All financial institutions are surveilled and regulated. There's a reason Patio 11 describe the industry as an "arm of the government".

But furthermore, his argument is not about surveillance (which he accepts when he describes the central bank as the regulator) but about the competition.

It's the very idea of something being provided as a public good that is considered "anormal" and "anti-competitive" here.

It's an issue of "this could happen to us".

>A Microsoft spokesperson said that it had been in contact with the court since February “throughout the process that resulted in the disconnection of its sanctioned official from Microsoft services.” The spokesperson added that “at no point did Microsoft cease or suspend its services to the ICC.”

Well, they've had oil for the past 60 years. They have experience.

The default (as in « the original setup ») is what i’ve described.

>Yes, imports of goods are subject to VAT, with taxation taking place when the goods clear through customs.

However, some countries have a withholding tax for services provided by foreign companies. The client is responsible for withholding the amount from any payment and paying the government. And banks play a role in the enforcement if needed.

So it can be done !

There are items that generate a non-deductible input tax in VAT countries (often entertainment items or cars). But usually, those will be the exception and deductible would be the default.

As a business you pay VAT when you purchase. And you collect VAT when you sell. Then you pay to the government the difference between collected VAT and paid VAT. That's what the "Value Added" part means.

VAT countries apply VAT on all domestic transactions (and that includes imports). VAT countries do not apply VAT on exports because they _rightly_ assume that the importing country will apply VAT or whatever sale tax equivalent is in place in their territory.

This is not a distortion. There's really no other way to make it work.

Excel allows managers/staff to iterate/change/adapt faster and independently while changing anything about an automated system requires much effort (in communication, in validation, in budget)

The concept of Politically Exposed Person has nothing to do with views in US politics.

It’s really about foreign officials and their families. And, in spirit, it’s really about officials from countries with high corruption risks.

And Andreessen knows it. That’s the bullshit.

And you're absolutely certain that powerful and vocal crypto people won't claim that this special pricing is discrimination as they're doing now with debunking ?

Because you don’t believe an EU bank can terminate an account because they’re worried it may trigger an AML/CTF regulation or similar without bothering to really check if it does.

*edit : AML/CTF and similar rules have to be exceptions to basic banking rights.

Does that apply to US citizens (legally residing in the EU) that routinely get denied bank accounts because the bank don’t want to deal with the IRS ?

May be he probably could bank with LaPoste.

Beyond that, I wonder if you really believe that the EU has no Anti-Money Laudering / Counter Finance Terrorism laws.