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Let me tell you a story. My parents, before I was born, worked as teachers in Africa. They were sent via an agreement of our (communist) state with the Belgian

Let me tell you a story. My parents, before I was born, worked as teachers in Africa. They were sent via an agreement of our (communist) state with the Belgian government and were paid "expat" money. Only problem is, they knew that when they came back the government would take all their money (coerce them to exchange it at shit exchange rate, for a currency that was basically worthless). So they invested - they bought stuff. What did they buy? Well, they figured that ivory can only increase in value. So they bought ivory carvings - african art. We're sitting on a bunch of it - except for the artistic/decorative value... the monetary value is zero. Nobody touches ivory. Unless I'm willing to deal with some very shady persons and risk jailtime - I can't turn it to cash. You think it's unlikely that governments worldwide would ban any given crypto - including BTC? Just watch what happened recently in a few countries....

adamnemecek 9y ago
Let me preface this story by saying that your parents did a shit thing and I'm glad they were duly punished. Fuck ivory. But I'm getting distracted. Bitcoin is unlike your situation as with ivory you have to have physical contact with the shady person. With BTC you don't. People online don't care as much about dealing with shady people. It's also kinda hard to tell who's a shady person online.
- softawre 9y ago
  Bitcoin is so divisive you've managed to shit on his parents to win an argument. An argument that you then concede, saying that it doesn't matter whether BTC is legal or not because you can always sell it online. If it's illegal, doesn't it's value go way down? If you literally risk jailtime to sell it (or more accurate, to convert it to fiat eventually)
  - adamnemecek 9y ago
    > Bitcoin is so divisive you've managed to shit on his parents to win an argument. Not really, I dislike the fact that he volunteers this information. Replace ivory with child pornography (ethically they aren't that different). Would you still defend op's parents? Also note, it was a side note, I didn't say it to win an argument. > If it's illegal, doesn't it's value go way down? If you literally risk jailtime to sell it (or more accurate, to convert it to fiat eventually) So like all governments at once will outlaw doing anything with crypto? Like not regulate it, even if heavily, they'll just basically make owning crypto as illegal as owning idk, child porn (pardon for the repeat analogy). Like you aren't realizing the impossibility of making something like crypto illegal.
    - virgilp 9y ago
      "Heavy regulation" is quite enough to take any particular coin to 0 value. > Not really, I dislike the fact that he volunteers this information. Replace ivory with child pornography (ethically they aren't that different). Well, they're quite different. Morally, legally, whatever, the society at large assigns larger value to a human than to an animal - any animal. Plus, they didn't do anything illegally - at the time they bought it, it was legal to buy it and sell it anywhere in the world. You're now eating meat. It's quite conceivable that there might be a future where eating meat obtained through killing animals is considered as barbaric as you are now considering ivory trade. Different time, different people. I only told you about ivory because it was __relevant__. It's a thing you can relate to - that people did in the past, without giving it much thought. Ponzi schemes are outlawed and considered imoral - do you consider _impossible_ a future where a marketing campaign convinces people that crypto is just a form of ponzi scheme, and participating in one is not just stupid and illegal, but also imoral?
      - adamnemecek 9y ago
        It would have to heavy regulation everywhere in the world.
        virgilp 9y ago
        Not "everywhere". Just a few countries. China, US, EU would probably suffice.
        adamnemecek 9y ago
        Not gonna happen like 100% the same and what not. How do you even outlaw crypto?
    - gspetr 9y ago
      > ethically they aren't that different Not the best things to compare. Builtin and culturally acquired anthropocentrism shall not be denied: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
- dang 9y ago
  What a nasty comment. You can't do that here. Please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html These cryptocurrency threads are reliably causing people to lose both their manners and their minds, and we're going to start moderating them down for a while until this madness blows over.
  - adamnemecek 9y ago
    I didn't say that due to crypto, I said it due to the poster bragging about his parents buying ivory.
    - dang 9y ago
      Yes, but that doesn't change anything.

adamnemecek 9y ago

Let me preface this story by saying that your parents did a shit thing and I'm glad they were duly punished. Fuck ivory. But I'm getting distracted. Bitcoin is unlike your situation as with ivory you have to have physical contact with the shady person. With BTC you don't. People online don't care as much about dealing with shady people. It's also kinda hard to tell who's a shady person online.

softawre 9y ago
Bitcoin is so divisive you've managed to shit on his parents to win an argument. An argument that you then concede, saying that it doesn't matter whether BTC is legal or not because you can always sell it online. If it's illegal, doesn't it's value go way down? If you literally risk jailtime to sell it (or more accurate, to convert it to fiat eventually)
- adamnemecek 9y ago
  > Bitcoin is so divisive you've managed to shit on his parents to win an argument. Not really, I dislike the fact that he volunteers this information. Replace ivory with child pornography (ethically they aren't that different). Would you still defend op's parents? Also note, it was a side note, I didn't say it to win an argument. > If it's illegal, doesn't it's value go way down? If you literally risk jailtime to sell it (or more accurate, to convert it to fiat eventually) So like all governments at once will outlaw doing anything with crypto? Like not regulate it, even if heavily, they'll just basically make owning crypto as illegal as owning idk, child porn (pardon for the repeat analogy). Like you aren't realizing the impossibility of making something like crypto illegal.
  - virgilp 9y ago
    "Heavy regulation" is quite enough to take any particular coin to 0 value. > Not really, I dislike the fact that he volunteers this information. Replace ivory with child pornography (ethically they aren't that different). Well, they're quite different. Morally, legally, whatever, the society at large assigns larger value to a human than to an animal - any animal. Plus, they didn't do anything illegally - at the time they bought it, it was legal to buy it and sell it anywhere in the world. You're now eating meat. It's quite conceivable that there might be a future where eating meat obtained through killing animals is considered as barbaric as you are now considering ivory trade. Different time, different people. I only told you about ivory because it was __relevant__. It's a thing you can relate to - that people did in the past, without giving it much thought. Ponzi schemes are outlawed and considered imoral - do you consider _impossible_ a future where a marketing campaign convinces people that crypto is just a form of ponzi scheme, and participating in one is not just stupid and illegal, but also imoral?
    - adamnemecek 9y ago
      It would have to heavy regulation everywhere in the world.
      - virgilp 9y ago
        Not "everywhere". Just a few countries. China, US, EU would probably suffice.
        adamnemecek 9y ago
        Not gonna happen like 100% the same and what not. How do you even outlaw crypto?
  - gspetr 9y ago
    > ethically they aren't that different Not the best things to compare. Builtin and culturally acquired anthropocentrism shall not be denied: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
dang 9y ago
What a nasty comment. You can't do that here. Please don't do it again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html These cryptocurrency threads are reliably causing people to lose both their manners and their minds, and we're going to start moderating them down for a while until this madness blows over.
- adamnemecek 9y ago
  I didn't say that due to crypto, I said it due to the poster bragging about his parents buying ivory.
  - dang 9y ago
    Yes, but that doesn't change anything.