I think it was expected by everyone, and it was just a question of time. The political landscape in the EU is extremely tilted against the values of a decentralized privacy-preserving currency. The real question is whether there are jail time or penalties for individuals using privacy coins, software developers or node operators, or whether this ban only applies to crypto exchanges and merchants.
Not only a privacy ban, but also a limit on how much merchants can receive in p2p payments:
Still, the parliament is pushing to limit the amount merchants are allowed to accept from self-hosted wallets without involving a licensed crypto firm at €1,000. A breach would result in penalties.
If Elon hurries up with his mars plan then at least maybe there will be another planet available for those of us who arent okay with tyranny and totalitarianism …
In both regulations, purely decentralised protocols are left out
The regulations are aimed at entities rather than individuals using protocols. Hopefully Zcash can cultivate relationships with businesses who are willing to hold the line on regulatory compliance.
For Free2Z, p2p transfers that don’t involve the company are not affected. But, we also plan to pay people in Zcash - from the US corporation to the individuals/businesses. This is in scope of these regulations. We will have standard (or better) sanctions screening and AML processes and mandatory reporting for tax authorities. We are prepared to stand firm that these payments will be legal and compliant for MiCA and AMLR. Why? Because we are going to be 100% certain that there is no money laundering going on - by the design of the system and the processes in place. Free2Z is a unique case though to say the least. I’ve been on this forum almost 8 years and I held steady through the sandblasting and now the all-time lows. For most businesses, I think they could comply, regardless of the final wording. Free2Z will continue down this path. BUT, most, if not all businesses will have no such conviction to push through the hassle to support privacy coins. So, the danger to privacy coins I believe will be more subtle than an outright ban. But, if the compliance burden is high enough, most if not all businesses (except maybe Free2Z) will not find the value proposition attractive enough to put up with the hassle of dealing with privacy coins. So, perhaps “in effect” an outright ban (for businesses).
Tbh you should probably just scrap the free2z pet project and build a Zcash focused dex (something the community needs). You can take a fee off of each transaction vs. whatever digital busking is required to sustain ops on your current platform.
