Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

> The events unfolded as Zimbabwe is in deep crisis. The economy has halved in size since 2000, an estimated 95% of the workforce is jobless and as many as 3 million Zimbabweans have gone into exile.

95% unemployment?

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#5

Post by dpflan » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

I'm intrigued by the idea that cryptocurrencies can exist and may help alleviate economics crises, but in a dark plot twist can't governments essentially own the majority of computing power, start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others? What does the world look like when a decentralized concept like this is appropriated and brute forced into a more-or-less centralized concept? (Or perhaps I'm way off track...)

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#6

Post by wereHamster » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 6:57 PM UTC

dpflan wrote: post #5

I'm intrigued by the idea that cryptocurrencies can exist and may help alleviate economics crises, but in a dark plot twist can't governments essentially own the majority of computing power, start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others? What does the world look like when a decentralized concept like this is appropriated and brute forced into a more-or-less centralized concept? (Or perhaps I'm way off track..…

Sure they can try to "outlaw" cryptocurrencies. Or the internet as a whole. Good luck with enforcing it though…

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#7

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 6:59 PM UTC

lend000 wrote: post #4

Is this a legitimate news source? I have a difficult time believing this part: > The events unfolded as Zimbabwe is in deep crisis. The economy has halved in size since 2000, an estimated 95% of the workforce is jobless and as many as 3 million Zimbabweans have gone into exile. 95% unemployment?

Fact check on it:

https://africacheck.org/reports/is-zimbabwes-unemployment-ra...

Basically, it's complicated, and nobody knows what to believe. The 95% figure is taken from the CIA World Factbook, and has been repeated frequently in mainstream media and on Wikipedia. However, depending on who you ask and how you count, it could be as low as 4%.

Keep in mind that not everyone in the world takes Western institutions (like a national government, rule of law, and functioning economy) for granted. More than half the world's population still lives on subsistence agriculture: they tend a small plot of land, which generates enough food to feed their family and trade with surrounding villagers. These people are still "employed" in the sense that they work to support themselves, but they don't participate in any traceable economic activity.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#8

Post by AJRF » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 7:01 PM UTC

dpflan wrote: post #5

I'm intrigued by the idea that cryptocurrencies can exist and may help alleviate economics crises, but in a dark plot twist can't governments essentially own the majority of computing power, start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others? What does the world look like when a decentralized concept like this is appropriated and brute forced into a more-or-less centralized concept? (Or perhaps I'm way off track..…

That would require the government being able to coordinate controlling;

1. Internet access 2. Sales of computers 3. Imports 4. Citizens not revolting against that (including people using and accepting currency, so buy and sell side)

All of which are possible but not trivial. I actually think it becomes orders of magnitude more difficult to do this with a decentralised system like BitCoin than it is with fiat currency issued by a central bank.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#9

Post by justboxing » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 7:05 PM UTC

AJRF wrote: post #8

dpflan wrote: post #5

I'm intrigued by the idea that cryptocurrencies can exist and may help alleviate economics crises, but in a dark plot twist can't governments essentially own the majority of computing power, start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others? What does the world look like when a decentralized concept like this is appropriated and brute forced into a more-or-less centralized concept? (Or perhaps I'm way off track..…

That would require the government being able to coordinate controlling; 1. Internet access 2. Sales of computers 3. Imports 4. Citizens not revolting against that (including people using and accepting currency, so buy and sell side) All of which are possible but not trivial. I actually think it becomes orders of magnitude more difficult to do this with a decentralised system like BitCoin than it is with fiat currency…

> All of which are possible but not trivial

Isn't China doing #1 - #4 to about 25% of the world's population already?

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#10

Post by Sir_Substance » Wed, Nov 15, 2017, 7:07 PM UTC

dpflan wrote: post #5

I'm intrigued by the idea that cryptocurrencies can exist and may help alleviate economics crises, but in a dark plot twist can't governments essentially own the majority of computing power, start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others? What does the world look like when a decentralized concept like this is appropriated and brute forced into a more-or-less centralized concept? (Or perhaps I'm way off track..…

>start their own cryptocurrency, and outlaw all others?

This would be a waste of resources. If you're not going to be decentralized, it's way less complex to have a mysql DB of everyones bank accounts somewhere, and much easier to hide corruption.