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All ICOs should be banned! When you see all these scams around, you start appreciating regulation, law, and order more! I am not sure why so many engineers toda

All ICOs should be banned! When you see all these scams around, you start appreciating regulation, law, and order more! I am not sure why so many engineers today are into anarchy when it's entirely against the basis of computer science and engineering in general! I get the idea about the distributed systems for higher resilience, but going against the merits of states and governments is just childish!

juicyfroot 9y ago
Ethereum was an ICO and so was Bitcoin. Ban those too?
jsloss 9y ago
Ah yes, how dare we poke and prod at the validity of current governmental systems and regulations. That feudal era was such great times, if we had only not gone against the merits of the government of the day./s There is little doubt that many ICO's are 'scams', and some people will get hurt financially because of it. The challenge with regulations is, it's easy to quantify the harm they try to stop, but it's harder understand the impact they have on limiting future creation / innovation etc. Tokens / ICO's have created a whole new, far more accessible way to fund and invest in new technology. Making it far more equal, fast, open and liquid than the traditional process. Regulation is coming, as it should. I just hope it's done with an eye for encouraging the right type action, rather than just trying to stop the wrong.
- nikolay 9y ago
  There's no perfect system, but what we have right now is better than anything from the past, and it's only getting better. Anyway, I think under-regulation is worse than over-regulation.
  - stale2002 9y ago
    And it will get better BECAUSE people are trying crazy new things, like ICOs. Sure, there are problems, as with all new things. But the problems will be fixed eventually, and the legal system with be better because of it. People doing something weird, and different and new and probably illegal, is THE way that our legal system gets better, as we learn to deal with new things, that might be bad OR good. And decide whether these illegal things should stay illegal, or become legal.
  - jsloss 9y ago
    Totally disagree. We have to encourage as many experiments as we reasonably can to continue to advance / solve some of the big problems we are currently facing. Over regulation limits innovation. We should only look to regulate when there is obvious and catastrophic harm. We can regulate after the fact, once we better understand the emerging system and the impacts it has. If potential harm is big, then it makes sense to regulate first. The cost of regulation is harder to see then the benefits, but there is a cost. Not to mention, do you not believe individuals have agency in this world? Why should you decide what I do with my money (assuming it harms no one)?
    - buttcoinslol 9y ago
      > Why should you decide what I do with my money (assuming it harms no one)? Who decides what harms others and what doesn't?
canadaduane 9y ago
I agree with your statement of appreciating law and order, but I think there is also a general malaise surrounding who gets to benefit from all of the currently "legal" financial arrangements. There's a feeling that the little guy is left out--or at most, given the dregs after private equity deals, large mergers, and IPOs go down. ICOs--while risky and uncertain--also offer a way of taking action without waiting for governments to "approve."
- nikolay 9y ago
  I don't think the government has to approve all startups funded via StartEngine or Republic, which do crowdfunding along with many others.
  - omarchowdhury 9y ago
    In fact, Regulation A offerings do require approval from the SEC.
tuxxy 9y ago
Banning ICOs would, quite literally, be impossible.
- jsloss 9y ago
  This is a great point. China's attempt is a great example. They can shut down exchanges, but Wechat channels pop up offering escrow type services, and boom, the market is back in business.
- nikolay 9y ago
  It's impossible to ban narcotics as well, but they are still persecuted.
  - jsloss 9y ago
    And look how well that works. Another great example of bad outcomes from over regulation.
  - icelancer 9y ago
    One is an order of magnitude tougher than the other. Meanwhile, you picked a perfect example to show how useless banning something like narcotics is; it has led to massive negative second-order effects like gang war and international strife.
icelancer 9y ago
>I am not sure why so many engineers today are into anarchy when it's entirely against the basis of computer science and engineering in general! Huh? The history of computer science and engineering is rich with anarchy, individual projects, and unstructured contributions to the field. It might be one of its best examples.
- nikolay 9y ago
  Hierarchy and separation of concerns are major engineering strategies.
Erlich_Bachman 9y ago
This is exactly how you kill innovation and it's exactly what should NOT be done. It should be regulated, exactly what happens right now.

juicyfroot 9y ago

Ethereum was an ICO and so was Bitcoin. Ban those too?

jsloss 9y ago

Ah yes, how dare we poke and prod at the validity of current governmental systems and regulations. That feudal era was such great times, if we had only not gone against the merits of the government of the day./s There is little doubt that many ICO's are 'scams', and some people will get hurt financially because of it. The challenge with regulations is, it's easy to quantify the harm they try to stop, but it's harder understand the impact they have on limiting future creation / innovation etc. Tokens / ICO's have created a whole new, far more accessible way to fund and invest in new technology. Making it far more equal, fast, open and liquid than the traditional process. Regulation is coming, as it should. I just hope it's done with an eye for encouraging the right type action, rather than just trying to stop the wrong.

nikolay 9y ago
There's no perfect system, but what we have right now is better than anything from the past, and it's only getting better. Anyway, I think under-regulation is worse than over-regulation.
- stale2002 9y ago
  And it will get better BECAUSE people are trying crazy new things, like ICOs. Sure, there are problems, as with all new things. But the problems will be fixed eventually, and the legal system with be better because of it. People doing something weird, and different and new and probably illegal, is THE way that our legal system gets better, as we learn to deal with new things, that might be bad OR good. And decide whether these illegal things should stay illegal, or become legal.
- jsloss 9y ago
  Totally disagree. We have to encourage as many experiments as we reasonably can to continue to advance / solve some of the big problems we are currently facing. Over regulation limits innovation. We should only look to regulate when there is obvious and catastrophic harm. We can regulate after the fact, once we better understand the emerging system and the impacts it has. If potential harm is big, then it makes sense to regulate first. The cost of regulation is harder to see then the benefits, but there is a cost. Not to mention, do you not believe individuals have agency in this world? Why should you decide what I do with my money (assuming it harms no one)?
  - buttcoinslol 9y ago
    > Why should you decide what I do with my money (assuming it harms no one)? Who decides what harms others and what doesn't?

canadaduane 9y ago

I agree with your statement of appreciating law and order, but I think there is also a general malaise surrounding who gets to benefit from all of the currently "legal" financial arrangements. There's a feeling that the little guy is left out--or at most, given the dregs after private equity deals, large mergers, and IPOs go down. ICOs--while risky and uncertain--also offer a way of taking action without waiting for governments to "approve."

nikolay 9y ago
I don't think the government has to approve all startups funded via StartEngine or Republic, which do crowdfunding along with many others.
- omarchowdhury 9y ago
  In fact, Regulation A offerings do require approval from the SEC.

tuxxy 9y ago

Banning ICOs would, quite literally, be impossible.

jsloss 9y ago
This is a great point. China's attempt is a great example. They can shut down exchanges, but Wechat channels pop up offering escrow type services, and boom, the market is back in business.
nikolay 9y ago
It's impossible to ban narcotics as well, but they are still persecuted.
- jsloss 9y ago
  And look how well that works. Another great example of bad outcomes from over regulation.
- icelancer 9y ago
  One is an order of magnitude tougher than the other. Meanwhile, you picked a perfect example to show how useless banning something like narcotics is; it has led to massive negative second-order effects like gang war and international strife.

icelancer 9y ago

>I am not sure why so many engineers today are into anarchy when it's entirely against the basis of computer science and engineering in general! Huh? The history of computer science and engineering is rich with anarchy, individual projects, and unstructured contributions to the field. It might be one of its best examples.

nikolay 9y ago
Hierarchy and separation of concerns are major engineering strategies.

Erlich_Bachman 9y ago

This is exactly how you kill innovation and it's exactly what should NOT be done. It should be regulated, exactly what happens right now.