Hi @_arshbot, I share your thoughts. I also wrote about this in my blog www.kokkomaki.com . I worked at a crypto custody company, read lots of regulation and upcoming changes (TRP, MiCA, and all FATF suggestions), and came to the same conclusion: Bitcoin is neutered effectively. It is a dystopia compared to the original dream. Only outlaws will have privacy.

However, I do not think it is an attack per se. Or yes, regulators know what they are doing and to whom. Yet I believe it is more akin to path-dependence and adapting crypto to the existing system of regulations and financial institutions. Thus, it is more neutral act than as if there was a targeted and coordinated attack.

Bitcoin is certainly becoming a walled garden in the US, EU and China. But it need not be elsewhere.