Bitcoin Agora
Vision & Method
Our Vision
A Bitcoin Agora is a local economic community where people learn to coordinate through voluntary, small-scale interactions rather than depending on centralized theories of how the entire economy should be managed.
The purpose is not to abolish government. The purpose is to distinguish economic coordination from government's protective role.
People can voluntarily produce, buy, sell, exchange services, save, and cooperate with one another. Government's essential role is to protect people from violence, coercion, fraud, war, and other threats to peaceful life.
Our Method
Yashab educates the public and government through practice rather than macroeconomic theorization.
We begin with small circles of people who know and trust one another. Members learn Bitcoin, use their own wallets, exchange goods and services voluntarily, verify transactions themselves, and gradually develop local networks of economic cooperation.
The method is:
The Bitcoin Agora therefore becomes a practical educational experiment. Instead of asking a government to design the economy from above, we ask:
What economic coordination can emerge when individuals are free to interact peacefully from below?
The Role of Bitcoin
Bitcoin provides a common digital settlement mechanism that allows participants to hold and transfer value directly between their own wallets.
Yashab does not hold participants' Bitcoin. The objective is to teach self-custody, voluntary exchange, transaction verification, economic responsibility, and local cooperation.
The Role of Government
The Bitcoin Agora does not claim that government has no legitimate function.
Its educational distinction is:
Economic life
Voluntary production, exchange, saving, and cooperation.
Government
Protection of life, property, and peaceful interaction from violence and coercion.
Government can therefore study the Bitcoin Agora as a bottom-up economic experiment, while citizens can study it as a way to understand voluntary economic coordination.
Policy Proposal: Enabling Self-Custody Wallet Transactions with Merchant-Level Identity Recording
Objective: To allow peer-to-peer crypto transactions between self-custody wallets (e.g., Muun, Electrum, Ledger) while ensuring basic compliance through merchant-level identity recording, rather than requiring service providers to enforce KYC.
Background
Current regulations often place KYC/AML obligations on custodial wallet providers and payment gateways. Self-custody wallets differ fundamentally: users hold their own private keys, and no third-party controls funds. Policymakers face a challenge: balancing financial innovation and privacy with anti-money laundering safeguards.
Proposed Framework
1. Transaction Layer
Payments occur directly between self-custody wallets (customer → shopkeeper). No custodial service or gateway involved.
2. Compliance Layer
Merchants accepting crypto must record basic customer identifiers (e.g., CNIC, national ID number, or mobile phone number). Records are stored securely by merchants and made available to regulators upon request.
This creates a traceability mechanism without forcing KYC at the wallet level.
Policy Safeguards
- Merchants must register as crypto-accepting businesses with regulators.
- Identity records must be stored securely and comply with data protection laws.
- Regulators may audit merchant records periodically.
- Large-value transactions may require additional verification.
Benefits
- Innovation: Encourages adoption of self-custody wallets, reducing reliance on custodial services.
- Privacy: Customers retain control of their funds and avoid unnecessary data collection.
- Compliance: Regulators still gain access to identity records when needed.
- Cost-effective: Small merchants can comply without expensive gateway integrations.
Policy Recommendation
We recommend that policymakers:
- Formally recognize self-custody wallets as outside the scope of custodial KYC obligations.
- Mandate merchant-level identity recording for crypto transactions above a defined threshold.
- Develop secure reporting standards for merchants to share records with regulators when required.
- Pilot the framework in retail sectors to measure effectiveness before nationwide rollout.
What Yashab Wants to Teach
Yashab aims to create an educational environment in which both citizens and policymakers can observe the difference between:
Macro management
Attempting to direct economic outcomes through centralized policy.
Micro interaction
Allowing economic order to emerge from countless voluntary decisions.
The Bitcoin Agora is therefore not presented as a finished economic system. It is a local educational experiment in spontaneous economic coordination.
Start Locally
A global economic theory can be debated indefinitely.
A local Bitcoin Agora can be observed today.
Yashab — education through local economic interaction.
This page sets out our broader philosophical framework. For practical rules, the invitation system, and safety principles, see Rules & Procedures.