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China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

dailybusinessgroup.co.uk

271–280 of 699 posts

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what ends up happening when an asset becomes economically meaningful. Crypto is still a joke to global economy, but on the off chance it gains mainstream adoption, it'll have the same kind of regulations, taxation and fraud attached to it.

Except crypto is less firmly anchored in the real world than in the digital realm. It's fundamentally harder to regulate it than a physical currency, which needs specialist equipment to generate.

Money as a concept is even less anchored in the real world. So is the law. The two have been dancing together since first human society. We have thousands of years of experience with this, and cryptocurrencies don't introduce anything new here, despite what some advocates may think.

As long as you can use something - be it a coin, a bill, a SWIFT transfer, a blockchain transaction or a Nuka-Cola bottle cap - to pay someone for something, and a third party would be able to identify it as a purchase, same things will happen. A criminal will be able to take your purchasing power and use it themselves. A taxman will be able to collect a percentage of your trade, and men with guns will take you in front of a judge if you refuse.

The manifestation of value doesn't matter, because money isn't a thing, it's a shared belief.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every bubble does that all the time until it bursts. Did people find a useful reason to buy Bitcoin already? Something that creates value, instead of hopping to sell higher for the next sucker?

My stocks are worthless to me, other than hoping to sell high for the next sucker.

It's not whether they are useful for you, it's whether they are useful for anybody at all. If they did never and will never pay a dividend or have a buyback, then yes, they are a pyramid.

But it was just a matter of thinking a bit about it. Everybody knows what Bitcoin is useful for: cyber-extortion and evading capital restrictions. There are even good reasons for practicing the last one... With that in mind, BTC still behaves like a bubble, but proving it's actually one depends on a quite laborious process of comparing the volumes and estimating how they will evolve.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#274
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If its banned then not only can government shutdown large mining operations but government resources can be spent on 51% attacks to discredit them.

Literally irrelevant for any non-PoW coin out there aka the majority of all coins.

Does it matter? Its basically just bitcoin that makes up almost all of PoW.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#275
hooray, finally some good news this week.

even aside from reducing the amount of financial stupidity in the world, bitcoin uses as much electricity as entire countries! to process 4 TRANSACTIONS PER SECOND:

https://www.blockchain.com/charts/transactions-per-second

what in the ever-loving fuck are we doing with ourselves.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#276

I hope the rest of world follows. There is nothing more volatile than a decentralised crypto currency. The amount of people making a profit from it is less than 5% and energy consumption is beyond acceptable. Crypto as a tech to serve something different is totally fine of course.

All money is highly volatile, but the goverments and the military work hard to hide that. That's why we have the occasional bubble where banks lose everything we ever made.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#277
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason why we have inflation and debt is to keep the value of our currencies stable. I'm not following. By definition, inflation is what happens when the price of a currency is not stable. > Remember: Currency is not an investment. A good currency has a stable value over time; otherwise it's very difficult to conduct commerce Agreed. But in countries with high inflation, such as mine, you will lose money if all…

There is a huge difference between moderate inflation and ruinous hyperinflation. For example, before last year Australia had gone almost 30 years without a recession [0], in large part because their central bank's inflation target is a few points higher than the US's hard 2% ceiling. This gives their bank more flexibility in controlling the money supply. That kind of stability is more beneficial to the middle class…

Not sure why you're so downvoted.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#278

China bans your crypto as illegal, while preparing their own national crypto chain(s). Sweden too right? US Fed in the mix with their own plans. "big thieves hate little thieves"

It's a way to move capital out of the country. Bad.

China is trying to prop up domestic stocks and investment. Crypto blunts that effort. Moreover, following or reclaiming the money is difficult, slow, and sometimes impossible. Very bad.

Crypto is probably something that the NSA can headshot and easily kill your cottage industry. Also bad, but to a much lesser degree than the capital flight.

Re: China declares cryptocurrency deals ‘illegal’

#279
post #136
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't downplay the environmental consequences of PoW, but the actual reason so many governments are speeding the push against crypto might be related to a future of high inflation and high gov debt. It would be the perfect storm for mainstream crypto adoption.

For China specifically, the reason to hate crypto currency is because it's a system where they don't have control. It's the same reason they are cracking down on the tech sector and Hong Kong. The CCP does not like having competitors for power or even something they don't have control over.

China is performing a sort of seppuku, will be interesting to watch.
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