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Comment by StanislavPetrov | Hacker News Reader

Government attempts to force everyone, at the point of a gun, to exclusively use tightly controlled, government manipulated "digital currency" will be a spectacular failure. Expect to see an explosion in bartering, the use of ad-hoc "currencies" (both physical and digital) and precious metals as this absurd scheme is rolled out.

Aside from the utter economic disaster that will result from central planners by the implementation of this scheme, just look at the situation in and around Nashville for the predictable disaster that will result from the first power or internet outage when legal, physical currency is eliminated. Without physical cash or a means of exchange it would be absolute chaos. This is perhaps the worst idea in history (which is choked with terrible ideas).

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Well governments have been forcing a single currency for millennia and it worked out fine. I get your premise here but this sounds like hyperbole of a high order that is spread by crypto-enthusiasts. There have always been black markets but the majority of people just want to be left alone they aren’t going to go out of their way to use an obscure, illegal, currency.

Governments usually have a single official currency authorized for paying taxes, but they rarely ban/criminalize foreign currencies from being used by the general public.

You aren’t talking about a foreign currency you are talking about alternative currencies that are definitely banned (why toy money has to say that it is not legal tender) with few exceptions.

>Well governments have been forcing a single currency for millennia and it worked out fine.

No government in history has mandated a fully digital currency that is susceptible to instant and total failure with any power outage or internet disruption. Frankly the headline about bitcoin is a distraction from this critically important issue.

Important to note in the west especially government is not just the state but a coalition between state operators and corporate operators, either general(various industry) or specific(ex; defense or banking)

I would not trust a single representative to be sufficiently knowledgeable to draft or vote on legislation affecting cryptocurrency, nuclear submarines, automobile emissions standards, advertising standards, building safety codes, and so many other things.

Instead, the legislation is prompted by those who form interest groups, and the fine details put together either in writing the law or by the administrative officials from the relevant executive office.

These people get their expertise by having worked in those fields, or knowing others who do.

The alternatives are arguably worse- legislation written by people who genuinely have no idea what they are talking about (which does still happen too often) or government so tiny and limited in scope that it may as well be nothing more than a militia.

A small or non existent government sounds great.

As you said it yourself, they can't know the perfect rules for everything - and the reason is that different laws (and their tradeoff when dealing with others) are best for different people.

Private courts and private insurances tending to their customers need could offer a society where different needs are met by different laws. This has been proposed in The Machinery of Freedom.

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