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What I don't quite get is why the US government is so nonchalant about cryptocurrencies. The US owes much of its privileged financial position to the ability to

by 0xbear 9y ago

What I don't quite get is why the US government is so nonchalant about cryptocurrencies. The US owes much of its privileged financial position to the ability to siphon wealth from other economies by printing dollars. That's why it shits its proverbial pants every time China ever so slightly rebalances their reserves in favor of the Euro. If, let's say, Bitcoin became an accepted unit of international money exchange, no one gets to ever print another dime. It's as close to a gold standard as possible without there being actual gold. You can't therefore dilute the balance owed, by quantitative easing or anything like that. And you can't pay back your debts with money you've just printed, because your ability to print is exponentially expensive

TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago
Cryptocurrencies so far have been a joke that pose no serious threat to the dollar and provide plenty of fun opportunities for seizing criminals' assets, so why would they intervene?
- 0xbear 9y ago
  Key phrase is "so far". The math behind it all is definitely not a joke.
  - devdoomari 9y ago
    ...what if the US gov. already broke all those cryptos, and are waiting for the best moment to cash-out? dun dun dun...
tim333 9y ago
I'm not sure siphoning off wealth by printing dollars is really a thing. China for example has become vastly wealthier over the last few decades while selling stuff in return for dollars, rather than having anything siphoned off.
- 0xbear 9y ago
  They were extremely poor though, and they got there through currency manipulation, which is now reaching its limits.
subwayclub 9y ago
I think there are some parallels between the cryptocurrency shift and US internal frictions today. The government now is like a machine running without a master, and that's hurting its ability to respond to this development in more than a basic bureaucratic sense of getting tax money and arresting criminals. Stronger control would take a coordinated effort across several arms(propaganda, legislation, backdooring and attacks on the network, seizures). The capability is there in theory, but it's going to other perceived threats with more short-term political value. On the other hand, if the tech hockey sticks in adoption, that's basically the end of the world order as we know it and the start of one where economic value skips around between different cryptocurrencies, never really staying in anyone's control. In effect a "marketplace for power consolidation". It's not quite like the gold standard, because liquidity between cryptocurrencies is a software feature, not a physical constraint, and a perpetual stream of speculative ICOs discourages capital pooling. If you're poor in the dominant currency, you simply adopt the underdog to even the odds. Everyone will be writing themselves blank checks through chain forks, in effect encouraging a demurrage economy.

by 0xbear 9y ago

TazeTSchnitzel 9y ago

Cryptocurrencies so far have been a joke that pose no serious threat to the dollar and provide plenty of fun opportunities for seizing criminals' assets, so why would they intervene?

0xbear 9y ago
Key phrase is "so far". The math behind it all is definitely not a joke.
- devdoomari 9y ago
  ...what if the US gov. already broke all those cryptos, and are waiting for the best moment to cash-out? dun dun dun...

tim333 9y ago

I'm not sure siphoning off wealth by printing dollars is really a thing. China for example has become vastly wealthier over the last few decades while selling stuff in return for dollars, rather than having anything siphoned off.

0xbear 9y ago
They were extremely poor though, and they got there through currency manipulation, which is now reaching its limits.

subwayclub 9y ago

I think there are some parallels between the cryptocurrency shift and US internal frictions today. The government now is like a machine running without a master, and that's hurting its ability to respond to this development in more than a basic bureaucratic sense of getting tax money and arresting criminals. Stronger control would take a coordinated effort across several arms(propaganda, legislation, backdooring and attacks on the network, seizures). The capability is there in theory, but it's going to other perceived threats with more short-term political value. On the other hand, if the tech hockey sticks in adoption, that's basically the end of the world order as we know it and the start of one where economic value skips around between different cryptocurrencies, never really staying in anyone's control. In effect a "marketplace for power consolidation". It's not quite like the gold standard, because liquidity between cryptocurrencies is a software feature, not a physical constraint, and a perpetual stream of speculative ICOs discourages capital pooling. If you're poor in the dominant currency, you simply adopt the underdog to even the odds. Everyone will be writing themselves blank checks through chain forks, in effect encouraging a demurrage economy.