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Ok, so lets imagine that Btc/Eth fall back to pre-COVID levels. This means that a huge amount of people will have lost money, and electricity and hardware will

Ok, so lets imagine that Btc/Eth fall back to pre-COVID levels. This means that a huge amount of people will have lost money, and electricity and hardware will have been burnt up for minimal or negative gains. What is the point of maintaining the legal status of crypto at that point? Specifically, by maintaining its legality, we still have to deal with the huge problem of ransomware, and some residual mining activity (and fraudulent/wasteful use of electricity, right at the same time we are trying to save the climate). Why not just ban the formal legal exchange of crypto for fiat now?

xvector 5y ago
Cryptocurrency was literally created by cypherpunks for the explicit purpose of evading governments and centralized power. Before it became popular its primary usage was in darknet drug markets. Legality is largely meaningless for crypto. The value may drop after a ban, but crypto will remain a mainstay for any transactions that require freedom, privacy, or both.
- bombcar 5y ago
  You attack where it can be converted to fiat which greatly restricts its use.
  - xvector 5y ago
    Converting between crypto and fiat wasn't exactly straightforward when Darknet drug markets were the primary use case, but it was still done frequently. It will always be possible to use something like LocalMonero/LocalBitcoin or a decentralized exchange like Bisq or Haveno to convert as you wish. And as long as crypto is accepted in a single country you're good. Centralized exchanges will just move to countries that haven't banned exchanges.
    - ArkanExplorer 5y ago
      I agree - but if Bitcoin and other crypto is reduced to the role of buying drugs and other contraband, it would suggest a price $200-$500 (as it was back in 2014 when that was its primary use), not $33,000.
      - xvector 5y ago
        Definitely, there is an insane amount of speculation priced in. The current prices are not even remotely justified, but crypto was never meant to be a speculative trading platform, it was meant to be used. The price cratering wouldn't really bother me.

xvector 5y ago

Cryptocurrency was literally created by cypherpunks for the explicit purpose of evading governments and centralized power. Before it became popular its primary usage was in darknet drug markets. Legality is largely meaningless for crypto. The value may drop after a ban, but crypto will remain a mainstay for any transactions that require freedom, privacy, or both.

bombcar 5y ago
You attack where it can be converted to fiat which greatly restricts its use.
- xvector 5y ago
  Converting between crypto and fiat wasn't exactly straightforward when Darknet drug markets were the primary use case, but it was still done frequently. It will always be possible to use something like LocalMonero/LocalBitcoin or a decentralized exchange like Bisq or Haveno to convert as you wish. And as long as crypto is accepted in a single country you're good. Centralized exchanges will just move to countries that haven't banned exchanges.
  - ArkanExplorer 5y ago
    I agree - but if Bitcoin and other crypto is reduced to the role of buying drugs and other contraband, it would suggest a price $200-$500 (as it was back in 2014 when that was its primary use), not $33,000.
    - xvector 5y ago
      Definitely, there is an insane amount of speculation priced in. The current prices are not even remotely justified, but crypto was never meant to be a speculative trading platform, it was meant to be used. The price cratering wouldn't really bother me.