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The vast majority of bitcoin "investors" do not posses any bitcoins. Instead, they give their money to somebody in exchange for a weak, unregulated, unsubstanti
by Aspos 5y ago
The vast majority of bitcoin "investors" do not posses any bitcoins. Instead, they give their money to somebody in exchange for a weak, unregulated, unsubstantiated promise that they will actually hold their bitcoins and will not run away with their money.
This defeats most of the alleged benefits of bitcoin: decentralization, anonymity, etc.
Basically, it is a useless fad people invest in exactly the same way as they invest in PEZ dispensers, rare beer bottle caps and post stamps.
Some people argue that bitcoin makes a great post-apocalyptic currency, but to me such ideas seem naive.
BTC has no value as an exchange medium.
The only real, pragmatic usecases are fueling ransomware, drugs and illicit cross-border transactions.
So: a wasteful, useless thing we all should leave behind.
- Calamity 5y agoAnd actually, re: "The only real, pragmatic usecases are fueling ransomware, drugs and illicit cross-border transactions", arguably, will all the KYC checks needed now along with all the coin tracking software being developed to track the blockchain, that's not longer the case.
- Aspos 5y agoKYC procedures defeat the purpose of BTC. If it is tightly controlled, regulated and guarded by the same regulator which manages USD, then why use bitcoin? On the other hand, those KYC procedures can be enforced in some jurisdictions, but not in all of them. What power does IRS have in Iran or Russia? How difficult is it to buy an identity in places like Egypt or Nigeria? How expensive is it to get authorities close their eyes on anything in places like Libya or Somali?
- Calamity 5y agoSure, but you can still track those individuals through the block chain and freeze all their other "classic" assets in the US. All I'm saying is that the argument that it's a good "anonymous" form of currency is not all that true. That's not to say that there aren't other currencies out there that prioritize anonymity (e.g. Monero), but when we're focusing on Bitcoin here.