Will they also need to separate from the banking systems? As I understand it, almost every banking transaction goes through a US-based network.

This sort of thing will kill the graphic design industry.

Not really it’s just a photo search engine (albeit a very small one)

Hey, at least they won't be getting data from and enriching an avowed racist, so they got that going for them.

Enjoy your part in creating misery for people who just happen to not be white.

I can't think of a realistic, non-cynical reason that doesn't begin and end with "oil" for even looking funny at Venezuela. The whole "drugs 'r bad" thing doesn't wash.

There are a couple of things I can think of. There's the human rights stuff with torture chambers and a third of the population leaving which doesn't seem to bother Trump but the Venezuelans don't much like.

There's also Maduro's dancing which seems to have been a thing oddly enough https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360920843/maduros-dancing...

Gotta be honest: "the human rights stuff with torture chambers" sounds like a bonus to a Trumpista. MAGA is not known for its progressive stance on human rights. More the opposite, really, as long as it's not them doing the suffering (or even being mildly inconvenienced).

And this will change now?

There already seems less dancing. Human rights I don't know. Rubio is saying "we all want to see" it. https://youtu.be/V8-tT22SJMo?t=44

Other countries are run by an oligarchy, the US is run by an oilygarchy.

I'm guessing you don't consider drugs to be on the top 3 issues in the US.

So few drugs come to the USA from Venezuela that if there's a list of issues, this is near the bottom in importance.

Here's a thought, and I'm just spitballin' here: maybe they could do both? Sure, writing an encyclopedic tome about three lines of code is probably a bit out of bounds, but overexplaining is only bad when it's your wife or girlfriend. It might be a good idea to be absolutely clear about things.

I believe both of those first sentences are true.

I had a whole pile of recommendations from people on LinkedIn - only one of whom I had ever worked with and the rest were from people who knew me socially, but otherwise had little or no knowledge of what I actually do.

How many people did the smelter employ vs how many people do the bitcoin miners employ?

The smelter was providing jobs that fed money into the local economy. I'm sure much less money is coming out of the mining operation.

Not to mention the aluminum plant was making something actually useful to society at large. What is there now is a giant space heater used to scam people.