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Comment by the_cat_kittles | Hacker News Reader

these things are strike me as greater-fool schemes. everyone hops on thinking they are probably ahead of the curve, and most of them are suckers. what a funny game- the skill is knowing how many other people will go for it.

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I think there are at least some people (e.g., money launderers) who will use a cryptocurrency even in the face of losing money, therefore it's not entirely a pyramid scheme.

Wow. So people should treat it not as a pyramid scheme, but as a legitimate asset, because it can be used for money laundering! That is truly hilarious!

Well, if money laundering it legitimate to you...

Money laundering, in my opinion, is not only legitimate, but neccessary, given that e.g. European banking transactions end up via SWIFT or implants at the NSA headwuarters.

In addition many governments try to move citizens to "electronic payment" (ranging from online banking to NFC credit cards). The reason is once again tracking, and as could be seen during the financial crisis it's easy to just confiscate money when it's just numbers in a mainframe vs actual piles of cash in my home safe.

On the flip side, your piles of cash are only valuable at the moment. Print enough new money, and your cash is worthless, at which point its value has been taken from you without any interaction with you.

Blockchain currency definitely isn't the solution if the problem is tracking or avoiding confiscation. 1) the blockchain is a permanent immutable log. Once you do tie and identity to an address every transaction ever is immediately available. 2) the key that is the currency resides as just numbers in a computer. Maybe you have yours on a hardware wallet in a fireproof safe. Most don't. Especially those launderers who are shuffling coin around.

There are other cryptocurrencies that (try to) solve problem 1), e.g. Monero.

do you think all attempts to stop money laundering are bad? isn't it reasonable to try to prevent people from profiting off stuff that we all agree is bad? trying to figure out if you are saying there are downsides, or that its all bad.

There is a GNU project [1] that's basically an electronic cash. It has no restrictions on what you use as currency (fiat, gold, bitcoin). But the government cannot track what you buy. At the same time merchants can be taxed, so there should be no issues from the legislation standpoint.

[1]: https://taler.net/en/

i dont think he is making a normative judgement about it, just an observation of how its used, which i think is correct.

ah- yes i think thats true. reminds me of the political futures market intrade, which was ultimately shut down because people were laundering money through some of the markets, most likely at a loss.

Or maybe some of them actually want to just use the products? You can install and use Sia today, for example.

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