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We’re all criminals now

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51–60 of 110 posts

Re: We’re all criminals now

#51
post #5

The point of crypto currency is to do the exact thing money laundering laws try to prevent: to transfer large sums of cash untraceably across the globe, with no way for the government to do anything about it. Recently it's become a game of baseless investment, but anyone actually wanting to use crypto currencies as payment should've seen this coming from miles away.

I thought money laundering laws were trying to prevent money laundering, not transferring of cash.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#52
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except by then the cat is out of the bag and significant % of the population/institutions holds it and you can't hurt your own population without swift opposition. It's pretty clever if it works out.

That wouldn't be a big hurdle to overcome. They will just outlaw self-custody and make it illegal for you to own your own wallet/private keys without some kind of money license. The institutions will be unaffected if they still want to play with crypto for whatever reason, but other folks are going to be screwed because they won't be able to move their money in and out of fiat.

Who is "they"? Nobody universally and single handedly decides rules and regulations. For every person that will advocate for what you're suggesting, there will be even more fierce advocates for the reverse of that.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The point of crypto currency is to do the exact thing money laundering laws try to prevent No. That's not the point of cryptocurrency. > to transfer large sums of cash untraceably across the globe Wrong again. You can trace all transactions across the globe with cryptocurrency. > with no way for the government to do anything about it Why is that a bad thing?

> Why is that a bad thing? It inhibits tax collection, which funds common goods. It also thwarts law enforcement, which is counter to public benefit. We can debate whether taxes or laws or governments should exist. But they do, and most people seem to favor that. Debating a thing and actively subverting it are different. Just as subverting a thing and expecting such subversion to have no consequences or response are…

"It also thwarts law enforcement, which is counter to public benefit." not in all case. but also is enabling purchase of goods and services outside of government allowence? people who want psychadelic to treat ptsd, sex work, repressive regime that bar purchase of certain material all circumvented. only a tool, can be good or bad.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#54
If this was just about the law and didn't say anything about cryptocurrency or bitcoin these comments would be a lot more sensible.

It seems like simply including cryptocurrency in an article triggers an in-group vs out-group where people dive right into attacking positions.

Making it illegal to move more than 40 USD of value out of South Africa without written permission from the treasury is absurd. Every tourist has done this, I've done this. I'll do it again without any fear of being charged for this crime.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except by then the cat is out of the bag and significant % of the population/institutions holds it and you can't hurt your own population without swift opposition. It's pretty clever if it works out.

I don't think we've hit that critical mass yet though. And increased regulation can simply kill it by inches so there's no sudden cliff to drop off of that gets people too upset.

To me, the Coinbase IPO was a major milestone in achieving critical mass, if you look through their numbers, it has already achieved pretty massive scale compared to it's age. Jury is still out, but I'm confident the cat is more or less out of the bag.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#56

> And by the way, this exact rule is the reason many South African startup founders incorporate in Delaware instead of locally, because it is extremely difficult to attract foreign investment if the investors know they will not be able to get the return on their investment (or share of the IP) out of the country again. Except that in the USA you also need to declare transfers over $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Serv…

In the USA it is at least merely a CRT report the bank has to file. It looks like in South Africa they're going to need permission first rather than simply providing the government with the ability to track capital movements.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#57
post #29
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This is a fairly recent “announcement” and many people are upset about the Reserve Bank making up seemingly hostile and uninformed rules regarding something that has no notion of borders and is practically impossible for the regulators to control in terms of owning and transferring. Something that arguably does not even exist in any one location..." So now, a memorized key or password means you are transferring "rig…

The law isn't new and expecting cryptocurrency to get a free pass. The guidelines for how to follow those laws make sense. If there is anything to be upset with, it is the law itself which is something that South Africans have had a long time to get changed.

It isn't clear if its illegal to use ones Single Discretionary allowance (SDA) (1m ZAR per annum) or applying for and using a Foreign investment allowance (FIA) (further 10m ZAR per annum) for crypto.

If exchange control was applied fairly as was the interpretation up until recently, then staying below those amounts in ZAR terms would be fine. However, that may not be the case any more.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Monero is made illegal, how do you buy basic necessities with it? (i.e. why do you think there is something inherently different about monero)

In many developing countries, the black market exceeds the size of the "legitimate" economy by many multiples. Monero just codifies what people already do with a currency that's out of control of the local government (and presumably inflates less).

Except that the same currency used in the black market is also accepted by banks and grocery stores. In other words, the black market operates with legal tender, not an illegal one (i.e. BTC or MNR if either are made illegal)

Again, there does not seem to be any intrinsic difference between anonymous cryptos and non-anon if cryptos are generally illegal and not a valid tender

Re: We’re all criminals now

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main interest of governments to ban crypto currency is to levy taxes and have more information on citizenry.

Also to maintain control of monetary policy.

Im not so sure. Most countries do not ban foreign currencies.

Re: We’re all criminals now

#60

I miss the old crypto. When it was this fringe, nerdy digital coin i could transfer to my friends to pay my bar tab. Yeah - Venmo/paypal/ a billion other systems that did the same thing, but to my friends btc and eventually eth was cooler. I could stake coins, provide liquidity, mine random coins from my laptop - It was fun. The concept of a global computer was awesome, interesting and nerdy. I've never used an excha…

Old fringe crypto was the cringiest thing ever.

I miss nothing about that.

Every single crypto was and is called a scam in every single chat and thread about it. Pivoting to that as your rationale for whats different is very inaccurate.

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