4 ms·

Anyone can join the network and start a new institution. Good luck starting a bank

toomuchtodo 6y ago
You're not an institution unless you have a banking or money transmittal license, crypto or not. The nation state still makes the laws, a DLT node doesn't change the law. I entirely agree it's hard to start a bank, but your problem won't be solved through technology, only through policy and regulation updates. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/10/514577243/episode-753-blockchain-gang https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/10/514577243/epis... (Planet Money: Blockchain Gang) https://cointelegraph.com/news/charges-reduced-charlie-shrem-agrees-to-plea-deal https://cointelegraph.com/news/charges-reduced-charlie-shrem... (Charges Reduced: Charlie Shrem Agrees to Plea Deal) > Before getting locked up, Shrem had run the company BitInstant. BitInstant made buying Bitcoin as easy as purchasing a money order. By the time he was 22, Shrem had hired dozens of employees, found a brand new office in Manhattan, and was processing a million dollars a day. > Shrem though ended up helping some of the wrong people trade dollars for Bitcoin: buyers and sellers of illegal drugs on the website Silk Road. As he was getting off a plane from Europe to New York, Shrem was arrested. He was convicted of aiding and abetting an unlicensed money transmitter, and sentenced to two years in federal prison.
- camjohnson26 6y ago
  Absolutely agree, but what’s exciting about blockchain is that it makes the network accessible across country boundaries by default. Definitely countries can opt out by banning it, but the hope is that this interconnection becomes so valuable that banning it has too many negative consequences, just like with the internet.
  - olliej 6y ago
    You still have to obey the laws of the company you operate in. So if you want to act like a bank, you have to obey banking laws - including all the capital and auditing.
    - camjohnson26 6y ago
      Yes but different countries have different laws. The hope is the technology forces the laws to change eventually.
      - olliej 6y ago
        What happens is that you need to obey both sets of laws. This is both good and bad. e.g. one country requires you don't allow transactions with terrorists. So neither end can be a terrorist org. additional e.g. one country says LGBT orgs are illegal so neither end can be an lgbt org. etc.

You're not an institution unless you have a banking or money transmittal license, crypto or not. The nation state still makes the laws, a DLT node doesn't change the law. I entirely agree it's hard to start a bank, but your problem won't be solved through technology, only through policy and regulation updates. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/10/514577243/episode-753-blockchain-gang https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/10/514577243/epis... (Planet Money: Blockchain Gang) https://cointelegraph.com/news/charges-reduced-charlie-shrem-agrees-to-plea-deal https://cointelegraph.com/news/charges-reduced-charlie-shrem... (Charges Reduced: Charlie Shrem Agrees to Plea Deal) > Before getting locked up, Shrem had run the company BitInstant. BitInstant made buying Bitcoin as easy as purchasing a money order. By the time he was 22, Shrem had hired dozens of employees, found a brand new office in Manhattan, and was processing a million dollars a day. > Shrem though ended up helping some of the wrong people trade dollars for Bitcoin: buyers and sellers of illegal drugs on the website Silk Road. As he was getting off a plane from Europe to New York, Shrem was arrested. He was convicted of aiding and abetting an unlicensed money transmitter, and sentenced to two years in federal prison.

camjohnson26 6y ago
Absolutely agree, but what’s exciting about blockchain is that it makes the network accessible across country boundaries by default. Definitely countries can opt out by banning it, but the hope is that this interconnection becomes so valuable that banning it has too many negative consequences, just like with the internet.
- olliej 6y ago
  You still have to obey the laws of the company you operate in. So if you want to act like a bank, you have to obey banking laws - including all the capital and auditing.
  - camjohnson26 6y ago
    Yes but different countries have different laws. The hope is the technology forces the laws to change eventually.
    - olliej 6y ago
      What happens is that you need to obey both sets of laws. This is both good and bad. e.g. one country requires you don't allow transactions with terrorists. So neither end can be a terrorist org. additional e.g. one country says LGBT orgs are illegal so neither end can be an lgbt org. etc.