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I was wrong, we need crypto

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Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#31

Post by defaultname »

nameisname wrote: post #25
defaultname wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're 100% right. The moment someone blasted their horn -- much less their modified, multi-horn noise-terrorism device -- they should have been warned, fined, and then charged/arrested for mischief. The moment they blocked roadways illegally with regulated, commercial vehicles, they should have been warned, fined, and then charged/arrested, the vehicle towed. The moment the first person stopped near a bridge they sh…

Why would you treat this group of protestors so much more harshly than ones that, say, block railways? Also, I think a lot of what you're saying is very narrow minded. To get a group of people together to protest anything is a miracle and to expect them all to behave like their some sort of hive mind is just willful ignorance. There will always be bad actors, even with proper leadership. I think you need to spend som…

"Why would you treat this group of protestors so much more harshly than ones that, say, block railways?"

Me? I found the railway blockades intolerable lawlessness. Trudeau took well-earned criticism for the soft-handed approach to them, and it cost him a majority government. It had far less of a negative impact on Canada (and touched on a very sensitive aboriginal issue), but those of us with actual value-based positions -- instead of just tribalistically flexing our positions to justify whatever we think "our" group are doing, as seen by DHH here -- are pretty consistent on this.

But can you point out any other protest in Canada that set up hot tubs on city streets, abused commercial vehicles and commercial privileges, terrorized residents, squatted on city parking lots as command and control systems, and operated a lawless zone? Pointing to some CHOP in the US (also GROSSLY unacceptable) isn't an example. Pointing at BLM isn't a counterpoint.

"expect them all to behave like their some sort of hive mind"

Among any group there will be bad actors. The constant citing of a Nazi flag appearance was just boring nonsense...at least until I repeatedly saw Canada First and Red Ensign flags (which are a subtler way of saying the same thing). QAnon nuttery would be just some fringe...if it wasn't the majority of content on their main stage and repeated by the main organizers constantly. The guy saying the flurry of incredibly ignorant misinformation would be just some nut, if it wasn't the same thing that came out of almost every participant's mouth.

"I also think your news sources are a little biased."

Sure. I mean, my news sources don't involved many QAnon blogs, but during the protest I had a video window playing most days featuring one of the sympathetic live streamers who constantly walked up and down the protest, interviewing participants. ZOD, the travel fun guy, some machine guy, etc. It is the words of the participant, and hearing their rhetoric at their stage, that gives me my opinion of this group.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#32

Post by jqpabc123 »

dylkil wrote: post #21
jqpabc123 wrote: post #10

... we need crypto Did someone say otherwise? Crypto is an attempt to fulfill a broad yearning for financial freedom. The problem is, as it currently exists --- it just doesn't deliver. Crypto doesn't displace trust, it misplaces it. Instead of trusting government and regulated banks, you end up trusting the unregulated gatekeepers to the block chain --- the exchanges. Who is making sure these gatekeepers are not sel…

>you end up trusting the unregulated gatekeepers to the block chain --- the exchanges. how exactly are exchanges gatekeepers? blockchains would function completely fine without exchanges. In fact, on chain exchanges like uniswap and 0x require zero trust whatsoever.

In fact, on chain exchanges like uniswap and 0x require zero trust whatsoever.

Who determines how much your crypto is worth?

Does uniswap do this? No, not on their own. They can't --- their daily trading volume is too small. They are literally forced to follow the "marketplace".

The 800lb gorillas that make up the crypto "marketplace" are the centralized exchanges --- Binance and others. They set the price using whatever method they choose. And they can easily influence the price by buying and selling themselves. Binance has access to unlimited funds to do so --- by simply minting more Tethers --- which they have done repeatedly --- and the price remains pegged at $1USD (wink, wink, nod, nod).

With unlimited funds, effective control over the pricing mechanism and no regulation --- the centralized exchanges have all the ingredients for the ultimate form of insider trading fraud.

If you trade crypto as it exists today, you are *trusting* the centralized exchanges who have overwhelming influence over the "marketplace". You have no other option.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#33

Post by jonathan-adly »

Crypto makes people so ideological and emotional. if you put down the pitchforks and think for a second. Bitcoin is just an insurance.

Store cash under the mattress if you don’t like it. Just understand that the people who in it aren’t stupid or in a Ponzi scheme.

Personally, living without insurance in case centralized financial instruments lock me out out is an insane risk to take.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#34

Post by asenna »

h2odragon wrote: post #29
dylkil wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the crypto is in the users wallet (i.e. not on some crypto exchange) the canadian government cannot seize it without asking the user to sign a transaction transferring them the crypto. We are 13 years on from bitcoins inception, and we are on a tech board, how this is still not clear to people boggles me.

How many crypto "owners" don't have a wallet? What do those who do have one do when they get told "cough up the keys or go to jail"? "Crypto" is not some magic "laws don't apply" wand.

"I had a boating accident" is a pretty common response.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#35

Post by rosndo »

jqpabc123 wrote: post #32
dylkil wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>you end up trusting the unregulated gatekeepers to the block chain --- the exchanges. how exactly are exchanges gatekeepers? blockchains would function completely fine without exchanges. In fact, on chain exchanges like uniswap and 0x require zero trust whatsoever.

In fact, on chain exchanges like uniswap and 0x require zero trust whatsoever. Who determines how much your crypto is worth? Does uniswap do this? No, not on their own. They can't --- their daily trading volume is too small. They are literally forced to follow the "marketplace". The 800lb gorillas that make up the crypto "marketplace" are the centralized exchanges --- Binance and others. They set the price using what…

Exchanges decentralize trust, you don’t have to work with any specific exchange.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#36

Post by jonathan-adly »

h2odragon wrote: post #29
dylkil wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the crypto is in the users wallet (i.e. not on some crypto exchange) the canadian government cannot seize it without asking the user to sign a transaction transferring them the crypto. We are 13 years on from bitcoins inception, and we are on a tech board, how this is still not clear to people boggles me.

How many crypto "owners" don't have a wallet? What do those who do have one do when they get told "cough up the keys or go to jail"? "Crypto" is not some magic "laws don't apply" wand.

> cough up the keys or go to jail"

There is literally a meme about this my man. It’s called I lost my wallet in a boating accident lol.

Also, that’s why Bitcoin is different than “crypto”. The first thing you hear when you buy Bitcoin, “not your keys, not your coins”.

The point is not to eradicate the law, the point is to make it difficult to freeze 1000 people accounts than pushing a button. It will make people think about other solutions than stealing people money.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#37

Post by rosndo »

rglover wrote: post #11

We don't need "crypto," we need _Bitcoin_. Crypto is the scam he references here. It's clear that DHH has a very thin understanding of Bitcoin and is conflating arguments about the web3/crypto/defi/nft nonsense with it. _That_ is the psyop. If people think Bitcoin and all of the other junk (sh*tcoins) are the same thing, you're just walking into the same trap as what precipitated the nightmare in Canada. The thing to…

> We don't need "crypto," we need _Bitcoin_.

But Monero is objectively better than Bitcoin if you just want to pay for things.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#38

Post by Comevius »

csee wrote: post #30
Comevius wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canada only enacted the Emergencies Act when things got out of hand. This was separatist group that for a time took control over the border, threatened and blockaded critical infrastructure and committed thousands of crimes (bribery, threats, assault, setting a fire in a building). The criminal investigations are ongoing. Due process will be had.

Then arrest the people who are breaking the laws and blockading critical infrastructure, and charge them with a criminal offence. The BLM protests also saw many criminal elements that did looting and assaults. None of this is a valid argument for freezing accounts of people "involved" without due process.

The Emergencies Act is specifically for when there is an urgent and critical public order emergency. It's invocation is going to be ratified by the Parlaiment today.

The police unfortunately dropped the ball, they tried that option too. But just arresting specific people also wasn't enough.

Polling shows that the majority of Canadians supported the use of the act.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#39

Post by jqpabc123 »

rosndo wrote: post #35
jqpabc123 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, on chain exchanges like uniswap and 0x require zero trust whatsoever. Who determines how much your crypto is worth? Does uniswap do this? No, not on their own. They can't --- their daily trading volume is too small. They are literally forced to follow the "marketplace". The 800lb gorillas that make up the crypto "marketplace" are the centralized exchanges --- Binance and others. They set the price using what…

Exchanges decentralize trust, you don’t have to work with any specific exchange.

LOL!

Sure, pick any exchange you want and I'll bet you a BTC that the price of USDT is effectively $1 USD.

USDT remains pegged at $1 USD regardless of how many new Tethers are minted. Have you ever thought about why or how this happens? Once you do, your *trust* in the crypto exchanges/marketplace will start to unravel.

Re: I was wrong, we need crypto

#40

Post by thesuperbigfrog »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #16
h2odragon wrote: post #13

The Canadian Gubmint is issuing orders about seizing crypto assets too. We need more economic freedom; "cryptocurrencies" are not suddenly a panacea to that end. They're still the scam riddled "but this is stupid at its very base" pyramid schemes they were all along. See the precedent set by Emperor Norton; community currencies and other alternates can work too. What's needed is a government that admits limits to its…

> The Canadian Gubmint is issuing orders about seizing crypto assets too. Sure, but the entire point is that they can't . If you manage your own private keys, it is significantly harder for the canadian government to seize your assets compared to the gov telling your bank to freeze your account. Crypto people need to work on UX though, so that you don't need to be technically savvy to do so.

>> Sure, but the entire point is that they can't.

>> If you manage your own private keys, it is significantly harder for the canadian government to seize your assets compared to the gov telling your bank to freeze your account.

If they want your keys badly enough, they will get them:

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/security.png

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