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CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

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Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#171

Post by jonfw »

puranjay wrote: post #132
justapassenger wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DeFi main value proposition isn’t tech (that’s cool) but avoiding regulations. Blockchain has lots of potentially interesting use cases like NFT, but crypto currency is still not one of them. And by not cracking down on scams in cryptocurrency will only make any future adoption harder.

DeFi's main value proposition is the automation of money. NFTs main value proposition is fractional ownership and assertion of ownership rights in a transparent manner. Imagine owning 1% of a Drake song - and getting paid 1% of the royalties every time it plays on Spotify. Or creating a yield earning strategy that automatically moves money around based on fixed paramters without ever interacting with a banker or fund…

The reason we don't have fractional ownership of pop songs is because that's a bad idea, not because we can't figure out how to organize it.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#172

Post by arcticbull »

bko wrote: post #153
kelnos wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whatever your stance on cryptocurrencies are, what is of little dispute is the business opportunities they have created. Binance and Coinbase are large, successful companies. Poloniex was sold for ~400M. I find this argument a little weird, because I think we can all agree that bubbles and fad tech isn't really great for society as a whole. If you believe cryptocurrencies aren't a fad and actually provide useful be…

Crypto is a better version of gold and a store of wealth that whose supply isn't at the whims of central banks. Gold has a purpose. Central banks may pretend that gold serves no purpose in a modern economy, but they still hold on to trillions in gold. I hope eventually they'll get around to holding a crypto currency like Bitcoin. They're just upset they don't have a head start in accumulating a reserve.

Gold is shiny pebbles people are willing to pay money for. Crypto is spreadsheet cells people are willing to pay money for. Well, some amount of money -- mostly Tether though, which is likely in turn backed by the same crypto lol. It's really an open question just how much new real money is flowing into crypto.

It's all pretty clear in the settlement Tether signed [1]. Particular note are #17, #20, #36, #43-46

[1] https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2021.02.17_-_settlemen...

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#173

Post by cblconfederate »

This was expected, crypto is essentially a weapon against the dollar. However i m not sure if the world's economies will go along with it. Maybe europe (which usually drags itself behind the US) but i m not sure the rest of the world would want to begin the post-covid era with even more dependence on US.

In any case, good news for binance, bad news for coinbase

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#174

Post by arcturus17 »

christiansakai wrote: post #99

Tangentially related. Cryptocurrency is just a side effect of blockchain. Once blockchain technology matures and if one day we see blockchain to store files and blockchain to run cloud services, then will the US government censor it as well? If they will, how? It is practically impossible. You can upload anything there, including child porn, instructions on making bombs, videos that contain brainwashing propaganda fo…

> if one day we see blockchain to store files and blockchain to run cloud services

As a user of both types of services, I don't see what bringing them to the blockchain would do for me.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#175

Post by arcticbull »

yunesj wrote: post #170
arcticbull wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’m not aware of any other digital transaction methods that can send un-printable money besides cryptos. That's because it's not a useful feature heh. Money is meant to be a medium of exchange and temporary store of value. To the extent it holds its value for the duration of your ownership of it, it's met its goal.

Sure, it's a fair argument that gold + paypal may be superior to bitcoin.

You can simplify this even more. Open an InteractiveBrokers margin account and request a debit card. Fund the account, purchase gold (futures, GLD, whatever) and spend on your IBKR debit card. This will pull from your margin. Your margin interest is ~1% and tax deductible. Settle up your account as you see fit.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#176

Post by wayoutthere »

rudderz wrote: post #137
kelnos wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whatever your stance on cryptocurrencies are, what is of little dispute is the business opportunities they have created. Binance and Coinbase are large, successful companies. Poloniex was sold for ~400M. I find this argument a little weird, because I think we can all agree that bubbles and fad tech isn't really great for society as a whole. If you believe cryptocurrencies aren't a fad and actually provide useful be…

Take crypto out of the equation, what are the implications of the fed issuing a programmable currency? Many financial services would become obsolete. What do I need a stock broker for? What do I need a bank for? You have Wall St and other sophisticated investors profiteering and competing against the general public, devaluing our purchasing power, making leveraged trades because they know the public will hold the bag…

If the fed did a cryptocurrency, it would be backed by the full might of the US Government — and all the things that the government can do if it decides to print more money. This also includes military and police powers.

Which brings me to the other point: currencies are governed at both ends; at issuance and at use. If you use a crypto that’s not approved, the government can simply arrest you for using one of its competitors. The treasury could likely do this without even needing to issue new laws, just new guidance. Governance is the reason for the existence of the US Treasury and Federal Reserve. It’s a core feature of any currency and the government isn’t going to abandon that lever of hard power. They’re only going to do a cryptocurrency that gives them more power, not less.

All of the stakeholders you list have a vested interest in not being disintermediated. They’re also deeply embedded in policy creation. I can’t help but notice the way crypto evangelists speak of crypto is the way leftists speak of Marx: in very vague terms outlining a utopian vision of a new economic paradigm that is frustrated by the sticky realities of the momentum of money and power. The reality of Marxism is different from the utopia, as would be the realities of central bank crypto (hint: it’s gonna be authoritarian af).

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#177

Post by gpapilion »

liquidise wrote: post #4

> U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other officials have warned about the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit transactions. Wait until you hear about cash. More seriously (and hopefully less reductionist) i feel nations who embrace cryptocurrencies early will see mixed results as the landscape matures. I am more confident that nations which turn their back on it, or shut it out completely, will see a loss of o…

> Wait until you hear about cash.

This is why Europe eliminated the 500 euro note, and the US doesn't produce bills larger than 100 dollars. The thought is these are largely used be criminals.

Similarly Modi's demonetisation which the intent was to remove black money from the economy. All bills of 500 and 1000 rupee were to become worthless if not exchanged by a certain date.

So they've heard about it.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#178

Post by arcturus17 »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #86

HN is boomer central when it comes to crypto. Haven't had a single enlightening discussion about it here. I see a lot of misconceptions about scams and pump and dump schemes carried over from the 2017 run, and complete neglect of the innovations created since. If anyone wants a refresher, I'm always willing to chat. I will also write a primer to help get folks up to speed on what's the latest in crypto.

Yea no I've seen plenty of you folks talking about recent innovations in crypto and I'm just not persuaded that any of it is remotely useful other than maybe store of value and certainly speculation.

I'm not a boomer, and I even own a decent position in BTC / ETH.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#179

Post by jerf »

dgrin91 wrote: post #77
petertodd wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wait until you hear about cash. I'm always bothered by this arguement because most of the same people in government who want to see a crackdown on Bitcoin also seem to want cash to be eliminated. I've been asked to do consulting on one of these digital cash replacement projects. The requirements included all the stuff you'd expect, like strict ID requirements for every account, and the ability to freeze funds at wi…

> most of the same people in government who want to see a crackdown on Bitcoin also seem to want cash to be eliminated Can you provide a source for that? First I've heard of such an argument from government officials

It hasn't necessarily been out front-and-center in the mainstream media, but it's definitely something getting talked about in mainstream financial circles routinely. Here's a bit of a partisan source from a quick google search, but it's got a lot of links and citations you can follow up on and I believe it is basically correct in its facts, even if you disagree with the conclusions drawn from them: https://www.newswars.com/cashless-society-democrats-propose-...

It's up to the "trial balloon floated in Congress" point. The trial balloon has so far always been shot down, but it's really only a matter of time. If the government could just push a button and have access to literally every single transaction that occurs, they would certainly do it. They wouldn't even blink.

Also, I want to say, I'm just linking one example. You can follow up with search terms similar to the ones used in that article, and probably find even more mainstream sources discussing it. It's a topic in the air in financial circles.

Edit: Bit more searching, here you go with something much more mainstream, Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/10/22/the-pandemic...

And again, my main point here is that it is a topic of conversation, not making any particular claims about where we are currently.

Re: CEO of a top Bitcoin exchange warns: crackdown on cryptocurrencies may be coming

#180

Post by walterbell »

cinntaile wrote: post #148
motohagiography wrote: post #139

Some discussion from knowledgeable people of what plausible "crackdown" rules would look like would be interesting. The article mentions an ID requirement for transactions above $3k. Personally, I think the idea of the physical nation state is converting to a global credit score, where instead of transacting across borders, you are transacting across classes of businesses and people, and tarriff and tax policy will b…

This is an interesting point of view, do you have any sources where I can read more about this?

See this comment from a larger thread on CBDCs: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26205741

May or may not be repurposed: https://www.goodhealthpass.org & https://www.lfph.io/ & https://trustoverip.org/

There's been talk of a KYC requirement for all customers of US web hosting because cyber.

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