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EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

euronews.com

71–80 of 267 posts

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#71
post #4

This is going to work out just as well as when the EU banned tracking cookies!

I'm mostly pro-EU but the cookie thing is just a display of unbelievable incompetence. It's ridiculous that they still haven't fixed the highly annoying popup problem.

> I'm mostly pro-EU but the cookie thing is just a display of unbelievable incompetence.

this is an example of you knowing the area they're legislating in better than they do

they're just as bad in pretty much every other area too

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#72
post #37
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitcoin is generally considered a 'store of value' rather then a day to day 'currency'... Sorta like a savings bond vs a credit card And a few years back, before the transaction fees got so high - there were a few places that took it. NewEgg comes to mind.

More accurately, after years of failing to be viable as a currency the salespeople started claiming the goal had never been replacing cash and instead was some sort of poorly defined “store of value” instead of what they’d spent the previous decade spinning stories about. Since a real reserve currency is stable and backed by consistent demand, it’s unclear why anyone expects a pure fiat currency backed only by a smal…

Well, not really. BTC was sort of usable as a currency to a point. You could even buy games on Steam with it.

But it had a 1MB block size limit, which was initially implemented to prevent spam. This was obstinately kept in place, and that quickly destroyed its usefulness as a currency -- since now there's a lot of contention, transacting is slow and expensive. This doesn't bother the people who want an asset to buy once, but makes it useless as a currency.

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#73
post #7

I understand anti-EU sentiment, but who uses bitcoin for something different than transfering illegal funds and speculation? I understand Ethereum and other smart contract cryptocurcies, but time when people believed Bitcoin is going to become currency are long gone

When governments stop taking monetary policy seriously and inflation starts to meaningfully destroy savings, you can understand why alternatives gain some traction.

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#74
post #34

Pure wapor. How will they ban anonymous wallets?

Look, where I live weed was decriminalized relatively recently. I could still get weed before, but I couldn't rock up some where and get a CBD soda, or a vape cartridge, or nice edibles, or a variety of products. In the same way you say "how will they ban anonymous wallets" you might say "how do you criminalize a plant", and thats by making possession illegal and following up on that by targeting people/places they e…

Looks like a ton of bureaucracy with little or no output. I agree, might be the same thing as a war against the drugs lmfao.

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#75
post #38

In other news, the government has declared by decree that nobody is allowed to memorize seed phrases anymore. Also, multiplying prime numbers is now illegal. edit: Downvotes are funny because we are almost certainly going to see laws passed in the next few years that are functionally equivalent to the rules stated above.

if the employees in charge of writing this legislation understood bitcoin enough to even consider that it would be impressive

but they don't, in the same way they don't understand cookies, databases or stock exchanges

none of this stops them legislating though...

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#76
post #51

The crypto world is running out of safe havens. China cracked down, and cut the power to large Bitcoin farms. In the US, the SEC and CFTC have been tightening up on crypto-related things that look like securities and things that look like exchanges. Israel kicked out the binary option crowd, which overlapped with the crypto crowd; they seem to have moved to Bulgaria. Now the EU. The bigger countries are in general ti…

But the aggregate value of crypto is comparable to the US currency in circulation: two trillion. https://futurism.com/the-byte/cryptocurrency-worth-more-than... Crypto has a muchlower velocity of trading than currency.

Crypto "market cap" is a complete fiction. Only the tiniest fraction of that value actually exists in any form.

As you say, crypto has a much lower velocity of trading than currency. That is the hint.

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#77

Everybody who ever thought that crypto currencies will not come under this scrutiny was highly delusional. All other governments will follow soon.

Governments can either get onboard, and come up with a reasonable, practical regulatory environment, or alternatively they will be left behind and Crypto will evolve to circumvent their wishes. It is a shame but the USA may end up leapfrogging the EU in the same way they have done with other innovations, like Social Media, Self Driving Cars, and other cutting edge tech. It turns out regulating entire sectors of the e…

Governments have no interest in being "ahead" in enabling fraud, crime and tax evasion.

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#78
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

El Salvador is trying to use it a currency. Well, I still wouldn't consider it a currency since pretty much everything will be priced in dollars, but they are using to transfer value. One of the man reasons for this was to send home remittances. Many people still believe Bitcoin could at least be used to transfer value, like a currency. AMC, Starbucks, and United Wholesale Mortgage are all looking into accepting it.…

My understanding is that they are trying to use the Lightning Network. Though my brief googling of this only shows speculation that this is the case, rather than confirmation.

Yes, Bitcoin promoters are fully aware that the Bitcoin blockchain is unsuitable for any practical purpose, so they started working on a replacement, the so-called Lightning Network, but it turns the LN is even less likely to work than the Bitcoin blockchain. See this video for some if its fatal design flaws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOZaLbUUZUs

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#79
post #34

Pure wapor. How will they ban anonymous wallets?

Look, where I live weed was decriminalized relatively recently. I could still get weed before, but I couldn't rock up some where and get a CBD soda, or a vape cartridge, or nice edibles, or a variety of products. In the same way you say "how will they ban anonymous wallets" you might say "how do you criminalize a plant", and thats by making possession illegal and following up on that by targeting people/places they e…

[deleted]

Re: EU to make Bitcoin traceable, ban anonymous crypto wallets

#80
post #43
post #34

Pure wapor. How will they ban anonymous wallets?

It's the same thing as if EU jumped to ban our classic, leather, pocket wallets. Pure bullshit, except if this is marketing?

If your leather wallet has more than $10,000 in it, there are restrictions today on what you can do with it anonymously.
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