Crypto industry scores big win under long anticipated Senate bill
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
Oh you have a nice new fancy technology? Well it's illegal until you register with your first and last name, date of birth, social security number, send in a photo of your ID, and a photo of your face, and pay taxes on any significant usage of it, and we're going to make it as hard as possible to use privacy-centric versions of it...
The problem is, people vote for these nanny politicians. People have gotten too complacent and lazy. Nobody wants risk anymore. They want comfort. At the cost of as much freedom and liberty as it takes, just for life to feel safe and easy.
The older I get, the more libertarian I get. Or anarchist. I don't know yet.
> The older I get, the more libertarian I get. Or anarchist. I don't know yet.
Probably Anarchist if you really feel that way.
And while I tend to agree, the truth is that regulation itself isn't bad at this phase, you can still use Bitcoin (and I presume other alts) as it was intended to be used: decentralized and p2p.
It requires a bit of legwork on your end: use things like BISQ or buy locally at a meetup or ideally earn it for goods/services. In which case you are free to use it on the network as you please. Selling it for fiat is the issue, but that is why growing this ecosystem to be a closed loop system matters more than ideological zealotry. And for that some concessions are necessary, regardless of how I may personally feel.
I obviously have mixed feelings about this of course, I'm an AnCap with environmental leanings, and the truth is we need it be regulated if it is to continue to offset the energy sector in a meaningful way and reduced the impact that fiat has on the Environment.
We already reached the tech savvy demographic and trailblazers, around 2015-2017 in my opinion, all that are left is the uninitiated who will not get involved until there are clear paths for them to have it on their balance sheets like Tesla/SpaceX/Microstrategy do which is probably the next wave of adoption.
Once that occurs, we can begin to see platforms offer seamless platforms to utilize fiat and BTC/crypto options, obviously they will all be monitored and taxed, but that is the tradeoff about critical mass.
I drank the purist Kool-aid about Hyperbitcoinization ushering the great reset and disruption for most of my time in this space, but to be honest given how the International financial system is fraying at the seams and inflation keeps increasing and we have continued shortages making supply chains strain beyond their capacity. I'd rather compromise on some aspects in order to avoid what could be a total cataclysmic event and all the needless Human suffering and death after COVID and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The transition is what matters, I'd argue Central Bank Digital Currency are an inferior system and will be a at best a secondary or even tertiary aspect of the Global Digital Economy if only based on merit.
My fear isn't with what this tech can endure anymore, it is what Human behaviour can tolerate under worsening conditions and no viable path to pursue.
Want proof? Look at China who banned Bitcoin but mining still continues and their are still 90 something full nodes securing the Network.
What party allows/controls those nodes?
Could just be dissidents against the CCP or miners themselves wanting to ensure OPSEC, no one really knows, but here is the list [0].
> we're going to make it as hard as possible to use privacy-centric versions of it...
Right, plus every time you use any coin, it's a taxable event. They need that money for green energy initiatives and endless wars, I suppose.
> The older I get, the more libertarian I get. Or anarchist. I don't know yet.
Keep up the good work!
Bashing regulation for the sake of bashing regulation is a bit reductive. However, assuming regulation is the government applying order to chaos is also a bit reductive.
Anyone can now prescribe meds.
Your pharmacist is now a high school drop out working for minimum wage.
We no longer need catalytic converters.
Corporations can now dump toxic waste into drinking water.
We can also dump oil into the drain instead of properly disposing of it.
We can now burn our trash instead of wasting money paying for waste services.
Contractors can now disregard any international building codes and get things done CHEAP!
You can now buy food products with toxic crap in it.
You can now be denied health coverage based on your DNA and any pre-existing conditions.
If you are using a wheelchair businesses will no longer need to provide access.
The list goes on and on and on.
Oh please let this never become a thing.
It's also the typical scare mongering that you see with people who seem oblivious to the fact that in the absence of these systems a rating system becomes critical and you have a myriad of people wanting to act as arbiter or intermediary to ensure QA/QC.
Darkmarkets were pretty critical in seeing what this would look like, and while it was far from perfect it showed what things would look like if it were to transition out of a State based regulatory body and instead relied on Market based forces.
I will grant that Markets are not perfect and cannot account for all externalities or be able to offset seemingly inevitable paradigm shifts like climate change as they tend to lag behind incumbent tech (that is often subsidized by those who supposedly are regulating them no less) but most of that was in regards to Consumer goods/services at the retail level which can be solved in an iterative process.
What will likely occur and is my bigger worry is monopolization, unfortunately. But then that has already happened the most critical Industries as it is.