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Bitcoin is the most transparent form of money invented and in circulation. That's why a number of studies you can find online place criminal activity quite low.

Bitcoin is the most transparent form of money invented and in circulation. That's why a number of studies you can find online place criminal activity quite low. Who wants a trackable currency vs dollars?

chx 8y ago
It's a very interesting thing to call it "money". It's ... not. Not unless you want to call every scarce good money. This has bene rehearsed many a time over the years. It's too volatile but be usable as a unit of account, it's not backed by a nation state and it can't be used to create credit. These are all important functions of money and Bitcoin has none of it. And no, it's not a Ponzi scheme either, it's a new kind of scam: https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/ https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/
- arisAlexis 8y ago
  not being controlled by any government and not being able to create it out of thin air for credit is a feature not a bug. but if you are calling bitcoin scam in 2019 I don't think we can have a rational argument.
  - wpietri 8y ago
    It's a feature for a very small number of people with a quasi-religious aversion to government-backed money. It's also a feature for criminals. But both historically and currently, the great majority of people seem to quite like currencies backed by well-run governments.
    - arisAlexis 8y ago
      for criminals see the root of the comment you are commenting on. fact: it's not popular among them.
      - wpietri 8y ago
        Not being controlled by a government is a feature for all criminals. Bitcoin has other issues that make it less popular for criminals, though.
        arisAlexis 8y ago
        I don't get the sequence of your thought. Not being controlled by a government is a feature of a global currency such as the IMF currency. Or Gold. Do you think a global currency not controlled by one entity is good for criminals? Why? How?
        chx 8y ago
        https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/14/51/Special-Drawing-Right-SDR https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/14... > The SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations. > The SDR is neither a currency And gold is not a currency either. It's a scarce good, nothing less nothing more.
        arisAlexis 8y ago
        It was an example.
  - chx 8y ago
    > not being able to create it out of thin air for credit is a feature not a bug. Credit predates capitalism by thousands of years and noone has shown any sort of working economy running without credit.
    - arisAlexis 8y ago
      that's why it's an experiment of course
      - chx 8y ago
        it's a scam nothing more, come now. https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/ https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/
        arisAlexis 8y ago
        it's an opinion that needs hours to debunk. All I need to say is that he includes a quote from Naval. Lol. Naval is a big proponent of bitcoin and blockchain. Talk about getting facts wrong.
        chx 8y ago
        WaPo already in 2015 summarized it thusly: > So the Bitcoin faithful have tried to not only convert people, but also convince them to martyr themselves, financially-speaking, for the crypto cause. It goes something like this. - Hey, do you want to hear about the future? It's a digital currency called Bitcoin that lets you spend or move your money online without paying any fees. - Sounds great. How does it do that? - Well, Bitcoin saves you money by making transactions irreversible. - So ... if I get scammed, I got scammed? There's nothing I can do about it? - Yes. - Okay, but is it at least easy to use? - The thing is, I don't actually use it. I just hoard it. I'm waiting for some greater fools to push up the price by using theirs. - Oh. - Yeah. So you should buy some Bitcoins and use yours. - I'll get back to you on that. If you subscribe to the hodl mantra and advocate for Bitcoin, this is exactly what you do...
  - peteretep 8y ago
    > not being controlled by any government That's not the same as "not being backed by". Uncle Sam seems to be doing a pretty good job of asserting his control over it[0], while the Fed isn't guaranteeing it. Worst of both worlds, isn't it? [0] https://www.coindesk.com/goodbye-fungibility-ofacs-bitcoin-blacklist-remake-crypto https://www.coindesk.com/goodbye-fungibility-ofacs-bitcoin-b...

chx 8y ago

It's a very interesting thing to call it "money". It's ... not. Not unless you want to call every scarce good money. This has bene rehearsed many a time over the years. It's too volatile but be usable as a unit of account, it's not backed by a nation state and it can't be used to create credit. These are all important functions of money and Bitcoin has none of it. And no, it's not a Ponzi scheme either, it's a new kind of scam: https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/ https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/

arisAlexis 8y ago
not being controlled by any government and not being able to create it out of thin air for credit is a feature not a bug. but if you are calling bitcoin scam in 2019 I don't think we can have a rational argument.
- wpietri 8y ago
  It's a feature for a very small number of people with a quasi-religious aversion to government-backed money. It's also a feature for criminals. But both historically and currently, the great majority of people seem to quite like currencies backed by well-run governments.
  - arisAlexis 8y ago
    for criminals see the root of the comment you are commenting on. fact: it's not popular among them.
    - wpietri 8y ago
      Not being controlled by a government is a feature for all criminals. Bitcoin has other issues that make it less popular for criminals, though.
      - arisAlexis 8y ago
        I don't get the sequence of your thought. Not being controlled by a government is a feature of a global currency such as the IMF currency. Or Gold. Do you think a global currency not controlled by one entity is good for criminals? Why? How?
        chx 8y ago
        https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/14/51/Special-Drawing-Right-SDR https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/08/01/14... > The SDR serves as the unit of account of the IMF and some other international organizations. > The SDR is neither a currency And gold is not a currency either. It's a scarce good, nothing less nothing more.
        arisAlexis 8y ago
        It was an example.
- chx 8y ago
  > not being able to create it out of thin air for credit is a feature not a bug. Credit predates capitalism by thousands of years and noone has shown any sort of working economy running without credit.
  - arisAlexis 8y ago
    that's why it's an experiment of course
    - chx 8y ago
      it's a scam nothing more, come now. https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/ https://prestonbyrne.com/2017/12/08/bitcoin_ponzi/
      - arisAlexis 8y ago
        it's an opinion that needs hours to debunk. All I need to say is that he includes a quote from Naval. Lol. Naval is a big proponent of bitcoin and blockchain. Talk about getting facts wrong.
        chx 8y ago
        WaPo already in 2015 summarized it thusly: > So the Bitcoin faithful have tried to not only convert people, but also convince them to martyr themselves, financially-speaking, for the crypto cause. It goes something like this. - Hey, do you want to hear about the future? It's a digital currency called Bitcoin that lets you spend or move your money online without paying any fees. - Sounds great. How does it do that? - Well, Bitcoin saves you money by making transactions irreversible. - So ... if I get scammed, I got scammed? There's nothing I can do about it? - Yes. - Okay, but is it at least easy to use? - The thing is, I don't actually use it. I just hoard it. I'm waiting for some greater fools to push up the price by using theirs. - Oh. - Yeah. So you should buy some Bitcoins and use yours. - I'll get back to you on that. If you subscribe to the hodl mantra and advocate for Bitcoin, this is exactly what you do...
- peteretep 8y ago
  > not being controlled by any government That's not the same as "not being backed by". Uncle Sam seems to be doing a pretty good job of asserting his control over it[0], while the Fed isn't guaranteeing it. Worst of both worlds, isn't it? [0] https://www.coindesk.com/goodbye-fungibility-ofacs-bitcoin-blacklist-remake-crypto https://www.coindesk.com/goodbye-fungibility-ofacs-bitcoin-b...