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CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

netherlandsnewslive.com

31–40 of 210 posts

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#31
Bitcoin should perish, and quickly, for the reasons outlined. But "other cryptocurrencies" is a generalization that is too broad. Some alternatives are faster, feeless and 1000x more energy efficient. Sure, you may argue that countries may not want some uncontrollable asset to run rampant, but guess what: it's the whole point of cryptocurrencies -- a form of means of exchange that nobody can control. May not sound relevant in countries like US / EU, but look at how other monetary policies around the world are doing, run by incompetent and/or corrupt governments (venezuela, argentina, several african countries).

Maybe "crypto" is not the answer, but a form of global money that no individual country can touch, and is more easily transferrable than physical assets like gold, will emerge.

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#32
post #10

The reason we have to go to the trouble of making cryptocurrencies is that busybodies like this guy are endlessly trying to reduce our freedom. They're not trying to look out for people; they're trying to protect their ability to print money and steal. In crypto parlance, they want to remain the VIPs that have centralized special privileged access to create tokens, and force usage thereof. But now we have the technol…

Just to be clear, by "ability to print money and steal" you mean having a central bank and levying taxes? You're making a moral argument against the idea of government controlled currency in general, yes? Can you clarify why you think controlled currencies are morally bad and how cryptocurrencies are better? I'd love to hear a less abstract argument than "more freedom". EDIT: I assume downvotes mean there are people…

"Inflation is legalized counterfeiting and counterfeiting is criminalized inflation. "-Robert Breedlove

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#33
post #16
post #8

Why should others decide if I can run useless hashing functions on my computer? Price the electricity accordingly, and make PoW impossible. Cryptocurrency is no the enabler of ransomware. Ransomware was prevalent before cryptocurrencies. The real enablers of ransomware are the countries that shelter the R10 groups, raking in millions. There's a reason some ransomware doesn't run when your system has a Russian languag…

> There's a reason some ransomware doesn't run when your system has a Russian language keyboard, and it's not because they know Russians never pay ransom... Why then?

Because they run their operations from there, and don't mess around where they live. Part of their profits pays for protection. Extracting value, and crippling western companies aligns with the strategic goals of these countries. And ransomware is literally a 10B USD business.

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#35
post #18
post #8

Why should others decide if I can run useless hashing functions on my computer? Price the electricity accordingly, and make PoW impossible. Cryptocurrency is no the enabler of ransomware. Ransomware was prevalent before cryptocurrencies. The real enablers of ransomware are the countries that shelter the R10 groups, raking in millions. There's a reason some ransomware doesn't run when your system has a Russian languag…

>Price the electricity accordingly So I should pay significantly more on my bills, just because you want to play with some virtual coins?

I don't think that's the point. They could just increase price on higher usage. So everyone pays the same, but those who use more pay more²

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#36
post #8

Why should others decide if I can run useless hashing functions on my computer? Price the electricity accordingly, and make PoW impossible. Cryptocurrency is no the enabler of ransomware. Ransomware was prevalent before cryptocurrencies. The real enablers of ransomware are the countries that shelter the R10 groups, raking in millions. There's a reason some ransomware doesn't run when your system has a Russian languag…

> Price the electricity accordingly, and make PoW impossible.

The problem is that other productive things are priced out before "mining".

The environmental cost will be born either way, but mining is by definition not productive. It has been profitable to some people, but it is destructive to civilisation altogether.

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#38
post #20
post #4

Everyone needs to ban Bitcoin... and likely other cryptocurrencies. Not only are they by far the biggest enablers of ransomware (which we're supposedly taking seriously now), but Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C. [1] Bitcoin already consumes 0.55% of energy produced globally. [2] [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0321-8 [2] https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-a…

Good luck banning internet access. Even if you ban crypto exchanges and money transfers to them, you cannot ban a single entity called Bitcoin Co, nor you can ban individuals from possessing it. You could potentially ban crypto miners from using the electrical energy, but that doesn't ban Bitcoin either. Any other ideas? :)

If you can't exchange your crypto currency against fiat it will become worthless.

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#39
post #20
post #4

Everyone needs to ban Bitcoin... and likely other cryptocurrencies. Not only are they by far the biggest enablers of ransomware (which we're supposedly taking seriously now), but Bitcoin emissions alone could push global warming above 2°C. [1] Bitcoin already consumes 0.55% of energy produced globally. [2] [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-018-0321-8 [2] https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-a…

Good luck banning internet access. Even if you ban crypto exchanges and money transfers to them, you cannot ban a single entity called Bitcoin Co, nor you can ban individuals from possessing it. You could potentially ban crypto miners from using the electrical energy, but that doesn't ban Bitcoin either. Any other ideas? :)

> Any other ideas? :)

Yeah, make it illegal.

Re: CPB director: The Netherlands must ban Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies

#40
post #3

I'm curious what's going to be left when the dust settles, probably in about 5 years. After all, since we're talking about the Netherlands, tulip bulbs are still around but most people don't care about them anymore.

Tulip mania was wildly exaggerated by Calvinists who wanted to create a precautionary tale against consumerism.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/there-never-was-real-...

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