OpnState, a pseudonymous civil servant and former corporate banker, joins Shawn to expose the hidden mechanisms of global financial standards and their impact on trust and sovereignty. From his role drafting anti-money laundering (AML) legislation, OpnState reveals how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) enforces KYC and AML rules, centralizing power and eroding individual rights. He discusses the challenges of reforming a surveillance-heavy system, the power of citizen action through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and the hope offered by cypherpunk innovations like Bitcoin. Recorded June 16, 2025, amid growing global tensions, this episode examines why transparency matters, what’s at stake in 2025, and how individuals can reclaim agency in a trust-minimized future.
Background
OpnState is a pseudonymous policy and legislation advisor in a jurisdiction with a major financial sector. Formerly a corporate banker managing million-dollar accounts, he grew disillusioned with a financial system rigged to enrich elites. Now, as a civil servant, he’s drafted over a dozen pieces of AML legislation, giving him an insider’s view of the FATF’s global standards. Through podcasts and posts on Nostr, OpnState critiques centralized control while advocating for transparency and decentralized governance. His pseudonym allows him to speak freely about the erosion of sovereignty and the need for citizen engagements.
Highlights

• FATF’s Global Control: The Financial Action Task Force sets AML and KYC standards, pressuring countries into compliance through mutual evaluations and gray-listing, undermining national sovereignty.
• Erosion of Rights: AML/KYC rules bypass due process, enabling extrajudicial asset freezes and surveillance, a slow erosion of ancestral rights like property and privacy.
• Misaligned Incentives: Civil servants prioritize private-sector prospects and perks over public good, necessitating new incentives like GDP-linked bonuses.
• Bitcoin’s Disruption: Cypherpunk innovations like Bitcoin challenge centralized finance, though integration into traditional systems risks co-option by FATF’s focus on “unhosted wallets.”
• Citizen Power: FOI requests and policy consultation participation can hold governments accountable, with transparency as the key to curbing criminal activity.
• Decentralized Governance: OpnState’s paper on decentralized regulatory frameworks, inspired by game theory, and Taiwan’s POLIS platform offer paths to transparent governance.

Quotes to Remember

• “The government knows everything about you, and you know so little about them. That’s not democracy—that’s a high probability of tyranny.” — OpnState
• “Transparency kills all criminal activity. Cockroaches love to hide from the light.” — OpnState
• “Send an FOI request. It’s free, it’s easy, and it scares the bejesus out of civil servants.” — OpnState
• “Bitcoin negates the old system by creating something better, not by reforming from within.” — OpnState
• “The incentives are all wrong. Civil servants chase private-sector deals, not citizen prosperity.” — OpnState

Resources & Links

• OpnState’s on nostr: Follow his insights on global financial standards and sovereignty.
• OpnState's "inside the government" thread: chronicling his day-to-day observations as a government regulatory policy analyst.
• A Decentralized Regulatory Framework: a primer describing a free-market, non-territorial, open regulatory system for financial services.
• vTaiwan and POLIS: Explore Taiwan’s transparent governance platform, led by former Minister Audrey Tang.

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Music in this episode by More Ghost Than Man.