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I really think this is the beginning of the end for bitcoins. Once the government starts going after the endpoints you will start to see the price of bitcoins d

I really think this is the beginning of the end for bitcoins. Once the government starts going after the endpoints you will start to see the price of bitcoins dropping as everyone tries to liquidate them. I was wondering when this was going to happen. Maybe the next design will improve on these flaws?

jrockway 15y ago
I don't think this will happen. My prediction is that the price of drugs in bitcoins will go up as the difficulty of converting bitcoins to dollars increases. But as long as it's easy to buy bitcoins (which will be hard to regulate, just as it's hard to regulate the sale of illegal drugs), then there will be a market for people that have them.
- LeBleu 15y ago
  Isn't the ability to sell bitcoins also important? Unless you think farmers in Colombia and electric companies in California are going to start accepting bitcoins directly?
  - jrockway 15y ago
    Yes, but you don't need to sell your BitCoins, the people you are buying goods from are the ones that do that. It's similar to how you can't directly accept credit cards, but Amazon can, so they are still very useful. When the governments decide to shut down Bitcoin, it will probably be in the "exchanging bitcoins for money" area, since that's relatively easy to regulate. But it's hard to convince Offshore Bank Of Unfriendly Country to not exchange Bitcoins for money in person, so big "dealers" will have no trouble making the trip and getting their cash. This will involve more effort, so prices for goods sold in Bitcoins will increase. Similarly, if everyone could grow and sell their own pot, prices would come down. Make that illegal, and people want more money for their work. The same effect will occur if cashing out Bitcoins becomes difficult.
noarchy 15y ago
I don't think that this is the beginning of the end. This is exactly the kind of scenario that has been anticipated, and discussed at length by bitcoin advocates. Obviously a government can try to ban them, but that's hardly going to render them worthless, just riskier to use for some.
joeycfan 15y ago
The price will go up now. Tons of new people will google bitcoin because of that article and some will end up buying them.

jrockway 15y ago

I don't think this will happen. My prediction is that the price of drugs in bitcoins will go up as the difficulty of converting bitcoins to dollars increases. But as long as it's easy to buy bitcoins (which will be hard to regulate, just as it's hard to regulate the sale of illegal drugs), then there will be a market for people that have them.

LeBleu 15y ago
Isn't the ability to sell bitcoins also important? Unless you think farmers in Colombia and electric companies in California are going to start accepting bitcoins directly?
- jrockway 15y ago
  Yes, but you don't need to sell your BitCoins, the people you are buying goods from are the ones that do that. It's similar to how you can't directly accept credit cards, but Amazon can, so they are still very useful. When the governments decide to shut down Bitcoin, it will probably be in the "exchanging bitcoins for money" area, since that's relatively easy to regulate. But it's hard to convince Offshore Bank Of Unfriendly Country to not exchange Bitcoins for money in person, so big "dealers" will have no trouble making the trip and getting their cash. This will involve more effort, so prices for goods sold in Bitcoins will increase. Similarly, if everyone could grow and sell their own pot, prices would come down. Make that illegal, and people want more money for their work. The same effect will occur if cashing out Bitcoins becomes difficult.

noarchy 15y ago

I don't think that this is the beginning of the end. This is exactly the kind of scenario that has been anticipated, and discussed at length by bitcoin advocates. Obviously a government can try to ban them, but that's hardly going to render them worthless, just riskier to use for some.

joeycfan 15y ago

The price will go up now. Tons of new people will google bitcoin because of that article and some will end up buying them.