Stephen

#Bitcoin

[The Wolf Of All Streets @scottmelker]

This is the post of the year.

[Everett Stern @EverettStern1]

Dear Secretary Bessent @SecScottBessent,

My name is Everett Stern. In 2010 I was a compliance officer at @HSBC. From a back office in New Castle, Delaware, I watched billions of dollars move to drug cartels, sanctioned regimes, and terrorist organizations. The enemies of the United States. I documented it, I escalated it, and when the bank would not act, I took it to the @FBI, the @CIA, and eventually the @SECGov.

The result was a $1.92 billion settlement. At the time, it was one of the largest in American history. It was also about five weeks of the bank’s profit. Not one banker was charged. Not one went to prison.

I paid a different price. I lost my career, my savings, and my place in the industry I had trained for. I was blacklisted. Every door in American finance closed at once. I slept on a camping cot in a 300 square foot apartment because I could not afford a bed, and I waited tables at @PFChangs to eat. I tell you this not for sympathy, but so you understand that I know exactly what it costs to do the right thing in American finance, and exactly how little the system does in return.

I made that sacrifice because I believed it would change something.

Yesterday, your department fined @BankofAmerica $1.2 billion for failing to report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions, some of it tied by your own findings to Chinese laundering networks, narcotics, and the southwest border, alongside 475 apparent sanctions violations touching Russia, Iran, and global terrorism. The bank admitted it willfully violated the Bank Secrecy Act.

Fourteen years after HSBC. A bank with “America” in its name. And once again, not one individual charged.

Secretary Bessent, I want to say plainly what I believe you already know. The fines are not working.

A fine is paid by shareholders, absorbed by the balance sheet, and forgotten by the next earnings call. Bank of America reported earnings this morning. Nobody who set the alert thresholds, nobody who decided the 2024 cease and desist could wait, nobody who chose the backlog over the law will lose a single thing they value. Their lives are untouched. That is the entire reason the behavior repeats.

This is money laundering. This is blood money. Money that reaches a cartel buys fentanyl that kills Americans. Money that reaches a terrorist organization buys the next attack. This country has fought a war on drugs and a war on terror for decades, at enormous cost in lives and treasure, and all the while we have allowed the financing to flow through institutions we charter and regulate. Cut off the money and we win. We have never seriously tried.

There is also a question of equal justice that I cannot let go.

Before I walked into the FBI building to report HSBC, I stopped in front of the Great Seal on the wall and read the words engraved beneath it: “Justice is the defense of our liberty.” I believed that. I still want to. But every day in this country, people go to prison for crimes that are nothing next to moving money for the people who want Americans dead. A suit, a title, and a corporate badge should not be a shield from the consequences that apply to everyone else. If a street dealer goes to prison for what he sells, the banker who moved the cartel’s money should be standing next to him.

I also want to raise something that is rarely said in these conversations. Why has no one inside Bank of America come forward the way I did? The answer is that everyone in American banking knows what happened to me, and to the whistleblowers who came after. The last person who spoke up is the only policy anyone believes. That is a culture problem, and it starts with leadership, in the banks and in the agencies that regulate them.

This is not a political issue. It has spanned administrations of both parties. It is a national security issue, and I am asking you to treat it as one.

Three things would change the math overnight.

Refer individuals for criminal prosecution. Not the analyst in the queue. The executives who set the thresholds and chose the risk. One banker in handcuffs would do more than every fine in Treasury’s history combined.

End “too big to jail.” An institution cannot be too big to fail and too big to jail at the same time. If it is the first, it must be held to a higher standard, not a lower one.

And if Bank of America will not act as America’s bank, review its charter. A national charter is a privilege granted on behalf of the American people. It should be conditioned on not moving money for the people trying to kill them.

Secretary Bessent, you said yesterday that these actions send a clear message that even the biggest institutions are not above the law. With respect, the institution was never the problem. The people inside it are above the law, and they know it. Until that changes, I will keep writing letters like this one, and the next bank will keep paying the next fine.

I gave up everything I had to stop this. I am asking you to use the power you have to finish it.

Respectfully,

Everett A. Stern
HSBC Whistleblower
Founder and Intelligence Director, Tactical Rabbit

[Kelly Clarkson @kellyclarkson]

Cool, cool. Sure, it wasn’t for sale. That’s the narrative Art of Play is gonna go with 👍 so the whole conversation we had when I asked you if it was for sale whilst pointing to the price tag hanging on the wall with the title Singing Bird didn’t happen as you elevator eyed me saying in a condescending tone “yes, it’s for sale but it costs 15,000 dollars so if you’d like me to find something comparable for you I can.” That all never happened and now it’s not for sale. Okay, cool. So you’re not only rude, you’re also a liar. Got it ✅
And by the way, I obviously support small businesses because I was literally at a small business trying to purchase things. I love small businesses and know they are important and I always support them, but you don’t get a free pass to treat people less than in your store just because you are a small business. It’s not that hard to be kind. I never blast people but you my friend were an exception.
Your store is really cool.
Unfortunately, you aren’t.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

Telling an eighty-year-old woman to "check the portal" for serious biopsy results is cruelty disguised as digital efficiency.

My 82-year-old aunt had a lung biopsy done two weeks ago.

The doctor told her they’d have the pathology report ready within five business days.

Friday afternoon rolled around. No call.
She dialed the clinic’s main desk, her voice shaking with anxiety.

The receptionist cut her off before she could finish explaining:

“Doctor doesn’t give results over the phone anymore. All lab findings are automatically released to your MyChart patient portal.”

My aunt said, “Sweetheart, I don’t have a computer. I have a landline on my kitchen wall. Can the doctor just tell me if I have cancer?”

The receptionist sighed into the receiver:
“It’s hospital network policy. We can’t bypass the portal. You’ll have to have a family member create an account and view the file.”

My aunt spent an entire seventy-two-hour weekend sitting in her recliner, gripping her reading glasses, convinced she was dying.

I drove out to her house on Monday morning, set up a profile on my laptop, and pulled up the records.

The result was benign.

The pathology report had been uploaded four days earlier.

A doctor spent three minutes clicking an upload button, and an elderly woman endured four days of sheer psychological terror because the hospital decided a phone call was too expensive.

Since when did delivering medical news become a self-service task?

[Stephen @sslore5]

@MrPitbull07 This is fucking stupid. Poor lady

[Stephen @sslore5]

@sqsehrish 52

[Reezy @ReezyResells]

🤬🤬😤My wife takes her 2023 RAV4 to the dealership for a recall service. This was for an airflow sensor

After finishing they come out and tell her that her horn isn’t functioning and that it would be $145 to diagnose the issue + labor and parts to repair

Mind you she knows for a fact that the horn worked this morning

The techs specifically said “we checked all the connections and so it’s not that”

I told her to decline and bring it home

Mind you this is so unlikely to be anything other than a fuse or the fact that they unplugged it and forgot to plug it back in or worse, straight up scamming

After testing the fuse and the relay, as well as the clock spring, I take the radiator cover off to inspect the plugs at the horn and what do you know both horns are unplugged

The airflow sensor is nowhere near these plugs so there’s zero chance these were taken off as part of the job not to mention they said they “checked the plugs”

It’s also impossible they both happen to vibrate loose

@Toyota I buy a brand new car from you and this is how you treat us??

This was at Toyota of Santa Cruz Stealership @SantaC_Toyota

[Stephen @sslore5]

@Mr_Derivatives My running shoes gotta be Nikes

[Stephen @sslore5]

@Rachelspeakout1 Stupid take

[Stephen @sslore5]

@usopen 🥺

[Watcher.Guru @WatcherGuru]

JUST IN: Michael Saylor's 'Strategy' Bitcoin investment is currently at a $4,930,000,000 unrealized gain.

$MSTR gains since the company began its BTC investment in 2020:

[Stephen @sslore5]

@CoachDanGo Hi Coach. How do you counteract increased cholesterol (protein)?

[Stephen @sslore5]

@cluelessghost 🙋#2

[Stephen @sslore5]

@AboutMusicYT @KarenBassLA @LAPDHQ

[Stephen @sslore5]

@JensenHuang you going to #MAMAMOO_2026_US_TOUR tonight? #Hwasa will be there

[Stephen @sslore5]

@Mr_Derivatives Boomies!!!!

[Stephen @sslore5]

@fundstrat ⬇️⬆️⬇️⬆️➡️⬇️⬆️➡️⬆️⬇️➡️

[Stephen @sslore5]

@ricaffeine @CaitlinClark22

[Stephen @sslore5]

@TayBot @bigbearscanner No

[Atlas Phoenix BTC @AtlasPhoenixBTC]

Re: Cold Card Hack

Hello fellow Bitcoiners,

It’s been nearly one week since my wallet was drained.

I lost my entire bitcoin stack, presumably the most in the entire attack - an amount I’m more than embarrassed and ashamed to even admit publicly. This was not only my life savings but my time, energy, hardcore conviction and identity after 13 years in this space.

I am posting pseudonymously as I’ve always preferred to stay out of the spotlight - and privacy (inspired by Satoshi) is something I value. I debated whether or not I should say anything at all, but after much deliberation I decided it may be beneficial for other victims who are struggling.

While this incident certainly forced upon me the darkest days of my life so far - I have now accepted it and will slowly put together my life again. I came from nothing and did everything right (except rolling the damn dice apparently 😅). I stayed away from trading, exchanges, shitcoins, ICOs, NFTs, false prophets, etc and quietly and consistently built up over the years through all the ups and downs - never spending frivolously on material goods but instead using bitcoin as my sense of freedom and security - with the hopes to pass it on to my future children.

Even though that peace, freedom and security is now gone - I am beyond grateful for the journey and life that bitcoin enabled me to have.

To all the other victims, as cliche as it is to say “it’s only money” - true wealth, as I’ve learned over and over again is in health, family, and friendships. I’d be lying if I told you I’m not afraid of the uncertainty ahead, but I know by taking one step at a time it will be possible to rebuild. Trust me if I can come to these realizations, you can too! The hardest challenges in life make us stronger and turn us into the best versions of ourselves - don’t give in to the hopelessness. By being in this community you are apart of something special that the majority of the world still hasn’t realized yet. It’s still early!

Thanks to all the wonderful people in the community I’ve been DMing over the past week - your kind words of support mean the world to me and helped me start to believe in myself again.

To the hacker: you still can do the right thing here and come clean - you have prompted a serious wake-up call that has brought the community together which will bring more resilience for the future. Doing the noble thing now will prevent a lifelong hunt.

To all the amazing bitcoiners who have jumped to action from the very beginning to support each other and mitigate further damage - it’s been a beautiful thing to watch.

To the @blocks team and especially @intangiblecoins, your efforts are inspiring and provide me with hope. Believe me when I say that IF I ever get my coins back you will all be taken care of very well, along with massive donations to the open source community.

For now I will withhold any judgement towards @nvk and the @Coinkite team - while I’m still processing this loss and dealing with the gravity of building my life up from the ruins - I have 0 anger or resentment. Bitcoin security is a tough job, mistakes are made, and lessons are learned by all. I made mistakes by trusting and not verifying as well as not having a more robust security solution so the responsibility must be shared, hindsight is 20/20 and even though it’s tough: I’m okay admitting that. Bitcoin humbles all.

Having said all that… I’M NOT FUCKING LEAVING!!! I will start building a new stack from the ground up like all the other plebs as my conviction in Bitcoin is even stronger today then when I got my first coins in 2013.

This was never about the money - it was always about the revolution, and that can’t be stopped. We will win.

Let’s keep our heads high.
The march continues.
It’s time to rebuild.

PS: Thanks for everything Satoshi ❤️

-M