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What I don't understand is how little this argument has changed over the past seven years. Once policy makers understand crypto-contracts and cryptocurrencies

What I don't understand is how little this argument has changed over the past seven years. Once policy makers understand crypto-contracts and cryptocurrencies for what they are they'll either regulate them to the point of where libertarians rue the day they were invented or they'll ban possession with jail-time as a punishment for knowingly holding them. This isn't a novel insight. It's what I've said for the past seven years. It didn't stop me from buying Bitcoin in 2011 because I could see the medium term upside, but if anyone seriously thinks that these will become the backbone of our economy in their present form is delusional. Governments are not going to allow such a shift in power.

CryptoPunk 8y ago
Governments are anwerable to the people. There are many actions that would allow governments to better enforce a whole suit of laws, including banning public use of strong cryptography and banning cash, but they don't do because we don't live in a tyranny where governments have a free hand to impose any restrictions they want to increase their relative power. I've never understood this deification of governments, as if people are their subjects. Governments are created by the people to further their interests. Government power is not a public end on to itself, and the polity is suspicious of and to a large extant restrains government power.
- 3pt14159 8y ago
  Depends on the country, but the west uses the financial system to enforce law internationally. I do not think that then end of law enforcement is a good thing. It's not the deification of the state; merely pointing out that it will not suffer the loss of this power and, in my view, we shouldn't hope that it does.
  - CryptoPunk 8y ago
    So it's about what you think we in the West should hope for, not about what you think the government will tolerate. You support the current gateeeping of the financial system, and think the West would be harmed by the circumvention/disarming of laws that make it possible. I don't agree that ending the financial surveillance state means the end of law enforcement. The surveillance state is a relatively new phenomenon, and I believe it has only one destination: extreme concentration of power, erosion of private property rights, and enablement of tyranny. There are many more means of gathering evidence of crimes besides warrantless surveillance.
ghthor 8y ago
As an alternative future, the one I want to dee and am actively working torwards. Cryptocurrency platforms offer a way forward to begin again with how we design governments. I'm particularly excited about joining many different types of governance systems that are borderless and for the most part, resistant to attack by the legacy power structures. As these new types of governments grow and accumulate power we should see a diminished requirement for traditional border control and military might accumulation. It's a long shot, but it's the future I want.

CryptoPunk 8y ago

Governments are anwerable to the people. There are many actions that would allow governments to better enforce a whole suit of laws, including banning public use of strong cryptography and banning cash, but they don't do because we don't live in a tyranny where governments have a free hand to impose any restrictions they want to increase their relative power. I've never understood this deification of governments, as if people are their subjects. Governments are created by the people to further their interests. Government power is not a public end on to itself, and the polity is suspicious of and to a large extant restrains government power.

3pt14159 8y ago
Depends on the country, but the west uses the financial system to enforce law internationally. I do not think that then end of law enforcement is a good thing. It's not the deification of the state; merely pointing out that it will not suffer the loss of this power and, in my view, we shouldn't hope that it does.
- CryptoPunk 8y ago
  So it's about what you think we in the West should hope for, not about what you think the government will tolerate. You support the current gateeeping of the financial system, and think the West would be harmed by the circumvention/disarming of laws that make it possible. I don't agree that ending the financial surveillance state means the end of law enforcement. The surveillance state is a relatively new phenomenon, and I believe it has only one destination: extreme concentration of power, erosion of private property rights, and enablement of tyranny. There are many more means of gathering evidence of crimes besides warrantless surveillance.

ghthor 8y ago

As an alternative future, the one I want to dee and am actively working torwards. Cryptocurrency platforms offer a way forward to begin again with how we design governments. I'm particularly excited about joining many different types of governance systems that are borderless and for the most part, resistant to attack by the legacy power structures. As these new types of governments grow and accumulate power we should see a diminished requirement for traditional border control and military might accumulation. It's a long shot, but it's the future I want.