Hello everyone,

I'd like to know what your thoughts are on the future of Bitcoin (and blockchain in general), in light of the recent global push for age verification to access basic services on the internet.

At first, it may not seem obvious what the link is, but I'll explain my worry below.

As we know, governments worldwide have pushed for ID checks for accessing online platforms, such as social media, in the name of "protecting the children".

This is - most likely - not about protecting kids, but about laying the groundwork for increased surveillance of the general population; tying all activity online to a legal identity.

My fear is that this is only going to get worse.

It started with uploading your ID to access certain websites, but now there's been a push in a few places for OS-level age-verification, which really scares me.

Illinois, for example, passed a law that goes into effect in January 2028 that will require operating systems to ask for a user's age at installation. This is self-reported for the moment, but will no doubt devolve into ID checks soon enough.

Linux exists, and that's wonderful, but it wouldn't surprise me if, one day, only signed operating systems are able to be installed on all new PCs, and all other operating systems cannot connect to your router's Wi-Fi at all, as that would be gated as well.

In such a world, the government could - essentially - control what you are and aren't able to do on your computer (or, at least, what you can send over the internet). DPI could make VPNs, Tor and I2P more difficult to use (assuming you can even run them, under this dystopian scenario).

Therefore, if they decided to, couldn't they make it almost impossible for people to run nodes and mine?

The issue is, we rely on the internet, and the internet itself relies on the physical infrastructure of underground and undersea cables around the planet, which, ultimately, is at the mercy of the governments' control.

This isn't FUD; it's a genuine worry that's been bouncing around my head since all this verification crap began.

I'd be very curious to hear what you think.