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Given that this is a thread on regulation of cryptocurrencies, can someone explain to me what is good (for countries, societies, the global economy, etc. and no

by glup 9y ago

Given that this is a thread on regulation of cryptocurrencies, can someone explain to me what is good (for countries, societies, the global economy, etc. and not individuals) about cryptocurrencies? I get that blockchains are useful for recordkeeping. But then I don't see what the appeal is of having a profusion of them co-exsiting as currencies. Am I missing something? Related question, can I think of the cryptocurrency market as analogous to the FOREX market, but that these currencies don't have attached countries?

maayank 9y ago
If you accept that Blockchain is useful for record keeping (and the innovation is that it's useful for trustless record keeping) then crypto currencies are useful as part of that ecosystem. Smart contracts for example - very useful to have crypto currencies that can be added to a contract or be given to a contract. Also, having a currency/credit is useful to manage economics (e.g. it costs "gas" credit to run smart contracts).
elmar 9y ago
Imagine that you want to hire a woman that is a blog writer on a radical Musulin country (where woman don't have the right to property) how you are going to pay for the services. Imagine that you want to hire a remote software developer from North Korea. Imagine that you want to send a donation to Wikileaks or similar organization that is banned from using the financial system. Imagine you are a Syrian war refugee that wants to cross borders without the fear of your wealth being confiscated. Imagine that you belong to a small ethnic minority and the government is confiscating your assets. Imagine that you live in rural Kenya and the nearest bank branch is 50km away.
- m00n 9y ago
  And how does your Kenyan/North Korean/Syrian person buy gasoline/rice/paper with this asset? Meanwhile, drug cartels, first world millenials and financial investors are in possession of ~100% of this technology. They are shaping it to further their gains, scamming the naive, and undercutting legitimate sanctions and laws.
  - elmar 9y ago
    > And how does your Kenyan/North Korean/Syrian person buy gasoline/rice/paper with this asset? Ideally, the seller would accept the cryptocurrency directly, that is what is happening on Venezuela that the country currency is completely worthless. Another not ideal option is to have local gateways that convert to local currency. > Meanwhile, drug cartels, They are still using dollars maybe Monero, but if the technology is good enough that the goverments can get informations on the transactions or censor it, offcourse bad actors will use it, technology is not inherently good or bad is what people do with it. Personaly I am worried with the 3 Billion that don't have financial services not a small minority bad actors that already does their business using Fiat currencies. > first world millenials and financial investors are in possession of ~100% of this technology. They are shaping it to further their gains, scamming the naive, and undercutting legitimate sanctions and laws. That is a really problem and personally I think that the solution will be the creation of new blockchain protocols that have the genesis on developing countries.

by glup 9y ago

maayank 9y ago

If you accept that Blockchain is useful for record keeping (and the innovation is that it's useful for trustless record keeping) then crypto currencies are useful as part of that ecosystem. Smart contracts for example - very useful to have crypto currencies that can be added to a contract or be given to a contract. Also, having a currency/credit is useful to manage economics (e.g. it costs "gas" credit to run smart contracts).

elmar 9y ago

Imagine that you want to hire a woman that is a blog writer on a radical Musulin country (where woman don't have the right to property) how you are going to pay for the services. Imagine that you want to hire a remote software developer from North Korea. Imagine that you want to send a donation to Wikileaks or similar organization that is banned from using the financial system. Imagine you are a Syrian war refugee that wants to cross borders without the fear of your wealth being confiscated. Imagine that you belong to a small ethnic minority and the government is confiscating your assets. Imagine that you live in rural Kenya and the nearest bank branch is 50km away.

m00n 9y ago
And how does your Kenyan/North Korean/Syrian person buy gasoline/rice/paper with this asset? Meanwhile, drug cartels, first world millenials and financial investors are in possession of ~100% of this technology. They are shaping it to further their gains, scamming the naive, and undercutting legitimate sanctions and laws.
- elmar 9y ago
  > And how does your Kenyan/North Korean/Syrian person buy gasoline/rice/paper with this asset? Ideally, the seller would accept the cryptocurrency directly, that is what is happening on Venezuela that the country currency is completely worthless. Another not ideal option is to have local gateways that convert to local currency. > Meanwhile, drug cartels, They are still using dollars maybe Monero, but if the technology is good enough that the goverments can get informations on the transactions or censor it, offcourse bad actors will use it, technology is not inherently good or bad is what people do with it. Personaly I am worried with the 3 Billion that don't have financial services not a small minority bad actors that already does their business using Fiat currencies. > first world millenials and financial investors are in possession of ~100% of this technology. They are shaping it to further their gains, scamming the naive, and undercutting legitimate sanctions and laws. That is a really problem and personally I think that the solution will be the creation of new blockchain protocols that have the genesis on developing countries.