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Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

timeslive.co.za

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Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#11

Post by akhatri_aus »

wereHamster wrote: post #6
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…

If you can control the traffic in and out a country, you can control both the internet and block off extra-sovereign chains.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#12

Post by dpflan »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #10
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.

Yes, if the government backed CC becomes the new fiat, and I assume only federal participants for mining/computation, then yes, shortcircuit straight to federal Excel spreadsheets!

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#13

Post by Retric »

wereHamster wrote: post #6
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…

It's easy to ban mining in a country when you control the backbone infrastructure. At which point there is no difference between cryptocurrencies and any other foreign currency.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#14

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

wereHamster wrote: post #6
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…

Or you outlaw changing cryptocurrency into fiat currency or providing any goods or services in exchange for cryptocurrency. What would bitcoin's value be right now, if it was illegal to convert into any fiat currency? No established exchanges (just black market ones). In addition, due to the power requirements, it is probably pretty easy to figure out who is mining.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#15

Post by mtgx »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #14
wereHamster wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Or you outlaw changing cryptocurrency into fiat currency or providing any goods or services in exchange for cryptocurrency. What would bitcoin's value be right now, if it was illegal to convert into any fiat currency? No established exchanges (just black market ones). In addition, due to the power requirements, it is probably pretty easy to figure out who is mining.

They can outlaw exchanges and then cryptocurrencies would "simply" become a black market or "shadow" economy. But they can't stop it.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#16

Post by cheez »

justboxing wrote: post #9
AJRF wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

You missed step 0: disarm the population.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#17

Post by cwt137 »

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?

The Bitcoin story has been confirmed by the BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-41994362#post_5a0c...

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#18

Post by justicezyx »

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..…

One person already controlling an overwhelmingly large portion of Bitcoin, and you are still worrying about government...

Logic, people...

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#19

Post by ared38 »

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 you have to do is arrest people converting rebel cryptocurrencies into the one you can use at the grocery store. Since every transfer of legitimate money is now in the blockchain, they'll be able to identify them pretty quickly. Not sure if a government in turmoil could do it, but it's easy for a stable repressive regime.

I agree the government doesn't get any benefit from decentralization and would just have a MySQL DB in real life to make corruption and whatnot easier, but cryptocurrencies only work if the government tolerates them.

Re: Bitcoin surges in Zimbabwe after military seize power

#20

Post by pwaai »

I feel like there are whales that simply manipulate the price based on news. There's little evidence to suggest bitcoin has any usage in zimbabwe in practical day to day usage.

Therelies the problem with bitcoin, why would someone in zimbabwe pay 1 week of their salary to move 3 weeks of pay and still not be sure if the money will still be there tomorrow?

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