Financial Anonymity and Privacy with DMT? 31
Posted
by
Cliff
from the this-might-have-made-a-better-YRO dept.
from the this-might-have-made-a-better-YRO dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I'll have to quote a fellow cypherpunk to give my question the correct framing:
'...this is a time when the world needs these services more than ever. In crises there is a tendency for repressive governments to crack down on communications and free access to information. Lately the fear of terrorism has eroded many rights we took for granted. One of those rights, financial privacy and anonymity is disappearing fast, as the US takes steps to stop the movement of terrorist funds. There is a system out there that might help slow the erosion of rights: DMT. Might it be a solution to the erosion of financial privacy and anonymity?"
"DMT was launched a few years back:
Since then there has been very little public discussion about its security, anonymity, and use.'The Digital Monetary Trust is a computer system and mechanism that gives users the ability to hold assets anonymously, along with the ability to anonymously transfer these assets to other parties. You can think of a DMT customer account as an anonymously-held checking account (in which the customer is anonymous both to the bank and to other people), but one which allows the customer to write checks to third parties (and these third parties will also be anonymous to the bank and the outside world; in fact, you can even arrange for the receiver of your check to be anonymous to you also).'
Has anyone used this system, or know of organizations that do? What magnitude of money flows in and out, and are there enough users to afford decent anonymity?"
Swiss Banks - not anymore (Score:3, Interesting)
Last I heard the swiss have started bowing to pressure and reporting to your government what you have. I suppose a lot of money could still buy them off, but for most of us swiss banks no longer shield your money from your governement.
There are a few countries that do still shield your money, but they are not as stable as the Swiss. Half of what the swiss give you is a bank that as been around for a few hundred years and plans to remain open for a few hundred more. (they do however go out of buissness once in a while, I'm not sure what protection you have)
Re:The Ultimate Private Monetary System (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Contridiction (Score:2, Interesting)
No govt needs to *allow* DMT to exist. It is a decentralized system that exists outside of any one nation. It has banking ties to many, as money needs to be transfered in and out. These ties aren't counted on for anonymity, as they are part of the traditional SWIFT system, which is watched like a hawk. Anonymity comes from transactions inside the system.
Since DMT hasn't been shut down in the US, I'm assuming the US tolerates it. No country has, to my knowledge, outlawed DMT.
Re:The Ultimate Private Monetary System (Score:1, Interesting)
I used to work at a bank, if anyone withdraws more than 10K we had to file IRS/DOJ paperwork about them
If they withdrew less, 8000-9000 but on a regular schedule we had to report them too.
It is also a crime to move large amounts of cash out of the US.
Try buying a car, business, or anything large with cash. You are going to get annoying amounts of attention
Oh, and swiss bank accounts don't like to work with cash. They will keep your information reasonably anonymous, but can release it if the US leans on them