cities these VC billionaires are trying to create. Stuff like Próspera, Pronomos Capital, Praxis Nation, Bitcoin City in El Salvador, Afropolitan in Africa etc. etc. The same website has long page on it: The Status of the Network State. They are essentially creating sovereign states or cities that aren’t beholden to any local government laws and use their own deregulated cryptocurrencies, so that they can control all the rules and power within.

    I have no idea how trustworthy the site I linked is, but I can’t see what they would gain from lying about it

    • model_tar_gz@lemmy.world
      1·
      21 seconds ago

      For a fee and a background check, one can become a citizen of Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong, Inc., which operates as a sovereign entity within the various territories around the globe in which it has franchises.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
      48·
      24 hours ago

      I’ve been around the internet for a long time.

      I’ve seen the horrors rotten.com offered.

      I’ve watched American prisoners being beheaded.

      I’ve seen American soldiers being raped.

      I’ve watched the hanging of Saddam.

      I’ve seen people jumping out of the trade towers.

      I’ve seen…I’ve seen some truly horrific – terrible shit in my lifetime. shit that’s made my stomach churn and realize what kind of evil exists in this world.

      but this…today…is just too much for me.

      I think I’m going to go lay down for a few days…

      • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
        26·
        23 hours ago

        Both Peter Thiel and Musk are incredibly dangerous to America’s democracy. Here’s another choice quote from the site:

        Peter Thiel has held “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible” for many years. In 2022, he ripped up $100 dollar bills on stage at the Bitcoin Conference, stating “Bitcoin is the most honest market in the world. It’s the most efficient market… It is telling us that the central banks are bankrupt, that we are at the end of the fiat money regime.” In a 2024 podcast, he stated “Liberalism is exhausted, one suspects that democracy, whatever that means, is exhausted, and that we have to ask some questions very far outside the Overton window." PayPal was originally founded to replace the US dollar. Peter Thiel stated in his book, Zero to One: “PayPal had a suitably grand mission — the kind that post-bubble skeptics would later describe as grandiose. We wanted to create a new internet currency to replace the US dollar.” PayPal’s “co-founder” was Elon Musk, showing both parties aimed to replace the US dollar from a very early date in their careers. Marc Andreessen has also been instrumental in financing the rise of Bitcoin.

        Let’s not forget about JD Vance, the current Vice President, who after a talk Thiel did at Yale Law School, described it as “the most significant moment of my time” at the institution. He later went on to be mentored by Thiel and joined one of his VC companies. He also received about $15 million dollars in donation from Thiel for his Senate campaign in 2022 which was ultimately successful. This was the largest amount donated to a single Senate candidate ever. Forbes published a good timeline of Thiel and Vance’s relationship last year.

      • eagleeyedtiger@lemmy.nzEnglish
        11·
        22 hours ago

        That’s hopeful to hear, but just reading the article, two things stand out:

        The reform eliminated the word “currency” when referring to bitcoin, but says it is “legal tender.” Despite the lack of clarity, it lifts, as required by the IMF, the obligation to accept it in transactions or debt payments, a key condition for it to be “legal tender,” according to economic analysts. With the change, “if someone owes you money and wants to pay you in bitcoin, you can refuse to be paid in bitcoin, but you cannot refuse if it’s legal tender,” economist Carlos Acevedo explained.

        The government, she assured, will continue buying bitcoin and having reserves in this cryptocurrency. According to the National Bitcoin Office, El Salvador has 6,050 bitcoins worth $634.8 million. “President Bukele continues buying bitcoin, we have a Bitcoin Office, we have the Bitcoin Law, bitcoin can be used in El Salvador. It hasn’t been an easy road,” Mayorga summarized.

        They are just removing it as “legal tender” to meet the conditions for an IMF loan and will continue investing in bitcoin.