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Bitcoin faces regulatory crackdown, Bank of England warns
- d0lph 9y agoTitle should be "cracking down on Bitcoin exchanges", I don't think they can crack down on Bitcoin proper.
- elmar 9y agoBitcoin can only be slowed down not stopped other centralized cryptos like Ripple can be shut down.
- this_user 9y agoThat would be difficult indeed, but you could certainly crack down on exchanges, payment processors, miners and generally every company dealing with crypto currencies, including banks. That would greatly cripple their usability.
- d0lph 9y agoI also think you could move most of that to a Tor onion service.
- skybrian 9y agoWithout well-known exchanges, it would be a lot harder to cash in your chips. Particularly for large amounts.
- aviv 9y agoExchanges are Bitcoin's weakest link.
- bitcoinboi9 9y agoDistributed exchanges have no weakness.
- lalaland1125 9y agoThere are no distributed exchanges for exchanging cryptocurrency to/from fiat. (Unless you use localbitcoins, but that has other issues like being mugged for all your money).
- russdpale 9y agoBisq does it.
- gruez 9y agobisq is closer to localbitcoins than it is to gdax. there's no central orderbook, and orders aren't executed in real time.
- d0lph 9y agolocalbitcoins is a legit solution, I'm pretty sure we could resolve the issues around it. Mugging is an easy one, meet in public. A Tor based exchange is not distributed, but I think the way to go.
- UncleMeat 9y agoI can't believe this. Develop a worldwide distributed network. List fast and cheap international transfers as a major selling point. Say that the most effective way of entering or leaving this network requires physically meeting somebody and exchanging cash. How is this not seen as an outrageous problem?
- d0lph 9y ago> Say that the most effective way of entering or leaving this network requires physically meeting somebody and exchanging cash. Missed the part where I said that, perhaps you could point it out? We are discussing a world where bitcoins are illegal, obviously the solution will be a bit sketchy.
- cjg 9y agoMore direct quotes and more information on Bloomberg: https://uk.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/boes-carney-calls-for-regulation-to-end-cryptocurrency-anarchy-1062914 https://uk.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/boes-carne...
- dom96 9y agoThe quotes in the article mention anonymity as one of the problems, but all Bitcoin transactions are public. Is it really that difficult to tie people to these transactions?
- philfrasty 9y agoIf I remember correctly the founder of TenX said in a video that 40% of all Fiat <-> Crypto money goes through Coinbase alone...which ties (a lot of) future transactions to a passport verified person.
- ReverseCold 9y agoNot if you also have a local wallet and transact with non centralized entities (ie other people) often. Local wallets cycle addresses often.
- bufferoverflow 9y agoEven that doesn't really tell you who the real owner of the coins is. What if you bought bitcoins for your friend and withdrew to his address? Or you got hacked, or blackmailed, or ransomwared.
- benashford 9y agoThe headline says "Bitcoin", the speech which included the anonymity claim said "cryptocurrencies".
- chatmasta 9y agoThis is the UK government we’re talking about, the same government with representatives who think “real people don’t need end-to-end encryption” and that “we should get people who understand the necessary hashtags [sic]” to implement back doors. So more likely than not, the people calling for regulations on bitcoin have little to no understanding of its basic properties.
- cinquemb 9y ago>So more likely than not, the people calling for regulations on bitcoin have little to no understanding of its basic properties. How many on HN would gladly jump at the opportunity to "understand the necessary hashtags", and write the software with skinner box like interfaces for our glorious institutions that we owe our mind and body to in order to protect us from ourselves? Excluding those of you who already work on these profitable boondoggles of course… ;)
- granaldo 9y agoAt current market cap of almost 200b for bitcoin based on https://www.coingecko.com/en https://www.coingecko.com/en It seems that the market is ignorant against news like this. As we have seen after what some countries had attempted to ban People will see value in this and try to acquire it. Making it harder to buy may very well put bitcoin a higher price or activity goes underground. Everyone loses
- notahacker 9y agoGood to see somebody's done the "this is good for Bitcoin" post without intended irony... There's a tenable argument the UK simply isn't a big enough influence on BTC prices to make much difference and the regulation probably won't go very far, but arguing that making Bitcoins more difficult to acquire, spend or turn into something spendable is going to drive demand for it is just silly.
- russdpale 9y agoI will be buying the dip. Be greedy when others are cautious.
- dogecoinbase 9y agoBe greedy when others are cautious. Youth really is wasted on the young.
- joeblow9999 9y agoIt's a paraphrase of Buffet's quote 'Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful' Not so young.
- monkeyfoop 9y agoThis. I started salivating at the thought of hopefully grabbing BTC, BCH, and ETH at a discount like we did recently
- adwf 9y ago
- OnlyRepliesToBS 9y agoIf you close the door after the horse, other speculators will see the value of that horse's freedom. This is a positive feedback loop. Pyrrhic victory for law, but the banks get their protections codified in law.
- deadmetheny 9y agoThis is good for Bitcoin. (such thin skin from the Bitcoin True Believers)
- pmarreck 9y agoWell it's a good thing Bitcoin DNGAF what the state thinks because all Bitcoin actually is, is math and code
- arisAlexis 9y agoSome remarks: First of all, cryptocurrencies are a new paradigm and a threat to bans so asking Bank of England is like asking taxi drivers their opinion about Uber. Secondly, regulation means that they are accepted as legal tender, asset or money officially. Lastly, any country that will try to outright crackdown and ban them is at a very great risk of economic exclusion and being left behind.
- WheelsAtLarge 9y agoBitcoin's real trouble is with transaction time and cost. Those are the troubles that will bring it down way faster than any regulation. Once that's fixed, there is no stopping it since there are countries where Bitcoin is welcome. Example: Japan is one of those countries. The exchange rate between fiat currencies and bitcoin will definitely bounce around but 100 years from now someone will be using Bitcoin to make a transaction.