East Germany Lives On: Property Registration as a Tool of Mass Surveillance… and How to Escape from It

Real monsters do not hide under the bed or in the closets…

… but rather in parliaments, congresses, senates, ministries, embassies, etc.

On 18 January 2024, the Council and the European Parliament reached (quietly and secretly) a provisional agreement on the EU-wide asset register and on the creation of a new authority to “fight money laundering”: the so-called AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Authority). It is not surprising that Frankfurt am Main has been chosen as the seat of this new commission. The authority will start its work in mid-2025 with more than 400 employees.

The aim of this initiative is to centralise information on the assets of individuals and companies within the European Union. The relevant competences include, inter alia, the following:

• Data collection
• Access authorisation
• Data cross-checking and analysis
• Supervision and control
• Investigations, blockades, and sanctions
• Increased due diligence obligations

This institution has access to practically everything: contracts, debts, even car registrations and flight bookings… in an age when everything can be optimised by artificial intelligence! Of course, if you do not comply or if they think you “have more than others” they will confiscate your assets, not least because you signed a contract in which you blindly and unconditionally committed yourself to society, right?

Units called Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) are being set up to obtain comprehensive access to data on beneficial owners, bank accounts, and property. Naturally, high-value assets will also be included in this list 😉i.e. the aim now is to introduce an asset register for all private valuables amounting to €200,000 or more.

Even house searches will be a practical and legal method for this. As if Germany was not already the best and one of the most efficient countries when it comes to tax seizures… it is certainly something to be proud of!

This is not particularly new, especially when it comes to the dreaded parasitic and monopolistic leech that is the State. In 2021 a feasibility study was carried out on ‘a possible centralised asset register for all EU citizens’. This register could store information from various sources of asset ownership and make it accessible at any time, such as land registry entries, shares in companies and ownership of securities accounts, cryptocurrencies, gold, and works of art.

When we say that the State is the most disgusting, immoral, vile, and coercive parasite you can imagine, that it is a monster that only knows how to suck citizens dry under threat of punishment or aggression and that it can never get enough, people think we are exaggerating.

When we say that the State wants to confiscate even more of what you have by means of the equalisation of burdens, people laugh and convince themselves that these are conspiracy theories.

When we say that the State manipulates you, uses you, exploits you, steals your freedom, and appropriates your property at will, people think we are trying to scare them.

But it is THEY who cause real dread, not us. We just want you to be able to lead a freer life without being disturbed, with mutual respect, free exchange, and peaceful coexistence, because your life is your own.

If a State on its own makes life miserable for its citizens, a mega-State like the European Union is even more dangerous…

They Laugh at You to your Face

Naturally, we are not talking about a “centralised asset register for the totalitarian control of the population that exercises ultimate power over your life and turns you into an unwilling puppet“, but a “regulation to combat money laundering”, which sounds much better. However, a convincing name cannot disguise the true nature of things. The problem is that the population not only accepts these measures without complaint, but in some cases even applauds them: a deceptive acceptance that stems from fear of state repression.

What is a crime?

A crime is committed when someone takes something that rightfully belongs to you under threat or coercion. On the other hand, we are sold the belief that taxes are a charitable contribution to society. Similarly, the process of becoming transparent citizens under constant surveillance without our consent is presented as honourable and morally right… but it is a deception, a manipulation designed to undermine our right to privacy and self-determination.

Just because someone is in favour of taxation does not mean I should be too. You have built your wealth through your own efforts, and you should not have to put up with a violent institution that does nothing for you claiming ownership of your property and forcing you to pay taxes.

You are not the State.

You are not the politicians.

You are not society.

No one represents your interests but yourself.

According to Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a protector of property who expropriates property (as the State does through taxation) is an oxymoron: a contradiction in itself.

But now the State is not only after your income, but also your property, which they have probably already “properly” taxed in various ways and on various occasions.

Just as the mantra of contributing to society has become fashionable, the idea of being transparent to governments is set to become the new trend!

Attached is the list of attacks demonstrating the power the State wields over you (whether you like it or not) under the new asset register law for mass surveillance of the population… oh, sorry, I meant to say to combat money laundering:

• The new regulations oblige cryptocurrency service providers with transactions of €1,000 or more to conduct rigorous checks on customers and report suspicious activity, as well as introducing risk minimisation measures when using self-managed digital wallets (of course, the requirements will be vague and arbitrary, meaning that much will be left to interpretation). They have also adopted special and enhanced due diligence obligations for cross-border correspondent banking relationships.
• Economic operators that will in future be subject to customer due diligence and reporting obligations include not only crypto service providers, but also those trading in luxury goods (precious metals and stones, jewellers, watchmakers or goldsmiths, for example) suppliers of cultural goods (such as works of art) and sellers of luxury cars, planes and yachts.
• Financial and credit institutions must apply enhanced due diligence measures when managing large assets that they handle through business relationships with high-net-worth individuals. Violations of these rules are considered as aggravating circumstances for sanctions.
• In the EU, a ceiling for cash payments has been set at €10,000 and €7,000 respectively, to make money laundering more difficult —although Member States have the option to reduce this amount even further. In addition, according to the provisional agreement, the identity of persons carrying out occasional cash transactions of between €3,000 (!!!) and €10,000 will have to be verified.
• When paying in cash, citizens are required to verify and disclose full details of their ownership and control. Beneficial owners who control more than 25% of a legal entity will be obliged to disclose their information, even if they are based outside the EU. This obligation also includes all foreign companies that have owned real estate in the EU since 1 January 2014.
• In addition, complex ownership structures will be unravelled so that “no one can hide behind convoluted corporate structures”. These measures straight out of the novel 1984 expand state surveillance under the guise of transparency and turn a simple business activity into an open book for government agencies. In addition, they tighten data protection and registration obligations, adding to the already exasperating bureaucracy. This over-regulation is a direct attack on privacy and entrepreneurial freedom, among other things.
• For occasional transactions and business relationships with “high risk countries” whose national anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures are deficient —and therefore pose a threat to the EU internal market—obliged entities will have to comply with enhanced due diligence The European Commission will carry out a risk assessment based on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). In view of the high risk, the EU justifies additional specific measures at both national and European level. Here again, you are left trapped and with no possible way out.
• You will have to amend all information submitted to the central registry, and explicitly note links to sanctioned persons or companies. This provision seems to have less to do with protection and more to do with screening and total surveillance of the business world, a clear case of over-regulation and government control. Even more frightening should be the power of the registration authorities to raid the premises of registered companies if there are doubts about the accuracy of the information.
• Moreover, the agreement grants access to these records not only to state authorities, but also to “authorised” representatives of the public sector, such as journalists or activists. This dubious openness of confidential company data to almost anyone claiming even the slightest interest undermines commercial confidentiality and exposes companies to even greater risk of public hostility and defamation.
• Finally, the agreement provides the authorities with centralised access to property records, giving them detailed knowledge of valuable private assets.
• In all EU Member States there are now all-powerful intelligence centres that pry into every financial detail under the pretext of combating money laundering and terrorist financing. These centres have unlimited access to a wealth of personal and financial data, including tax information and all kinds of national records. At the slightest suspicion, they can stop or deny transactions. As you can imagine, this is just too much power in their hands. Do you agree with all this? More importantly, did you vote for politicians to develop these measures?

You cannot imagine how governments are drooling over this new toy to control us. As the Commission President von der Leyen said:

“For her, the register is only the starting point for the upcoming EU initiatives for a harmonised legal basis, common instruments and, above all, a joint approach of EU countries against the migration of assets across EU borders to countries that continue to offer good opportunities to hide private assets from the reach of the home country tax authorities.

Oh, so it is a starting point… I mean, there is still more to come! Possible property taxes, forced expropriation, the digital currencies of central banks, etc. are nothing more than child’s play. They are just a meeting, a signature, a button, the whim of a group of politicians who do not give a damn about you.

It is about YOU and YOUR HERITAGE, this is not about arms trafficking or drug possession!

In the Eyes of a State, you Are Nothing but a Criminal

In the face of a State, and no matter what kind —party A, party B, party C… all of them are all the same— the citizens get all the blame and punishment, even if the thief is really the State itself.

The State steals your money every day and labels you as a terrorist, promotes corruption and corporatism… but blames it all on you.

Have you noticed that corruption only exists because there is an unequal power dynamic in which one government monopolises power? If all exchanges were voluntary and there was free competition in which one group did not cheat the rest, no one would abuse their power over others.

Wherever government has a gatekeeping role in the flow of money, there will be corruption.

Corporatism is a system that blurs the boundaries between the State and big business, leading to a type of governance in which business leaders and politicians work closely together to craft laws and regulations that primarily benefit them —usually at the expense of fair trade and free competition. This fosters corruption and corporate favouritism, as regulatory frameworks are manipulated in exchange for power.

In many countries the possession of weapons is prohibited, yet armed criminals abound. Have you ever wondered how this is possible? Guns and drugs are forbidden… yet you find them everywhere! I want to make it clear that Denationalize.me defends individual freedom to own guns or drugs, because no State should determine what you do with your life or prevent you from protecting yourself and your loved ones with firearms.

Do you really think terrorists and criminals are going to register their “assets” within the State?

The losers are always the “decent” citizens like you: innocent people, who have done nothing wrong, who pay every penny of their income in taxes and end up on the new EU blacklist… as if all rich people were automatically blacklisted for evading taxes or doing illegal business!

There is a state-fuelled hatred of the rich, as if they have become rich by stealing from and exploiting the poor or by committing crimes. Yes, it is true that throughout history there have been people who have enriched themselves at the expense of others, but always they did so with the protection and support of the State itself. Slavery was LEGAL and ALLOWED by law. The State positions itself as an enforcer of the law to fight injustice (only to stay in power and steal as much as possible from you), PROMOTING “legal” injustice, punishing those who create value and protecting its allies (be they companies, individuals, or political office holders).

With each passing day, politics becomes more and more scandalous and outrageous for the rich and those in high places.

The irony is that it is precisely these people who keep the economy going, who create jobs, who make the difference… yet they are the ones who get the worst treatment from politicians and who are portrayed as criminals —as if everyone who has money is by default a criminal who deserves to be treated as such. The view is imposed that “those with more money and wealth” have more duties and obligations without any consent or ability to respond on their part.

Who Remembers the East German Era?

Well, it is not really “the past”: the German Democratic Republic has simply modernised and dissolved into a political narrative in which citizens are clearly and unequivocally manipulated to avoid civil revolution and a mass movement against the State —what a surprise, right?

East Germany stood between 1949 and 1989 as a grim memorial to the dangers of unchecked state power and comprehensive government control. This regime, based on communist ideology, epitomised the profound violations of individual freedoms and inherent economic inefficiencies that flow from such a system. The East German experience provides a crucial case study of the inevitable failure of communism in practice.

At the centre of the surveillance apparatus was the Stasi (the Ministry for State Security), whose extensive espionage operations were not just instruments of state security, but mechanisms for maintaining the power of the Communist Party. In other words, the concentration of power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. The Stasi’s extensive surveillance served not only to control political dissent, but also to enforce economic conformity.

Here one keeps coming across this narrative that proclaims that “there is always an enemy against whom we must defend ourselves”, and for that —hallelujah, thank the Lord— we have the magnanimous State to protect us. One always encounters this vision of good versus evil, but unfortunately that narrative only works in Disney movies.

We need protection from those who hold us completely and irretrievably captive and who claim to protect us.

The Stasi developed an unprecedented system of surveillance and control that interfered profoundly with the everyday life of the East German population.

• Telephone and postal surveillance: conversations were tapped and letters were systematically opened and read to gather political and private information.
• Unofficial collaborators: civilians were recruited as informants to spy on friends, family, and co-workers —often under pressure and threat of repression if they refused to cooperate.
• Subversion: psychological warfare strategy aimed at destabilising the social environment and the mental health of dissidents through slander, falsification of documents, and manipulation of relationships.
• Audio and video surveillance: covert installation of listening devices and cameras in the homes of suspects to monitor their activities without interruption.
• Control and censorship of the media: all forms of public communication were monitored and censored to ensure compliance with socialist ideology and to suppress critical opinions and dissenting voices.

What an absurd idea of history repeating itself: we are at the crossroads where past and present merge in an eerily similar way —in the worst sense of the word.

What is the difference between the stifling control and surveillance that prevailed in the Soviet Union and what we see today in Europe? This question gives us pause for thought, and in turn reveals a bitter truth: the extent of surveillance, repression, and control we suffer today in Europe shows frightening parallels with what we supposedly left behind in the 20th century.

Soviet Germany, a State characterised by paranoia and mistrust, used every conceivable technology and social influence to monitor and control its citizens: cameras, microphones, informers… among many other tools of oppression that interfered so deeply in people’s daily lives that no one could speak, think, or move freely without fear of reprisals.

These methods of totalitarian control should serve as a reminder: once seen, they cannot be ignored.

With the imminent creation of the AMLA anti-money laundering authority, the EU plans to exercise unprecedented control over assets“.

The funniest thing of all? We have willingly become entangled in this web of surveillance, lured by the illusion of security and convenience. Technological advances, which should make our lives easier, are used to watch over us constantly. The arguments may be more modern, and the methods more refined thanks to new technologies, but the essence of control and oppression remains intact.

And I ask myself —and you should too— are we really so naïve as to believe that these instruments of power cannot be used against us? Are we so blind that we do not see that the freedom we are willingly giving up is too high a price to pay? It is time we woke up and recognised the parallels between what once was and what is today. Both methods, whether old or new, Soviet or Western, aim to control and oppress the individual, and we cannot accept this silently and submissively.

How can we possibly accept all this willingly? The State confiscates property, goods, and liberties whenever it sees fit and justify these raids as being “for the common good”. This really means that it steals from you and gives it to others (or keeps it for itself), and yet you are the enemy in this system. It is you that the State sees as the source of injustice.

And you really think he’s going to protect you… Do you see how absurd this is? How can someone who is stealing from you protect you? This is the height of hypocrisy. We must not allow our basic natural rights to be violated under the pretext of the common good. It is time for us to stand up and see through this deception.

Most people think that the State is there to defend them, their rights, and their interests just because they exercise their “right to vote”, which is one of the biggest fallacies of any (social) democracy.

Is it still Possible to Protect Oneself?

Yes, there are still legal avenues: you “just” have to be willing to go all the way to protect yourself from the State.

Gone are the days when everything revolved around a German residence, a German house, a German partner, a German bank account and German investments…

We believe that you should go where you are treated best: the country where you are born may not be your best choice in all areas of your life —especially when it comes to residency, asset protection or tax residence.

At Denationalize.me we recommend separating wealth from personal liability to minimise individual risks while ensuring the control and integrity of your capital in unforeseen or adverse situations —such as the looming asset register. Well-thought-out wealth protection is no longer a luxury, but an essential strategy to protect yourself.

The asset register will cover both individuals and companies registered in the EU, as well as EU assets of foreigners. The first step would be to deregister from your country (and thus to the EU) and move your residence, bank accounts, investments, and companies abroad. Moving assets abroad is usually a key part of any asset protection strategy, so even if you want or need to remain in the EU, it is vital that you obtain a fictitious residence in a non-EU country from which you can continue to verify your address and tax identification number with financial institutions. In this way, you will be able to avoid possible registration in the asset register —at least unofficially.

Although it makes perfect sense for tax purposes to take up residence in Cyprus, we recommend that you set up an additional address in a third country. An interesting option would be, for example, to combine Cyprus with Georgia or the Emirates to make the most of the advantages of both jurisdictions. Obtaining an additional residence permit is not particularly complicated and can considerably strengthen your global set-up. Whatever your place of residence in the EU, do not be lulled into a false sense of security and act while there is still time!

Here are some additional tools for asset protection: foundations, trusts, cooperatives, holding companies, offshore solutions in Nevis, or investment in art. At Denationalize.me, we are familiar with all these protection methods, and we are at your disposal to offer you comprehensive, detailed, and personalised advice.

European structures often do not offer the protection that you can get with the most advanced offshore solutions, such as those in Nevis: Nevis is a Caribbean island known for its strong data protection legislation and its highly favourable legal framework for offshore financial services. The asset protection it offers is made possible by strict disclosure legislation and high hurdles for foreign creditors. It will be very difficult for third parties to access or claim assets held in Nevis legal structures, such as a trust or LLC.

Cooperatives are associations of persons who jointly pursue economic, social, or cultural objectives. Asset protection in cooperatives is achieved by pooling funds under a collective legal entity. This protects individual members from personal financial risks in case of debts or legal challenges that may affect the cooperative. The structure of the cooperative ensures that the focus is not on the individual assets of the members, but on those of the cooperative.

On the other hand, foundations are legal entities that are established to allocate assets for a specific purpose and to manage them. The assets of a foundation are legally separate from the private assets of the founder. This protects them from personal debts or legal claims against the founder, as the foundation’s assets are used exclusively for their defined purpose and cannot be used to cover the founder’s personal liabilities. A properly constituted and managed Liechtenstein foundation remains admissible in Germany and Austria, and would therefore protect you against asset registration.

A trust is a legal instrument whereby a trustee manages assets entrusted to it by another person (the settlor) for the benefit of a third party (the beneficiary). The asset protection offered by a trust derives from the separation of ownership: the trustee manages the assets independently of the settlor’s personal legal and financial risks. This makes it difficult for creditors to access these assets directly, as they are no longer legally owned by the settlor. However, in most European countries, including Germany, trusts are not a recognised legal form and therefore only serve to hide assets.

A holding company is a type of company created to own the shares of another company. This structure separates the management and ownership of assets into the operational risks of the companies it controls. Asset protection is achieved by isolating the investments of the operating companies dependent on the holding company. As the holding company has no direct business activities, the underlying assets are protected from direct business risks and liabilities that could affect the subsidiaries. It is perfectly possible to own holdings abroad with EU residency, but it does not always make much sense to do so. Contact us to assess this issue and find the optimal solution. A holding company only protects you against asset registration if you combine it with one of the other strategies presented in this article.

The use of bonded warehouses to store works of art provides strong investment protection, and is particularly effective in preserving your assets. Typically established in countries with stable legal systems such as Switzerland or Singapore, bonded warehouses protect works of art from the effects of tax changes and regulatory interventionism. In addition, customs warehouses allow works of art to remain anonymous, giving you greater discretion as an investor. This will not change no matter how many laws the EU invents. Works of art in bonded warehouses will not be part of the asset register. This is therefore your last chance to invest your money anonymously, legally, safely and with good returns if you are an EU resident. Contact us if you want to know more about this smart alternative.

At Denationalize.me we know all the ways and rules, all the loopholes, and we know how to help you. Deregister, emigrate, become a perpetual traveller, or live in places where wealth is welcome and accepted —like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates— or where nobody bothers you, —like Paraguay. There are plenty of countries where you can plant your flags and stay safe from the asset register: contact us to find out more!

The European Union is in decline and has been for quite some time —and there is no sign of it getting any better. The problem is that all the prosperity built by freedom, with freedom and in the face of freedom is being destroyed in this decline of Europe. Economic freedom, minimal state intervention and the promotion of work were the cause of the German economic miracle.

There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide – Ayn Rand