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Incentives matter. Bitcoin incentivizes certain types of criminal activity. As Bitcoin grows the negative externalities will become more pronounced. I truly don
by splithalf 5y ago
Incentives matter. Bitcoin incentivizes certain types of criminal activity. As Bitcoin grows the negative externalities will become more pronounced. I truly don’t get the ethics of it. It is killing people, literally blood money as a great new technology. Bonus points for incentivizing climate destruction and burning of fossil fuels. I don’t understand the ethics of it.
- literally_lit 5y agoWealth incentivizes that activity. Cryptocurrency is one easy way to transfer it, but it's not the "singular" reason ransomware is "possible." > literally blood money ("Blood money" is an idiom, a colloquial metaphor. So a virtual currency is "literally" a metaphor? Ugh.)
- fouric 5y agoCryptocurrency has properties that make many kinds of criminal activity far easier than most other kinds of "wealth". There's a reason that ransomware payments are now exclusively transferred through Bitcoin.
- splithalf 5y agoI am trying to say that Bitcoin has caused a change in the types of crimes that are being committed. It’s easily quantifiable. When I say it is blood money I mean that it is a way to pay for assassinations. Assassination markets are not new but Bitcoin as technology changes scale. Scale matters, regardless of what you believe.
- McDyver 5y agoReplace "Bitcoin" with "Banks", in your argument. Doesn't change anything
- xxxtentachyon 5y agoIt only works if you ignore everything in the “pro” column. Try to imagine what a world without credit would look like. It’s a much poorer world.
- McDyver 5y agoWithout consumerism and unneeded use of resources, you mean?
- tharne 5y agoThe overwhelming majority of criminal commerce is conducted using traditional currencies such as U.S. Dollars or Euros. I truly don't get the ethics of it. It is killing people, literally blood money...