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Liberation Travel Hacks 02/2025
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I had a one-hour call with my accountant when she informed me about the new taxes and obligations that await us as a Slovak company from 1.4.2025.
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At times, I felt like an abused child who, although he did nothing, his parents decided to make his punishments more severe. And since they are his parents, he has no choice but to accept the higher punishments and politely stay in the family.
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In my opinion, this is how most Slovak business owners (who remain in Slovakia) view the worsening state tyranny.
Shut up and keep up; we got "what we chose." And if you don't like it, you can leave (which I have long done for myself as an individual and will soon complete for my company).
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If you do not have experience with companies and businesses outside the EU, you may not find the current direction desperate and alarming.
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I have this experience, and I know it is much easier to do business elsewhere and with significantly less tax burden and bureaucracy.
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By paying taxes in Slovakia, you are not only heating tax hell, but you are directly financially supporting the state mafia, which not only steals massively but cannot even guarantee the functionality of essential state services.
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What is needed in Slovakia is not finally the "right" way to vote - the fourth government of Róbert Fico proves that voting is irrelevant because the majority, which hates entrepreneurs, always decides for you.
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Nor to organize demonstrations that lead nowhere - a manifestation of submissiveness when you want and demand something from the ruler.
Free people do not ask permission.
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What is needed in Slovakia is to stop being submissive and letting your head bounce. Voting or protesting in the squares is not working.
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Exodus a la "Atlas Shrugged" works. Or a tax protest - but most entrepreneurs don't have the balls.
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You need to leave - if not physically, then at least at the level of your companies - there are plenty of beautiful countries where you can set one up (and do business with them in the EU as well and avoid, for example, pointless transaction taxes).
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You can also move to parallel communities, stop using state inflationary money, stop being spied on and paying ransom on bank transfers, and switch to Bitcoin/stablecoins.
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My friends and I did it long ago and will soon finish it with my company.
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Arguing that, but I have family and connections here, and I don't want to go anywhere, is precisely the kind of submissive approach that gives the green light to a mafia and thug government and accepts the "status quo."
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Think, "Where is the line for you?" when will you stop accepting the new tax and bureaucratic tyranny from your government?
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What else needs to happen for you to leave the EU with your company or as an individual?
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If that boundary doesn't exist for you, then you have no respect for yourself or the products of your work. Because you are letting your master dictate at will and without your consent how much of it he can steal and under what conditions.
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Pavol Lupták, 3.2.2025, Cartagena, Colombia
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Slovakia
A complete cadastre hack is resonating through Slovakia. This is the biggest sloppiness and neglect of IT security you can imagine. But don't expect compensation (or less taxes) for the state's failure to protect real estate information and its failure to protect a key state system. And even if there is a fine for a GDPR violation, it will ultimately be paid by you - the taxpayer.
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In this hack, it is essential to remember that real estate ownership is ownership of a "fiat asset" fully controlled and regulated by the state. This means:
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- You don't own the property as you are legally obliged to pay property tax. If you don't, the state will ultimately seize the property.
- If you are in foreclosure as an individual, the state will seize all your property, including real estate.
- You have no control over what you can do with your property. For almost everything, you need the approval of the building authority
- In the event of a land registry failure, you cannot sell it or register your permanent residence there.
- In the event of fires, floods, or other disasters, you will lose your property (Californians have something to say about this).
- Real estate can define your center of life interests, your "permanent home," and tax residence, which is again a liability.
- Although real estate ownership protects against inflation, its return on investment (ROI) compared to Bitcoin is very low.
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You always have complete control over Bitcoin; no one can seize a well-secured Bitcoin, even in the event of a foreclosure. The state doesn't even need to know about it. Your seed can be distributed across multiple countries or continents. You don't need any consent to use it. It doesn't define your center of life interests, and since its inception, holding it has always had a greater return than owning real estate.
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Unless you need real estate for yourself or your family, I recommend investing in Bitcoin.
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EU
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One of the EU's most bizarre creatures for me, who goes against the whole world and still thinks she is right, is Comrade (and, unfortunately, ECB President) Lagarde. All the big countries are buying or considering bitcoin as part of their strategic reserves. However, Lagarde is clear on this: not only does she reject radically decentralized Bitcoin, but she is also pushing hard for a centralized, spying digital EURO, which moves the EU from the democratic world to totalitarian China. As an anarchist, I should rejoice in her decision - the EU will be poor and weak without Bitcoin, and the economic collapse will only accelerate.
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People in the Western world are losing confidence in whether they receive adequate services from the state from their taxes. States are, therefore, investing a lot of money in big propaganda about why they need to pay taxes so that they do not lose their tax sheep - the Zurich propaganda, the Spanish propaganda. Similarly, the ECB is pushing CBDC propaganda, as it is getting harder and harder to convince citizens to use the digital euro when we have hard money, Bitcoin. If you visit any city-state with minimal or no taxes, virtually everything works better there (compare a trip to tax hell, France, and a tax haven). Also, with zero taxes, Dubai has the best highways in the world (and the most prominent 16-lane one). And yes, only 1% of Dubai's GDP is from oil. 99% of its money is made from tourism and business. Slovakia's total tax burden is 63% (and will be even higher by 2025). This means that Slovaks work for almost 2/3 of their working life for the state. And it does not reflect what Slovaks receive from the state. Interestingly, if taxes were halved in Slovakia/EU, you wouldn't notice a significant drop in living standards (i.e., less would be stolen because there would be less to steal from). On the contrary, it would incentivize all the innovative entrepreneurs and companies to return to the country and set up business again (now happening in Dubai and Paraguay). In Paraguay, 10% of taxes are paid only on local income (most of which is also stolen). Still, you don't notice much difference from Slovakia; you pay for everything in both countries (healthcare and education). Half of your income ends up in a big black hole in Slovakia. Especially brutal are the health levies, which are 15% of personal income, which means that Slovaks work practically a sixth of their working life just on health levies. And the result is a collapsing healthcare system. And it is all the sadder when one comes to Georgia, for example, where the healthcare system and professional doctors work practically instantaneously without waiting and without any compulsory health levies (I voluntarily pay 30 EUR per month, and I have 80% coverage of all medical costs in Georgia). And as the quality of services of EU countries deteriorates in real terms, we can expect state propaganda - why we need to pay tax, levies, and use state digital inflation money - to be even more aggressive (and even more desperate) in the EU.
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UK
Georgia
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For the first time in our history, the Bank of Georgia canceled the SOLO bank account for actively using the Binance P2P service for our client. We at Liberation Travel, therefore, put intense pressure on the Bank of Georgia, and the bank successfully reopened our client's bank account.
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- Use the bank account also for ordinary fiat transactions (transfers within Georgia or international transfers), not only for crypto transfers
- To change cryptos, use exclusively Georgian crypto exchanges (such as cryptal.com) that have a signed contract with the Bank of Georgia
- Do not use P2P services (like Binance P2P) in Georgia
- If you have opened a bank account through Liberation.Travel, we can add you to our P2P SOLO Owners Signal group, where our clients make P2P crypto trades within the Bank of Georgia
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Hello, I am in Tbilisi from Friday to Sunday. I need to fix one tooth decay.
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Can you come back in an hour?
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Definitely. And will you give me complete dental hygiene?
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Paraguay
I am constantly contacted by people who want to add themselves to our Paraguayan or Uruguayan elite crypto club. Unfortunately, this membership is contingent upon obtaining residency in Paraguay or Uruguay through our agency. We cannot add you to our community if you have chosen to obtain residency through another agency. Consider this added value when comparing our prices with those of our competitors. You won't be alone in Paraguay and will gain valuable know-how, a wiki, essential contacts, and recommendations for the best services, places, or restaurants.
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This month, we have reached a new milestone at Liberation Travel. There are so many new clients applying for residency in Paraguay that we no longer have the capacity to pick them up in private cars. Still, we have switched to a mini-bus that picks them up as a shuttle service at various Asunción hotels and transports them to the immigration office. For this 'upgrade' in our business, I would like to thank the governments of the EU.
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Uruguay
Argentina
Verified crypto trader in Buenos Aires - Telegram and Signal ID greatmondongo.24.
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Bitcoin, Monero, and cryptocurrencies
The crypto time test is a honeypot - an economic incentive to lose privacy
Why bitcoin rich people are more at risk than fiat-rich people
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Two days ago, we recorded an interesting interview with Radim Kozub and Honza Kohout about the new Czech legislation on the time test of cryptocurrencies. We raised several interesting privacy topics there, which I would like to elaborate on in the following article.
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The crypto time test legislation seeks to align cryptocurrencies with securities (to which the time test is already applied), and KYC seeks to align cryptocurrencies with standard fiat services. That's all well and good, but it forgets one virtually unmentioned and very important thing:
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In the context of kidnapping and physical violence, crypto/Bitcoin-rich people are significantly MORE at risk than fiat-rich people.
If you're a fiat-rich person:
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- And you have a few million in your bank account, so the kidnapper won't require you to transfer it to his account, which is easily traceable and freezable.
- And you have a couple of luxury properties, so the kidnapper won't require you to transfer at the Land Registry to another owner who is also easily traceable.
- It may demand a ransom of millions of dollars in cash from you, but this is very impractical (the notes are marked, and there is a high risk of transporting them and picking them up).
Conversely, if you're a crypto-rich person, you're an ideal target, since:
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- Paying ransom in crypto (Bitcoin, ideally Monero) can be virtually untraceable and ideal for kidnappers.
- There is no need for a third party to transfer assets (such as a bank intermediary), making more significant amounts impossible or otherwise complicated. In this case, the attacker needs brute force and your crypto wallet.
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Kidnapping and extorting crypto-rich people is, therefore, easier and more attractive to criminals than fiat-rich people.
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This means, logically, that disclosing or forcing the disclosure of information about the assets of crypto-rich people is SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THREATENING to those people than revealing information about the holdings of fiat-rich people.
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Jameson Lopp publishes a list of physical attacks and kidnappings of crypto people. It should be noted that this list represents only a fraction of all attacks on crypto-rich people, as most of these attacks are non-public - victims are afraid to talk about it lest they fall victim to more attacks and kidnappings.
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This means that the Norwegian tax office, which has long been transparent in publishing the tax returns of all Norwegian citizens, is making Norwegian citizens (literally creating a "hit list" for criminals) who own cryptos significantly more vulnerable, as they are realistically more attractive to kidnappers and extortionists.
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What other implications follow from the fact that kidnapping and extorting crypto-rich people is more straightforward and, therefore, more attractive to criminals than fiat-rich people?
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The KYC process on crypto exchanges poses a greater privacy risk than KYC on regular fiat services.
A few days ago, I had a conversation with a man who was a victim of identity theft. He had previously done KYC on a crypto exchange, which he was forced into by legislation. All the information from that KYC exchange (or their KYC provider) was hacked and leaked. For several years, unknown people have set up companies worldwide using his identity, registering SIM cards, and sending him arrears for services he never ordered. He is desperate because he can't do anything about it, and the Slovak police can't help him because, according to them, impersonation as such is not a crime. At the moment, his name is on some global blacklists, so no crypto exchange or financial institution wants to open an account for him anymore. He is considering changing his name because he sees no other option.
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And he's completely innocent - it started with some crypto exchange forcing him into the KYC process.
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Fortunately, no one has kidnapped him yet. Still, the information about how much cryptocurrency he had on the exchange is already public, so he is already on the potential "hit list."
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The crypto time test is a honeypot; the state imposes an economic incentive to confess to your crypto, lose your privacy, and, at worst, find yourself on a kidnapping list.
The crypto time test in the Czech Republic (and also in many other EU countries) is a process of public confession of your crypto that the state incentivizes into you:
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You don't have to pay taxes when you reveal your identity and admit to your more than three-year-old crypto.
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Crypto time test advocates are wont to say:
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"It's better to own and buy KYC crypto because you don't have to pay taxes on it after three years - you just have to show that you bought it on the exchange more than three years ago."
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For crypto purchased without KYC, the timing test is more challenging to prove - you need to analyze the blockchain's transaction history, revealing your additional transaction history and other related transactions to the state (since the Bitcoin blockchain is not anonymous).
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And in the final analysis, it is still necessary to claim it so that the tax office can give you a tax break based on the crypto time test.
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All crypto time test advocates forget that by revealing their identity and legally avoiding taxes, all crypto users will quickly find themselves on the kidnapping list.
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And it's hazardous for rich crypto people, who are more easily kidnapped and extorted than fiat-rich people.
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And if you think it doesn't affect you because you're not a rich crypto person, then in 5-10 years, it will affect you because the Bitcoins you admitted to the tax office for a few thousand will be worth a few million. And count on the fact that not only the Financial Office will know about it.
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Security of state institutions
Giving any information about my cryptocurrencies to the Slovak financial authority seems equivalent to publishing it publicly on Facebook. The question is not if but when it will be hacked entirely (as happened to the cadastre). Fortunately, I don't have to give him any personal information because I don't live in Slovakia anymore and don't have tax residency there.
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I consider it risky to have a tax residence in Slovakia and to disclose this information about my crypto to the Tax Administration under threat of violence. Especially when there are countries with more favourable tax residency where you don't have to tell anyone about your crypto.
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I believe that Czech state institutions are better than Slovak ones in terms of security. But that doesn't mean that the information you disclose to them in good faith (not having a tax liability after three years of holding crypto) won't be leaked and misused in the future.
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It might be a good time to do a risk analysis and think about how likely it is that your data will be leaked from the financial office and used to plan kidnappings and extortion. Conversely, what is the likelihood that you will be criminalized for failing to declare the crypto to the tax office (no one will cut off your fingers or torture you for it)?
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In the following interview, OpnState shares his journey from disillusioned banker to policy advisor focusing on compliance and anti-money laundering (AML) laws. He discusses the complexity of financial regulations, the erosion of individual rights, and the impact of global standard-setting bodies such as the FATF on national sovereignty.
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Privacy
In Slovakia, all people who use crypto and exchange crypto for other crypto or fiat are breaking the law - unless they pay 19-25% tax on each transaction and 15% health levies. This applies to all crypto transactions, including staking. Only those who do not have tax residency in Slovakia are not breaking the law. Therefore, a frequent question from our clients is, what will happen to me if I cancel my permanent residence/tax residency in Slovakia? I usually answer - for example, you will stop breaking the law, which you are now breaking almost daily.
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The right to a pseudonym on social networks, for example, is still a significant battleground in introducing European digital identity wallets, says Thomas Lohninger.
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NYM VPN is already publicly available (for 30 days for free). It uses the concept of multiple nodes (similar to Tor) and can work for you even when other VPNs are blocked.
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Travel Hacks
Wiretap is a simple, transparent VPN-like proxy that tunnels traffic through WireGuard and requires no special permissions to run. A Trojan horse that you can use to bypass, for example, the Great Firewall of China.
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With HiChee, you can quickly compare the price of your chosen accommodation on Airbnb.com, Booking.com, and vrbco.com and instantly see where it's cheapest.
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Setup for travel to less safe areas:
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(going to national parks in Colombia)
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- Do not carry any mobile phone (which can be stolen)
- Do not carry any payment cards (which can be stolen)
Leave all of that to the hotel. Instead:
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- Having only a (Garmin or other cheaper) watch with fully functional offline navigation that you can use when traveling by car, motorbike, or on foot. With offline music (Spotify) that you can listen to along the way. You can still pay by watch anywhere with loaded NFC payment cards (PIN protected).
- Have (Meta) AI Smart Glasses through which you can listen to music (no need for extra headphones), take pictures (since you don't have your cell phone with you), and, if necessary, instantly start filming the attacker (without him noticing).
- Have a minimum of cash in local currency in your wallet
Of course, they can steal both your watch and your glasses, but potential attackers in these countries usually have no idea that watches can be used to pay and that there are AI glasses that can record them.
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Interesting links
Interesting study on testosterone. If men are given a dose of testosterone, they are less likely to fake prosocial behavior in front of an audience. A man with a higher testosterone level will do what he actually thinks is right, not what he thinks others think is right.
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Events
17-18.5.2025 Pizzaday, Second Culture in Prague
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8-12.8.2025 WHY2025 is the biggest hacker camp in the Netherlands
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