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Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

forbes.com

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Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#11

Post by taoistextremist »

felipeko wrote: post #5
johnwheeler wrote: post #4

"Probably Never" is wishful thinking. They will never . Full stop. Why would the U.S. government tolerate universal currency when it has something far more advantageous? A currency it controls every other currency is pegged to (including Bitcoin). More practically speaking, the government needs the ability to expand the money supply during financial crises. Bitcoin doesn't lend itself to any of those Keynesian tricks…

Government does not need this ability, it just wants it.

Its ability to respond to economic crises becomes very diminished if it does not have this ability.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#13

Post by alexasmyths »

paloaltokid wrote: post #12

Like, duh. Of course the government won’t embrace Bitcoin. It’s an absolute threat to national sovereignty. Virtual currencies that are not anonymized - no problem. But not Bitcoin.

"It’s an absolute threat to national sovereignty"

It's not a threat to anything but speculators bank accounts.

Nobody is using BTC as a currency.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#14

Post by alexasmyths »

johnwheeler wrote: post #4

"Probably Never" is wishful thinking. They will never . Full stop. Why would the U.S. government tolerate universal currency when it has something far more advantageous? A currency it controls every other currency is pegged to (including Bitcoin). More practically speaking, the government needs the ability to expand the money supply during financial crises. Bitcoin doesn't lend itself to any of those Keynesian tricks…

"Bitcoin doesn't lend itself to any of those Keynesian tricks."

A) Monetary policy is not 'Keynesian' - and it's a handy thing, which is why everyone does it, and nobody has a perfectly hard currency.

B) BTC is not a currency, it's perfect rigidity - ironically - is what attracted many speculators in the first place, killing it's usefulness as a currency.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#15

Post by alexasmyths »

felipeko wrote: post #5
johnwheeler wrote: post #4

"Probably Never" is wishful thinking. They will never . Full stop. Why would the U.S. government tolerate universal currency when it has something far more advantageous? A currency it controls every other currency is pegged to (including Bitcoin). More practically speaking, the government needs the ability to expand the money supply during financial crises. Bitcoin doesn't lend itself to any of those Keynesian tricks…

Government does not need this ability, it just wants it.

"Government does not need this ability,"

Extremely debatable, given the fact that every nation on planet earth basically uses monetary policy.

A rational policy whereby currency is exchanged for other assets at a rate using benchmarks is preferable to a strict currency.

A better economic policy might even allow almost anyone to exchange assets for currency. Then the market can decide how much is in circulation (though arguably that is already happening, just the levers are in the hands of a body, not a distributed group).

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#16

Post by alexasmyths »

ringaroundthetx wrote: post #9

Different people in the U.S. government will embrace bitcoin, because they are the people trading bitcoin now. The wealth will bring the influence and the influence will bring the power. Some people were flabbergasted when the Fed was buying Mortgage-Backed Securities off the open market, practically giving one group of people money, under the guise of stimulating AN economy. Different people are going to be flabberg…

"practically giving one group of people money, under the guise of stimulating AN economy."

It wasn't under the guise of anything but saving the US economy from a wicked meltdown of epic proportions.

The dominos were set to all go down, the Fed kept a few of them up by rebalancing wealth.

As you point out - viciously unfair - but better in the long run.

FYI - a 'strict currency' is perhaps worse; crisis will happen. Strict currencies ties our boat to the dock, too much or too little water and we're all smoked. Moreover - outside of crises, the economy is dynamic - growing and shrinking, monetary policy helps manage that.

A strict currency is better than a poorly managed currency, but a well managed currency is better than a strict currency.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#17

Post by felipeko »

KirinDave wrote: post #10
felipeko wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government does not need this ability, it just wants it.

What does this mean? How does a government "need" or "not need" things?

There are things a government needs, like revenue source and public servants, to exist or do its job.

Government does not need to have its own currency for exist or to do its job.

It's debatable that government having the ability to mess with monetary policy is a good thing. It may be working in US at the moment (and it will be hard to measure if it is helping or not), but there have been a lot of countries economically ruined because of that.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#18

Post by chipgap98 »

alexasmyths wrote: post #13
paloaltokid wrote: post #12

Like, duh. Of course the government won’t embrace Bitcoin. It’s an absolute threat to national sovereignty. Virtual currencies that are not anonymized - no problem. But not Bitcoin.

"It’s an absolute threat to national sovereignty" It's not a threat to anything but speculators bank accounts. Nobody is using BTC as a currency.

I feel like this is akin to saying amazon wasn't a threat to retailers when it first launched because no one was doing all of their shopping on Amazon at the time. There is certainly a ton of speculation going on in this space at the moment, but it seems foolish to write off the entire concept simply because some people are speculating

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#19

Post by felipeko »

alexasmyths wrote: post #15
felipeko wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Government does not need this ability, it just wants it.

"Government does not need this ability," Extremely debatable, given the fact that every nation on planet earth basically uses monetary policy. A rational policy whereby currency is exchanged for other assets at a rate using benchmarks is preferable to a strict currency. A better economic policy might even allow almost anyone to exchange assets for currency. Then the market can decide how much is in circulation (thoug…

I don't think it is debatable considering we have had successful governments without it.

Saying every country does it is not a good point, as it could be applied to slavery once upon a time.

But I agree that it's debatable if it is good. Being good and necessary are two different things though.

Re: Bitcoin Will Probably Never Be Embraced by the U.S. Government

#20

Post by heisenbit »

kindfellow92 wrote: post #6

What does this even mean? BTC is a commodity, the government wins via taxes when people make gains. That’s like saying the government will never embrace stocks or real estate.

The limited number of BTC compared with the demand makes it less a commodity but more a collectible.
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