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Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

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Re: Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

#5
I was happily surprised to see someone proposing this, assuming it was about PoW when reading the headline... but unfortunately it's just someone trying to time the market on our behalf?! Like, should we also ban stock trading when we expect the next pandemic or .com bubble?

Re: Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

#6
There's plenty of valid criticisms against crypto, I feel like they've picked some of the weakest ones.

> cryptocurrencies are used because people think they will one day replace traditional money

Maybe a tiny minority, sounds like a strawman.

> a contagious story in which people believe because other people believe in it

Isn't fiat the same? Money only has value because people believe it has value / will have value in the future / trust whoever prints it.

Re: Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

#7
>"Cryptocurrencies are essentially neither money nor a financial product, but an example of what Nobel laureate Robert Shiller calls a 'contagious narrative': a contagious story in which people believe because other people believe in it."

How is this different from money or the financial markets? Why do those continue to exist if not for the belief we collectively have in them? And why is that only a problem for bitcoin?

Re: Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

#9
post #6

There's plenty of valid criticisms against crypto, I feel like they've picked some of the weakest ones. > cryptocurrencies are used because people think they will one day replace traditional money Maybe a tiny minority, sounds like a strawman. > a contagious story in which people believe because other people believe in it Isn't fiat the same? Money only has value because people believe it has value / will have value…

> Maybe a tiny minority, sounds like a strawman.

I don't think so, i believe many people think that a private and decentralized solution will replace traditional money. That just isn't an argument against it. If anything, it's an argument FOR cryptocurrencies.

> Isn't fiat the same?

haha yes.

Re: Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

#10
post #5

I was happily surprised to see someone proposing this, assuming it was about PoW when reading the headline... but unfortunately it's just someone trying to time the market on our behalf?! Like, should we also ban stock trading when we expect the next pandemic or .com bubble?

I think their argument is that cryptocurrencies not just (PoW) but (PoS) too are just a meme with no social benefit (unlike the stock market), yet people put large amounts of money on them and it will end in tears.
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