Andrea Togni

Alex Pertsev, a developer of Tornado Cash, has been sentenced to prison by a Dutch court for helping build a platform that guarantees financial privacy. If there is one thing the state cannot tolerate, it is someone making financial transactions without government agents watching.

Federal prosecutors and other law enforcement agents are turning blockchain firms into government subsidiaries. The real goal is to criminalize what really are lawful, private exchanges.

The East German secret police, the Stasi, developed the art of mass surveillance using pre-digital  methods. Modern tech now makes the job a lot easier.