How is crypto/blockchain %100 not beneficial if it makes Sci-Hub libgen funded?

The "beneficial" property you're referring to is "can be easily used to fund criminal behavior", which is typically not a desirable feature in a payment system.

Many people believe LibGen/Sci-Hub are good forms of breaking the law - but if that is the case the solution is "make the things they do legal" rather than "make it easier to send criminals money over the internet".

Paying for things that benefit you at the expense of others is not the hallmark of a great deed.

Crypto, after a decade of promises, remains nearly exclusively a fraud and pollution ring. Proceeds from misdeeds are not magically redeeming.

What if sex slavers donated their proceeds to sci-hub? If extortionists donated to sci-hub? If assassins donated their proceeds to sci-hub? Suddenly we should call them beneficial? "Oh, I'd love to end child sex trafficking, but did you know about the free access to journal articles?"

Fund sci-hub by mailing them rare pokemon cards instead.

It's interesting to look at the "non-blockable" payment system from the point of view of "management error" theory.

When something is made "illegal" it's generally assumed that the process of generating the rules (laws) is creating mostly good rules. But this idea doesn't stand the test of time. Women voting? Nope... it's illegal. Different sexual orientation - illegal - must chop something off from you.

To have the ability to do something illegal is beneficial when rules are bad. A distributed system for settling a transaction between two agents are beneficial in ways we can't see now. But freedom to experiment is better than rules prohibiting everythig.

Another analogy is having root on your computer/server and phone. It's "illegal" to jailbrake your iphone, but you've paid for it and it's yours.

By limiting what's permissable and concentrating on "terrorism", "child pornography" who knows what can be missed.

Read about patent laws in 19th and beginning of 20th century how it helped US with technology transfer from Great Britain... it's the same process.

I don't think you're wrong. Purchasing things that are illegal but probably shouldn't be, such as anabolic steroids, modafinil, sci-hub, within-family remittances to economically-sanctioned countries, is a benefit. It's just that if that's the only thing we can come up with, it's hard to make that the basis of widespread adoption and law enforcement and legislatures all over the world are going to try and stop you.

Also, if the speculation use case disappears and illegal transactions is really the only thing left, then buying or owning crypto at all is going to put you under suspicion automatically, which reduces the usefulness.

People have been taught since childhood in state funded schools who to obey and listen to. Of course they are not going to support basic freedoms if those freedoms are in conflict with their master’s desires. That’s not to say crypto has lived up to its promise as the state and its owners have proven far more adaptable than cypherpunk thinkers expected.

A perhaps more interesting (and less controversial) variation on this question is "could blockchain usage catalyze financially sustainable and scalable Open Publishing models".

If crypto were just a scalable way to perform global transactions without friction, that would actually be useful.

However, right now crypto:

- is not scalable at all

- is not private at all

- doesn’t have KYC, so it’s possible to be global

- doesn’t follow lows or AML, so you can fund /technically/ illegal things like SciHub

- UI/UX is so bad that even experts accidentally lose everything

- 99% of volume and value is speculation and wash trading

Funding theft isn't beneficial, in many people's opinions.

If there were no benefits to cryptocurrency people would not voluntarily use it. It really is that simple. And yes, I know there are dangers. "Think of the children!"

If the regulated financial infrastructure was a better alternative, there would be no need to create decentralized cryptocurrency platforms.

There was a time when the hacker motto was "information wants to be free". Today HN largely cries, "There outta be a law".

SV is a cesspool of would be gatekeepers or current gatekeepers. Didn't like the print and broadcast media? Try the blogosphere. Even better, try social media. We'll keep you safe from dangerous disinformation.

The emerging frontier of cryptocurrency is another opportunity for disruption, reconstitution and capture.