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When did I say that? I think at the highest levels they already do operate without any regulation. When you get to write your own regulations and there's a rev

by imgabe 9y ago

When did I say that? I think at the highest levels they already do operate without any regulation. When you get to write your own regulations and there's a revolving door between the regulatory agencies and the companies they're suppose to regulate, there is no meaningful regulation. Bitcoin and other digital currencies are a threat to them because there is no central agency in charge of it that they can infiltrate and control the way the have with government-run currencies. At least, they haven't found a way to control and manipulate it, yet.

emodendroket 9y ago
Instead you just get people losing their shirts to old-fashioned scams that were made illegal a century ago, with no recourse whatsoever.
- imgabe 9y ago
  People are always losing money to old-fashioned scams, regardless of currency. It's a lot easier to learn about and protect yourself from simple, hundred year old scams than the brand new, never before seen scams the financial industry comes up with.
mr_spothawk 9y ago
wrt old-fashioned scams in my sibling's comment... they've been around much longer than they've been outlawed for. arguably, we would have better herd-immunity to them if we'd never outlawed them in the first case. yes, there's no recourse to losing your BTC. it's a good thing you were only playing around, or you'd be really screwed. if you mortgaged your house, well... that wasn't very smart was it. I'm sure you won't make that mistake again, and I think/hope we as a society/culture can work to help you recover from that. whatever the case, if you lose your money/btc/shirt the banks won't be much help to you.
- emodendroket 9y ago
  What in the world are you talking about? There are a number of avenues you have to reverse fraudulent transactions with banking products that aren't available with BTC.
  - mr_spothawk 9y ago
    oh, that explains why nigerian scams dont work. /s
    - emodendroket 9y ago
      Tell me the last time a major bank shut down and its proprietors ran off with all the deposits. Or what is the BTC equivalent to a chargeback if services aren't rendered? What protection does it offer if someone steals your information and makes fraudulent purchases with your money?
      - imgabe 9y ago
        You're conflating properties of a payment processor like Visa, with properties of a currency. What's the equivalent of a charge back if I pay in cash for services that aren't rendered? It's called a "lawsuit", and there's no reason you couldn't use it if you paid with Bitcoin. With Bitcoin, unlike cash, there is also a public record that you did in fact pay, so the defendant couldn't lie and say you never paid when they just hid the cash under their mattress. Likewise, there's no reason a payment processor like Visa couldn't process payments in Bitcoin and provide fraud protection if that is something people want. Bitcoin isn't there yet, but neither was cash until about 50 years ago, out of thousands of years of usage.
        emodendroket 9y ago
        That's true, but Bitcoin has been marketed as a replacement for both traditional currency and traditional payment processors, and certainly encourages people to keep way larger amounts in "cash" than they'd otherwise be comfortable with.

by imgabe 9y ago

emodendroket 9y ago

Instead you just get people losing their shirts to old-fashioned scams that were made illegal a century ago, with no recourse whatsoever.

imgabe 9y ago
People are always losing money to old-fashioned scams, regardless of currency. It's a lot easier to learn about and protect yourself from simple, hundred year old scams than the brand new, never before seen scams the financial industry comes up with.

mr_spothawk 9y ago

wrt old-fashioned scams in my sibling's comment... they've been around much longer than they've been outlawed for. arguably, we would have better herd-immunity to them if we'd never outlawed them in the first case. yes, there's no recourse to losing your BTC. it's a good thing you were only playing around, or you'd be really screwed. if you mortgaged your house, well... that wasn't very smart was it. I'm sure you won't make that mistake again, and I think/hope we as a society/culture can work to help you recover from that. whatever the case, if you lose your money/btc/shirt the banks won't be much help to you.

emodendroket 9y ago
What in the world are you talking about? There are a number of avenues you have to reverse fraudulent transactions with banking products that aren't available with BTC.
- mr_spothawk 9y ago
  oh, that explains why nigerian scams dont work. /s
  - emodendroket 9y ago
    Tell me the last time a major bank shut down and its proprietors ran off with all the deposits. Or what is the BTC equivalent to a chargeback if services aren't rendered? What protection does it offer if someone steals your information and makes fraudulent purchases with your money?
    - imgabe 9y ago
      You're conflating properties of a payment processor like Visa, with properties of a currency. What's the equivalent of a charge back if I pay in cash for services that aren't rendered? It's called a "lawsuit", and there's no reason you couldn't use it if you paid with Bitcoin. With Bitcoin, unlike cash, there is also a public record that you did in fact pay, so the defendant couldn't lie and say you never paid when they just hid the cash under their mattress. Likewise, there's no reason a payment processor like Visa couldn't process payments in Bitcoin and provide fraud protection if that is something people want. Bitcoin isn't there yet, but neither was cash until about 50 years ago, out of thousands of years of usage.
      - emodendroket 9y ago
        That's true, but Bitcoin has been marketed as a replacement for both traditional currency and traditional payment processors, and certainly encourages people to keep way larger amounts in "cash" than they'd otherwise be comfortable with.