3 ms·

Pricing goods directly in BTC, to me, is a very big "if" scenario. I think most governments would find a way to put the kibosh to this entire operation before B

Pricing goods directly in BTC, to me, is a very big "if" scenario. I think most governments would find a way to put the kibosh to this entire operation before Bitcoin became some kind of default currency in the global sense for everyone (not just for its supporters). Banning cryptocurrency itself would be very foolhardy (because how do you ban source code?), but what governments could do is prohibit exchanges from operating in their home countries, thus deterring any growth in mind-share amongst the peanut gallery, and even leading to a drop in the price per BTC. All they need to do is hamstring it for the vast majority of people. Diehards may continue to use BTC, but the allure would diminish greatly thereafter. And, say if you decide to go around traditional exchanges and use more underground methods to attain your home currency of choice, I'm sure the tax agency will get very suspicious about the massive windfall you got that you can't properly explain away. Climate change being what it is, I would be shocked if governments don't start cracking down on this sooner.

siwatanejo 6y ago
> I think most governments would find a way to put the kibosh to this entire operation before Bitcoin became some kind of default currency in the global sense for everyone (not just for its supporters). Not sure if you're living under a rock, but Coinbase IPO is about to happen. You think they would kibosh anything after so many financial interests depend on BTC? I remind you that even Tesla already went in. > what governments could do is prohibit exchanges from operating in their home countries This is the typical FUD argument of government regulation, which everybody is scared about it but: 1) it never happens or 2) if it happens, it happens slowly in some odd countries here and there (which doesn't affect BTC at all unless all governments together decided to ban it, because right now if X country bans it, the other ones are seen as more tech-innovative, e.g. see Japan which is positioning itself as the hub of the future of DeFi). > I'm sure the tax agency will get very suspicious about the massive windfall you got that you can't properly explain away. Most people are using P2P & DEX exchanges more, so the surveillance possibilities are getting reduced. Note, I'm not advocating for tax evasion, everyone should pay their taxes, but actually having to pay capital gains deter people from selling, which makes actually the price to not go down (and after your BTC appreciates you can benefit from that without selling, e.g. borrowing against it, or buying small things with bitcoin here and there). > Climate change being what it is, I would be shocked if governments don't start cracking down on this sooner. BTC is not environmentally-unfriendly, this point has been long-debunked: see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25320652 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25320652 (and even if it wasn't debunked, there are cryptocurrencies which don't have PoW: PoS or PoST don't use so much electricity).

siwatanejo 6y ago

> I think most governments would find a way to put the kibosh to this entire operation before Bitcoin became some kind of default currency in the global sense for everyone (not just for its supporters). Not sure if you're living under a rock, but Coinbase IPO is about to happen. You think they would kibosh anything after so many financial interests depend on BTC? I remind you that even Tesla already went in. > what governments could do is prohibit exchanges from operating in their home countries This is the typical FUD argument of government regulation, which everybody is scared about it but: 1) it never happens or 2) if it happens, it happens slowly in some odd countries here and there (which doesn't affect BTC at all unless all governments together decided to ban it, because right now if X country bans it, the other ones are seen as more tech-innovative, e.g. see Japan which is positioning itself as the hub of the future of DeFi). > I'm sure the tax agency will get very suspicious about the massive windfall you got that you can't properly explain away. Most people are using P2P & DEX exchanges more, so the surveillance possibilities are getting reduced. Note, I'm not advocating for tax evasion, everyone should pay their taxes, but actually having to pay capital gains deter people from selling, which makes actually the price to not go down (and after your BTC appreciates you can benefit from that without selling, e.g. borrowing against it, or buying small things with bitcoin here and there). > Climate change being what it is, I would be shocked if governments don't start cracking down on this sooner. BTC is not environmentally-unfriendly, this point has been long-debunked: see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25320652 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25320652 (and even if it wasn't debunked, there are cryptocurrencies which don't have PoW: PoS or PoST don't use so much electricity).