Musk said DOGE was shutting down payments to Lutheran Family Services, a faith-based charity that has been providing social services to refugees.

Summary

Elon Musk claims his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is shutting down payments to federal contractors, including a Lutheran charity, asserting it is eliminating corruption.

This suggests DOGE has access to Treasury’s payment systems, though officials have not confirmed the extent.

Senator Ron Wyden warned that DOGE may interfere with Social Security, Medicare, and government contracts.

Musk also called USAID “a criminal organization” that should “die,” amid DOGE’s growing influence over federal financial operations.

  • CaptSneeze@lemmy.world
    42·
    12 hours ago

    I don’t really know anything about crypto, but I’ve heard for many years how criminals use it to ransom things. I’ve always thought the “bitcoin is anonymous like cash” angle never made sense, since the entire point of the blockchain is to record ALL of it, and eventually that paper trail is going to tie it to someone. (It sounds like I’m somewhat correct about that since you mention “wash[ing]” it.)

    I’ve never heard of monero. How does that work with the washing and whatnot? It’s a whole world I know nothing about, but find interesting.

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
      5·
      11 hours ago

      That’s a long conversation. Please allow me to share a YouTube video that gets to the crux of the issue first. And I can share technical docs afterwards.

      However you are 100% correct. Bitcoin is anything but anonymous. XMR/Monero is and has always been fully cryptographic, with the minor issue that if someone controls a node you connect your wallet to, there is metadata that will out you.

      I don’t agree with everything this guy says about politics or social issues but he’s correct on netsec issues.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QrHsFZBab4U

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nDBHhz00vjI

      As far as anonymizing your bitcoin you’ll need to do your own research. But here’s how not to do it.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7CD_Nl3iwhE

      If you’re gonna do that research do it on an updated tails distro as the previous release was compromised.

      https://tails.net/install/index.en.html

      • CaptSneeze@lemmy.world
        2·
        9 hours ago

        Thanks for the great reply! Super interesting stuff. I keep wanting to study up on all this crypto stuff since it seems like it’s not going anywhere at this point. Appreciate the links.

        • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
          1·
          9 hours ago

          Don’t spend more than 20 bucks to figure out how it all works if you want to tinker. It is not a safe store of wealth. The best usecase is for anonymous and secure transactions.