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It's amazing how short of a memory people have. The financial system has at least a few centuries of experience and todays regulatory climate is a reflection of

It's amazing how short of a memory people have. The financial system has at least a few centuries of experience and todays regulatory climate is a reflection of the lessons learned. To some, these rules may seem arbitrary and they sometimes are but people forget how things before. I find it amusing that the big selling point behind the initial round of cryptocurrency was its lack of regulation.

staplers 7y ago
its lack of regulation. This is false actually. Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers.
- dragonwriter 7y ago
  > Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers. But this is generally false; like fiat currency managed by the governments of capitalist democracies, cryptocurrencies tend to be regulated by technical experts implementing policy on behalf of th user community in which power is weighted by, roughly speaking, the product of wealth and interest in influencing policy. For the “selling point”, the software embodying the mathematical rules regulating the cryptocurrency would need to be fixed for all time.
- supermatt 7y ago
  This doesn't follow the same rules as other cryptocurrencies though - its proof of stake, where a select number of parties can mint their own "funds"
- firethief 7y ago
  Fundamental rules govern its existence, but not what's done with it. Most cryptocurrency in use today isn't "regulated" by mathematics any more than banknotes are "regulated" by physics.
  - lone_haxx0r 7y ago
    That's good.
- bearjaws 7y ago
  Except for those pesky bugs that pop up every now and again...
- mbesto 7y ago
  > This is false actually. Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers. You're being unnecessarily pedantic. If one uses the term regulation, I think we can all presume it's about a centralized governance structure (e.g. policymakers). The "regulation" in crypto is not a set of mathematical rules. It's a set of rules created by humans (see every crypto white paper ever) that uses mathematical models to abstract away a direct democratic process of trust to facilitate the exchange of currency. If crypto was just about "mathematical models" then why wouldn't we just use those "mathematical models" in today's fiat currency?

staplers 7y ago

its lack of regulation. This is false actually. Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers.

dragonwriter 7y ago
> Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers. But this is generally false; like fiat currency managed by the governments of capitalist democracies, cryptocurrencies tend to be regulated by technical experts implementing policy on behalf of th user community in which power is weighted by, roughly speaking, the product of wealth and interest in influencing policy. For the “selling point”, the software embodying the mathematical rules regulating the cryptocurrency would need to be fixed for all time.
supermatt 7y ago
This doesn't follow the same rules as other cryptocurrencies though - its proof of stake, where a select number of parties can mint their own "funds"
firethief 7y ago
Fundamental rules govern its existence, but not what's done with it. Most cryptocurrency in use today isn't "regulated" by mathematics any more than banknotes are "regulated" by physics.
- lone_haxx0r 7y ago
  That's good.
bearjaws 7y ago
Except for those pesky bugs that pop up every now and again...
mbesto 7y ago
> This is false actually. Cryptocurrency's "selling point" is being regulated by mathematical rules and not by potentially-corrupted policymakers. You're being unnecessarily pedantic. If one uses the term regulation, I think we can all presume it's about a centralized governance structure (e.g. policymakers). The "regulation" in crypto is not a set of mathematical rules. It's a set of rules created by humans (see every crypto white paper ever) that uses mathematical models to abstract away a direct democratic process of trust to facilitate the exchange of currency. If crypto was just about "mathematical models" then why wouldn't we just use those "mathematical models" in today's fiat currency?