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The Meaning of Bitcoin

maraoz.com

71–80 of 84 posts

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#71
It is amusing that the author was burned by a corrupt third party holding their wallet. I appreciate the growth to understanding the point is for you to be your own bank.

The killer app will be the day Putin offers oil for BTC. When nations conduct business on crypto, then sanctions mean next to nothing and will cost real blood and treasure to enforce.

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#72
post #57
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

where did I imply bitcoin is anonymous?

“ Literally no human, corporation, or government could have stopped what I had just done.” “ A world where no government or politician can change the rules one random day. A world where financial innovation moves at the pace of programmers, not legislators.”

This relates to its durability and not anonymity.

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#73
post #54
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: > In December 2001, Argentine President Fernando de la Rua imposed an ATM withdrawal limit of $250 per week. > I sometimes read from people in developed countries, offended by bitcoin’s carbon emissions or by the huge amount of scams in the crypto space. ... To really get crypto, you have to have been fucked by some third party with power over your money. Be it a government, a bank, a business, or a…

Okay, and next month the Argentine president could impose a withdrawal limit or complete block on accessing crypto exchanges (which most people will be unable to circumvent), apply strict individual and business criminal penalties on bypassing these and trading crypto P2P, and even set up honeypots to arrest those trying to trade and cash out crypto in-person. The idea that an overreaching authoritarian government wi…

Yes, but the hope that an alternative exists should be celebrated. And not only in weak democratic countries.

See also: https://world.hey.com/dhh/i-was-wrong-we-need-crypto-587ccb0... for a strong case of why it's important for universal human rights.

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a multitude of governments involved in Bitcoin with different incentives and strategies. If you claim "The government can do X to Bitcoin" you should explain which government(s) and how exactly that would work. When was the FED a "democratically elected government", by the way?

Any nation's legislature, if threatened with loss of control of the nation's money, would immediately make it illegal to use any tender not sanctioned by that state. A vast amount of the state's historical policing was aimed largely at preventing alternative currencies from forming (consider, e.g., Isaac Newton's role at the Royal Mint). They will put you in jail; withdraw your business licence and suspend your limit…

> The state has every incentive to destroy a private currency, or a private army, or a private police force.

I don't see how currency is similar to an army or police force, could you elaborate?

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#76
> Another bought a laptop by taking out a stablecoin loan on a DeFi platform when no bank would lend to him.

Could someone explain this to me — I thought that loans on cryptocurrency platforms had to be collateralized by cryptocurrency? How could someone buy a house with a crypto loan if they didn’t already have enough to buy one in the first place?

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any nation's legislature, if threatened with loss of control of the nation's money, would immediately make it illegal to use any tender not sanctioned by that state. A vast amount of the state's historical policing was aimed largely at preventing alternative currencies from forming (consider, e.g., Isaac Newton's role at the Royal Mint). They will put you in jail; withdraw your business licence and suspend your limit…

> The state has every incentive to destroy a private currency, or a private army, or a private police force. I don't see how currency is similar to an army or police force, could you elaborate?

The supply of money is one of the main means a government has to conduct economic policy. Consider what would have happened during the financial crash if governments hadnt been able to inject massive amounts of it into the economy.

Libertarians assume that if there's no democratic control over the currency, somehow, Reality, will make everything turn out ok. Well we tried that for a very long time, and it was a disaster. Every crisis is much worse if you cannot control the money supply.

In any case, no modern state would ever give this up. Its vital for their being able to deliver policies that people want, and to managing times of crisis.

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The state has every incentive to destroy a private currency, or a private army, or a private police force. I don't see how currency is similar to an army or police force, could you elaborate?

The supply of money is one of the main means a government has to conduct economic policy. Consider what would have happened during the financial crash if governments hadnt been able to inject massive amounts of it into the economy. Libertarians assume that if there's no democratic control over the currency, somehow, Reality, will make everything turn out ok. Well we tried that for a very long time, and it was a disas…

It's also vital to undermine the savings of the population, which has been the case in most countries (perhaps less noticeable when there is a working financial system, but in many other countries people don't have access to invest in the market, or don't trust the institutions).

Re: The Meaning of Bitcoin

#80

"I've seen people get rich off crypto" and I've seen hundreds of gambling addicts lose their house and put their family on the street when the bet didn't go right. Even when you're talking about serious coins, ignoring the rug pulls. That money comes from somewhere. Who's holding the bag? Crypto people tend to have an infinite dose of "f** you got mine" even if they didn't get theirs.

That quote, or anything similar, is not present in the article.
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