The Birth of the Network

Born in 2011 through the Bitcoin blockchain, decentralized finance immediately positioned itself as a system made for everyone, free, above existing laws and institutions. Logically, the first to grasp the technology’s potential were those on the margins…

The Silk Road

Like @Dread Pirate Roberts (presumably Ross William Ulbricht) who was one of the first to adopt Bitcoin, in a context of maximally liberalized exchange. A borderless and limitless marketplace, completely anonymous: ‘The Silk Road’. Anonymity was maintained through the use of $BTC with an escrow (an arrangement with the platform to let it manage your funds to avoid transaction tracing). The Silk Road adventure would end for the first time in 2013 with the founder’s arrest at Glen Park Library in San Francisco. The platform’s creator was convicted, but history was forever marked, as no less than 1.2 billion dollars were generated in just two years.

Thus, crypto-assets suffered from a criminal world connotation. But it’s important to recontextualize - these two years were the very first of the Bitcoin network, and it’s logical that even the FBI considerably struggled to trace a user. The arrival of the first popular block explorer (blockchain.info) wouldn’t occur until 2014.

Moreover, people weren’t as trained as they are today. Let’s look at the most well-known “on-chain detective”.

Tracking Down Scammers

In recent years, particularly with the bull run and the arrival of numerous dubious projects, internet detectives have emerged. Like @zachXBT, they relentlessly track stolen project funds. Their involvement and motivation to traverse the blockchain to recover stolen sums and identify those responsible (cf a recent case from a few days ago involving the theft of $60M) proves that this technology’s transparency facilitates criminal investigations.

Trace of funds linked to the Anubis hack, conducted by zachXBT

It’s important to note that many do this out of personal conviction for the cause (like founders who coded open-source blockchains without thinking about money), and the community knows how to help each other. This again concerns zachXBT. Following the exposure of an unprecedented case, he was sued by a firm, and it was impossible for him to finance legal fees to fight against the company’s dozen lawyers. That’s when a huge portion of crypto users mobilized to send him funds (without him asking), and he thus received nearly $1 million in a few days.

It’s easy to preach to my own choir, but I’d also like to expose the vices of the current banking system. No, I won’t talk about the average citizen’s lifetime debt, nor about the relationship between possible returns and inflation created by these same banks. Let’s stay in the realm of criminality.

A Two-Speed System

Under the pretext of protecting us from criminals, keeping an opaque banking system hinders the average citizen’s financial freedom to dispose of their money freely. Economic lobbies have fueled this idea by highlighting the complexity and danger of managing one’s own finances, insisting on the importance of trusting banks to ensure the security of our assets.

However, this alleged security has also created an environment conducive to concealing large-scale corruption and illegal practices. The lack of transparency in the banking system facilitates clandestine financial transactions and illegal activities of corrupt individuals, who can thus hide their illicit gains without worry.

The Qatar Gate

While the people are subject to restrictions, the elite profit. Like the Qatar Gate (late 2022) where several European Parliament deputies were arrested for corruption, found in possession of bags containing 600,000 euros in cash. Among the criminals at the top of public service, we find vice-president Eva Kaili, socialist vice-president of parliament, her husband Francesco Giorgi, quite ironically, is one of the main leaders of the NGO Fight impunity. We can also mention the president of the NGO No Peace Without Justice in Brussels, Niccolò Figà-Talamanca, to push the joke further.

Pressure on Small Consumers

In a period where banks prohibit “large” cash withdrawals, where a spending limit of 1,000 euros per day is installed in France, where bank accounts are closed for withdrawals of 6,000 euros. The elite, they enrich themselves at our expense. With bags of bills and transfers to offshore accounts.

Conclusion

It’s important to realize the pressure put by banking institutions on the masses to strengthen their control of global finances. Always exercise critical thinking and avoid categorizing a sector for its past, or eating from another’s hand without questioning it. There is always a dark and light side to every system - it’s up to you to choose your direction.

PS: I attach blockchain here to the popular use made of it through Ethereum and its decentralized applications, but it’s necessary to note that other alternative currencies focused on privacy and complete anonymity have emerged, like Monero.