4 ms·

Can't it still be fucked with via regulation? eg China banning it outright etc.

by evilos 5y ago

IAmGraydon 5y ago
Yep. That’s the thing that crypto supporters just seem to ignore: it requires an infrastructure that is owned and controlled by a higher power. Namely, the internet. In the end, the government has the power to easily shut this entire thing down. It only exists because they let it.
- glenvdb 5y ago
  You think they're going to shutdown the Internet to kill Bitcoin? Even if they did, once the Internet was back up and running what would stop the Bitcoin network from continuing where it left off? There's thousands of people around the world running their own Bitcoin nodes, many also protected behind Tor [1]. In what realistic way could governments shut it down globally? They could go for centralised custodial businesses like the exchanges, but that doesn't stop the Bitcoin network itself. Also there are decentralised exchanges like Bisq that can't be shutdown. "Yes (you will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography.), but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own." — Satoshi Nakamoto "A lot of people automatically dismiss e-currency as a lost cause because of all the companies that failed since the 1990’s. I hope it’s obvious it was only the centrally controlled nature of those systems that doomed them. I think this is the first time we’re trying a decentralized, non-trust-based system." — Satoshi Nakamoto 1. https://bitnodes.io/dashboard/ https://bitnodes.io/dashboard/
  - IAmGraydon 5y ago
    No, I’m not talking about shutting down the internet. I’m talking about filtering its traffic. I also did not say they would do this. I said that they could do it and have the power to do it. My point is that if the US Govt really wants crypto to go away, it will.
- christophilus 5y ago
  Not sure about the rest of the world, but if the US shut down it’s internet, we’d have an entirely new government in the next election, if not sooner.

Can't it still be fucked with via regulation? eg China banning it outright etc.

by evilos 5y ago

Can't it still be fucked with via regulation? eg China banning it outright etc.

Yep. That’s the thing that crypto supporters just seem to ignore: it requires an infrastructure that is owned and controlled by a higher power. Namely, the internet. In the end, the government has the power to easily shut this entire thing down. It only exists because they let it.

glenvdb 5y ago
You think they're going to shutdown the Internet to kill Bitcoin? Even if they did, once the Internet was back up and running what would stop the Bitcoin network from continuing where it left off? There's thousands of people around the world running their own Bitcoin nodes, many also protected behind Tor [1]. In what realistic way could governments shut it down globally? They could go for centralised custodial businesses like the exchanges, but that doesn't stop the Bitcoin network itself. Also there are decentralised exchanges like Bisq that can't be shutdown. "Yes (you will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography.), but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years. Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own." — Satoshi Nakamoto "A lot of people automatically dismiss e-currency as a lost cause because of all the companies that failed since the 1990’s. I hope it’s obvious it was only the centrally controlled nature of those systems that doomed them. I think this is the first time we’re trying a decentralized, non-trust-based system." — Satoshi Nakamoto 1. https://bitnodes.io/dashboard/ https://bitnodes.io/dashboard/
- IAmGraydon 5y ago
  No, I’m not talking about shutting down the internet. I’m talking about filtering its traffic. I also did not say they would do this. I said that they could do it and have the power to do it. My point is that if the US Govt really wants crypto to go away, it will.
christophilus 5y ago
Not sure about the rest of the world, but if the US shut down it’s internet, we’d have an entirely new government in the next election, if not sooner.