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Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

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Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#31
post #27

Just FYI Belarus is not a democracy and the laws change at the whim of the rulers. Read the journal of this blogger who got arrested there https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499 , the people(the foreign nationals) who were in jail with him...

Any gov't were lobby has more power then voters is by definition not a democracy. > the laws change at the whim of the rulers. There are not too many (probably non at all) places were law changes are voted on by the general public directly. I really do not think that calling some place "undemocratic" helps. What is more interesting to me is to what extend a place rulers/rules promote or counter oppression.

> I really do not think that calling some place "undemocratic" helps

Democracies are more stable and tend to contain healthier economies, in the long run [1]. Commerce doesn't care about "what extend [sic]...rulers/rules promote or counter oppression." It is meaningful, on the other hand, to consider how long a regime (and thus one's investments) will last, the odds of your employees being jailed for falling out of political favor, whether favorable rules (such as this one) could be re-written, again on someone's whim, et cetera.

[1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-p...

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#32

"I am the last dictator in Europe" Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko

"No you're not." Recep Tayyip Erdoğan

Strictly speaking, he said it in 2012, back when Erdoğan was just a dodgy Prime Minister. Of course, Putin was still around... What he meant was that he was the only dictator in Europe who was making no efforts to hide it; Russia and Turkey still have at least the pretence of free elections.

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#33
post #11

Just FYI Belarus is not a democracy and the laws change at the whim of the rulers. Read the journal of this blogger who got arrested there https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-38804499 , the people(the foreign nationals) who were in jail with him...

Just FYI, Belarusians often refer to Donald Trump as the american Lukashenka. They share quite a few traits.

I imagine all leaders share some traits no matter how good, evil, or truly monstrous they are. The reality is, however, that Americans can vote their leader out of office in a couple of years while in Belarus they just cannot.

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#34
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Belarus is finishing its first nuclear power station and wants to use the surplus capacity. Initially, they planned to sell it to Baltic countries, but these are in the EU, so it is not yet sure they will cut a deal. EU has a huge anti-nuclear, pro-carbon lobby.

More like the EU has a huge anti-Belarus lobby (and for very good reasons). The Baltic countries mostly have their own nuclear plants, with no plans to close them; not that much anti-nuclear sentiment.

Dude, you are lying. Lithuania closed its last nuclear reactor, which had been generating 70% of its electricity, at the end of 2009, due to EU pressure. Latvia and Estonia never had one.

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#35
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't have oligarchs in Belarus :) Victor Prokopenia ( https://www.facebook.com/viktor.prokopenya ), one of the most famous investors and businessman from Belarus is the one who actually influenced these changes.

Victor Prokopenia was jailed in 2015 and detained for many months. Once he was released, he started consulting president's inner circles. This policy of carrot and stick is what prevents the appearance of oligarchs in Belarus. They are intimidated before they become too powerful to ignore. Very little information leaks about the reasons of such detentions and liberations.

[deleted]

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#36
post #12

The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like a real life implementation of a Neal Stephenson novel. Second Life doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies won't as well. From the outside they do look just as niche and generally lacking in use cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.o…

Second Life is a virtual world where virtual stuff can be traded.

Blockchain technology is real world technology. It can help to solve really challenging problems and make real world systems more efficient / productive / cost effective / autonomous.

The two are in no way comparable... if you're looking for a comparison to Second Life which happens to use blockchain technology, check out Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#37
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any gov't were lobby has more power then voters is by definition not a democracy. > the laws change at the whim of the rulers. There are not too many (probably non at all) places were law changes are voted on by the general public directly. I really do not think that calling some place "undemocratic" helps. What is more interesting to me is to what extend a place rulers/rules promote or counter oppression.

> I really do not think that calling some place "undemocratic" helps Democracies are more stable and tend to contain healthier economies, in the long run [1]. Commerce doesn't care about "what extend [ sic ]...rulers/rules promote or counter oppression." It is meaningful, on the other hand, to consider how long a regime (and thus one's investments) will last, the odds of your employees being jailed for falling out of…

[deleted]

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#38
post #28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geographically, Turkey is not Europe, right?

Mostly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace Then again, what is Europe, geographically? If I count continents, I count something often call "eurasia" as one continent, not two. I think cutting it in two over some mountain rig is a bit, well, arbitrary.

In 2015, the "European" Games were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another dodgy president (Ilham Aliyev), if you count Azerbaijan as Europe.

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#39
post #12

The blockchain hype seems to have some parallels to the Second Life[1] one. The technology isn't quite there, the valuations are immense, and it all seems like a real life implementation of a Neal Stephenson novel. Second Life doesn't seem to have gone anywhere but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies won't as well. From the outside they do look just as niche and generally lacking in use cases. [1] https://en.wikipedia.o…

Second Life is a virtual world where virtual stuff can be traded. Blockchain technology is real world technology. It can help to solve really challenging problems and make real world systems more efficient / productive / cost effective / autonomous. The two are in no way comparable... if you're looking for a comparison to Second Life which happens to use blockchain technology, check out Decentraland: https://decentra…

Bitcoin is no more real life than Second Life is -- both exist in our reality just the same. Virtual goods in second life are no more virtual than bitcoins are -- both are just bits on some hard drives that people agreed to be worth something. There are significant differences between Bitcoin and Second Life, the lack of centralized control in the former being the biggest, but they aren't what you described in your comment.

Re: Belarus to create a regulatory environment for circulation of cryptocurrencies

#40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Thrace Then again, what is Europe, geographically? If I count continents, I count something often call "eurasia" as one continent, not two. I think cutting it in two over some mountain rig is a bit, well, arbitrary.

In 2015, the "European" Games were held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Another dodgy president (Ilham Aliyev), if you count Azerbaijan as Europe.

As stated I do not see a "geographical europe" on the map. I see eurasia. And being "european" definitely has nothing to do with having clean politicians.
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