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I have asked this previously, asking again, believing bitcoin will become digital gold is believing - * US will let go of the petrodollar / reserve currency sta

I have asked this previously, asking again, believing bitcoin will become digital gold is believing - * US will let go of the petrodollar / reserve currency status. * China will allow a democratic process to control their currency / economy. * Other developing countries like India will give up the ability to control inflation etc of their own economy. Do you sincerely believe these are possible ? Also, if most of mining & hardware required for it is controlled by China and we are buying this digital gold via real currency, isn't a significant global wealth transfer happening to China ? I don't know if India's decision is right or wrong, we do have a history of taking incredibly stupid "shooting oneself in the foot" decisions, but questions above do bother me.

throw8932894 6y ago
Why not both? Party officials can be very nationalistis, communism forever, death to Taiwan. But their family is in western country and 60% of their assets are out of communist shithole their call home.
ejanus 6y ago
I was thinking that India wants to be the new China in tech and manufacturing, this path would not get them there. Capital control would be history soon. Fiscal barriers may not allow innovation to blossom.
user-the-name 6y ago
Well, there's absolutely nothing democratic about controlling Bitcoin. But that won't make China any more interested in giving up control to it. Also, Bitcoin is not technologically capable of getting anywhere near close to functioning as a global currency on large scale.
- iso1631 6y ago
  China has about 65% of the bitcoin mining capacity online at the moment, it already controls bitcoin.
DINKDINK 6y ago
Do you think the Roman Catholic Church will give up the Geocentric status of the Bible? Like it or not, political power structures have no ability to impose their preference on rebellious reality. Governments lost the war against information, cryptography, and money. The most charitable interpretation one can have for tyranny is that if you're going to talk about the tanks in Tienanmen, it's more costly to do it privately.
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  The only reason why the RCC has "given up" the geocentric status of the bible is that it has lost political power over the centuries, and newer more powerful political entities have ascended in its place. Political power very much has the ability to impose its preference on "reality". That is exactly why it exists.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  > Governments lost the war against ... cryptography I don't think so. The vast majority of people communicating around the world today are doing so through backdoored platforms like Whatsapp or WeChat, and running backdoored operating systems or backdoored processors. Sure, there is a tiny population of cypherpunks who might really have good opsec, but at this point it is no longer a government's "war" against anything: the war is won and some ultra-low-level unrest doesn't change that fact.
  - gruez 6y ago
    wechat yes, but AFAIK whatsapp uses the signal protocol? Not to mention half of the US uses iOS which has imessage
    - exyi 6y ago
      Without proper (=widespread) key verification and with unencrypted backups to cloud (AFAIK, did not use WA for a while fortunately).
  - Sebb767 6y ago
dnadler 6y ago
I don't think that's quite a fair comparison. The US Dollar and Gold coexist just fine. A new store of wealth doesn't threaten the US's economic dominance. Though this is colored by my own opinion that Bitcoin is not and will never be broadly adopted as a means of exchange, but rather only as a store of wealth. As others have probably already mentioned, Bitcoin's transaction costs are very high and transaction time is quite slow compared to most other transactions. One major exception to this is international transfer of small amounts, though I don't think that's enough to threaten government backed currencies.
garbagetime 6y ago
At the moment we have real gold and the petrodollar etc. So why does a belief that bitcoin will become digital gold imply a belief that the US will let go of the petrodollar?
qertoip 6y ago
You are right in the short term. Most governments will fiercely fight Bitcoin and all true cryptocurrencies. In the long term though, it is inevitable, like all technological progress in the World. You can only contain it for so long.
- qecez 6y ago
  The genie is out of the bottle really.
- abledon 6y ago
  won't governments be FOR blockchain tech... i mean, they can track all transactions and TAX them. There are so many unmonitored transactions that companies get away with.
lottin 6y ago
Agreed, but the suggestion that bitcoin is somehow controlled democratically is wrong. Central banks are controlled democratically, more or less. Bitcoin isn't controlled by anyone, it's ungovernable. And no one wants an ungovernable currency (unless you subscribe to some crackpot economic theory).
newswasboring 6y ago
Even if all of what you described was impossible, the banning is still a bad idea. Indian government's default mode is to ban things they find threatening instead of even trying to compete or assimilate
dmingod666 6y ago
What is your expiry date of 'never going to happen'? 1 decade, it can be taken seriously... More than that and we're in pure speculation territory.. China is now much more powerful now than it was in the last century and seeking more power everyday.
jMyles 6y ago
> I have asked this previously, asking again, believing bitcoin will become digital gold is believing - * US will let go of the petrodollar / reserve currency status. * China will allow a democratic process to control their currency / economy. * Other developing countries like India will give up the ability to control inflation etc of their own economy. > Do you sincerely believe these are possible ? "Possible" isn't the word I'd use, but "inevtiable". How long do we think that, for example, the petrodollar will last? 1,000 years? 500? 100? Shorter? The real question is whether the adults and patriots within the state apparatus will see the writing on the wall and conclude that a better way forward for humanity is due.

throw8932894 6y ago

Why not both? Party officials can be very nationalistis, communism forever, death to Taiwan. But their family is in western country and 60% of their assets are out of communist shithole their call home.

ejanus 6y ago

I was thinking that India wants to be the new China in tech and manufacturing, this path would not get them there. Capital control would be history soon. Fiscal barriers may not allow innovation to blossom.

user-the-name 6y ago

Well, there's absolutely nothing democratic about controlling Bitcoin. But that won't make China any more interested in giving up control to it. Also, Bitcoin is not technologically capable of getting anywhere near close to functioning as a global currency on large scale.

iso1631 6y ago
China has about 65% of the bitcoin mining capacity online at the moment, it already controls bitcoin.

DINKDINK 6y ago

Do you think the Roman Catholic Church will give up the Geocentric status of the Bible? Like it or not, political power structures have no ability to impose their preference on rebellious reality. Governments lost the war against information, cryptography, and money. The most charitable interpretation one can have for tyranny is that if you're going to talk about the tanks in Tienanmen, it's more costly to do it privately.

filleduchaos 6y ago
The only reason why the RCC has "given up" the geocentric status of the bible is that it has lost political power over the centuries, and newer more powerful political entities have ascended in its place. Political power very much has the ability to impose its preference on "reality". That is exactly why it exists.
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> Governments lost the war against ... cryptography I don't think so. The vast majority of people communicating around the world today are doing so through backdoored platforms like Whatsapp or WeChat, and running backdoored operating systems or backdoored processors. Sure, there is a tiny population of cypherpunks who might really have good opsec, but at this point it is no longer a government's "war" against anything: the war is won and some ultra-low-level unrest doesn't change that fact.
- gruez 6y ago
  wechat yes, but AFAIK whatsapp uses the signal protocol? Not to mention half of the US uses iOS which has imessage
  - exyi 6y ago
    Without proper (=widespread) key verification and with unencrypted backups to cloud (AFAIK, did not use WA for a while fortunately).
- Sebb767 6y ago

dnadler 6y ago

I don't think that's quite a fair comparison. The US Dollar and Gold coexist just fine. A new store of wealth doesn't threaten the US's economic dominance. Though this is colored by my own opinion that Bitcoin is not and will never be broadly adopted as a means of exchange, but rather only as a store of wealth. As others have probably already mentioned, Bitcoin's transaction costs are very high and transaction time is quite slow compared to most other transactions. One major exception to this is international transfer of small amounts, though I don't think that's enough to threaten government backed currencies.

garbagetime 6y ago

At the moment we have real gold and the petrodollar etc. So why does a belief that bitcoin will become digital gold imply a belief that the US will let go of the petrodollar?

qertoip 6y ago

You are right in the short term. Most governments will fiercely fight Bitcoin and all true cryptocurrencies. In the long term though, it is inevitable, like all technological progress in the World. You can only contain it for so long.

qecez 6y ago
The genie is out of the bottle really.
abledon 6y ago
won't governments be FOR blockchain tech... i mean, they can track all transactions and TAX them. There are so many unmonitored transactions that companies get away with.

lottin 6y ago

Agreed, but the suggestion that bitcoin is somehow controlled democratically is wrong. Central banks are controlled democratically, more or less. Bitcoin isn't controlled by anyone, it's ungovernable. And no one wants an ungovernable currency (unless you subscribe to some crackpot economic theory).

newswasboring 6y ago

Even if all of what you described was impossible, the banning is still a bad idea. Indian government's default mode is to ban things they find threatening instead of even trying to compete or assimilate

dmingod666 6y ago

What is your expiry date of 'never going to happen'? 1 decade, it can be taken seriously... More than that and we're in pure speculation territory.. China is now much more powerful now than it was in the last century and seeking more power everyday.

jMyles 6y ago

> I have asked this previously, asking again, believing bitcoin will become digital gold is believing - * US will let go of the petrodollar / reserve currency status. * China will allow a democratic process to control their currency / economy. * Other developing countries like India will give up the ability to control inflation etc of their own economy. > Do you sincerely believe these are possible ? "Possible" isn't the word I'd use, but "inevtiable". How long do we think that, for example, the petrodollar will last? 1,000 years? 500? 100? Shorter? The real question is whether the adults and patriots within the state apparatus will see the writing on the wall and conclude that a better way forward for humanity is due.