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None of what you said is a valid reason for "banning" crypto.

by mthoms 5y ago

colesantiago 5y ago
I only scratched the surface. We both know the obvious reasons that cryptocurrencies enable rampant ransomware [0], multiple rug pull scams [1], pointless NFTs [2] and is totally unregulated, I'm seeing crypto bros heralding 'we need decentralisation and web3' when this is all owned by VCs [3] And don't get me started on the Tether fraud [4]. I was being _generous_ in seeing if cryptocurrencies passes the 'retail shop test' and it can't even do that without burning the planet up making useless computations. [0] https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-warns-crypto-industry-preventing-sanctions-violations-2021-10-15/ https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-warns-c... [1] https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/12/17/defi-rug-pull-scams-pulled-in-28b-this-year-chainalysis/ https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/12/17/defi-rug-pull-sc... [2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dyem/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dyem/investors-spent-milli... [3] https://cryptobriefing.com/how-decentralized-is-solana/ https://cryptobriefing.com/how-decentralized-is-solana/ [4] https://archive.is/uPQYe https://archive.is/uPQYe
- haswell 5y ago
  - Phone scammers are running rampant. We don't ban phones. - Spam has been a problem since the inception of email, and the majority of email is spam. We don't ban email. - Baseball cards are similarly pointless. So are in-game cosmetic items. We haven't banned those. The problems you're describing are mostly unrelated to crypto, have existed, and will continue to exist whether crypto remains. This doesn't mean there are no valid criticisms of crypto - energy concerns are real, and need to be addressed - but if you wish to ban crypto for the reasons you've cited, you need to widen the scope of what you hope to ban.
  - colesantiago 5y ago
    Out of those things cryptocurrencies is more likely going to be banned anyway, only to be used for illicit activities.
    - haswell 5y ago
      Are you claiming that crypto is only used for illicit activities? Care to back that up?
      - colesantiago 5y ago
        Not just that, there is speculation, gambling, etc. with those two being the most used usecase, nothing else. Once banned that is where they will reside, I hear that Monero is thriving in that (illicit) environment, as well as Bitcoin, Ethereum (paired with Tornado) But for now banning is likely.
        mthoms 5y ago
        >nothing else. Come on. There are people in this very thread who are using it to evade draconian currency controls their governments have imposed. Are they lying? Whether the positives outweigh the negatives in Crypto is subject to debate. But to refuse to acknowledge that ANY positives exist is outright bizarre. There are lots of things I strongly dislike (eg: religion, guns) but to insist that there are absolutely zero positive aspects to these things in certain contexts would be intellectually dishonest.

None of what you said is a valid reason for "banning" crypto.

by mthoms 5y ago

None of what you said is a valid reason for "banning" crypto.

I only scratched the surface. We both know the obvious reasons that cryptocurrencies enable rampant ransomware [0], multiple rug pull scams [1], pointless NFTs [2] and is totally unregulated, I'm seeing crypto bros heralding 'we need decentralisation and web3' when this is all owned by VCs [3] And don't get me started on the Tether fraud [4]. I was being _generous_ in seeing if cryptocurrencies passes the 'retail shop test' and it can't even do that without burning the planet up making useless computations. [0] https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-warns-crypto-industry-preventing-sanctions-violations-2021-10-15/ https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-warns-c... [1] https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/12/17/defi-rug-pull-scams-pulled-in-28b-this-year-chainalysis/ https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/12/17/defi-rug-pull-sc... [2] https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dyem/investors-spent-millions-on-evolved-apes-nfts-then-they-got-scammed https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dyem/investors-spent-milli... [3] https://cryptobriefing.com/how-decentralized-is-solana/ https://cryptobriefing.com/how-decentralized-is-solana/ [4] https://archive.is/uPQYe https://archive.is/uPQYe

haswell 5y ago
- Phone scammers are running rampant. We don't ban phones. - Spam has been a problem since the inception of email, and the majority of email is spam. We don't ban email. - Baseball cards are similarly pointless. So are in-game cosmetic items. We haven't banned those. The problems you're describing are mostly unrelated to crypto, have existed, and will continue to exist whether crypto remains. This doesn't mean there are no valid criticisms of crypto - energy concerns are real, and need to be addressed - but if you wish to ban crypto for the reasons you've cited, you need to widen the scope of what you hope to ban.
- colesantiago 5y ago
  Out of those things cryptocurrencies is more likely going to be banned anyway, only to be used for illicit activities.
  - haswell 5y ago
    Are you claiming that crypto is only used for illicit activities? Care to back that up?
    - colesantiago 5y ago
      Not just that, there is speculation, gambling, etc. with those two being the most used usecase, nothing else. Once banned that is where they will reside, I hear that Monero is thriving in that (illicit) environment, as well as Bitcoin, Ethereum (paired with Tornado) But for now banning is likely.
      - mthoms 5y ago
        >nothing else. Come on. There are people in this very thread who are using it to evade draconian currency controls their governments have imposed. Are they lying? Whether the positives outweigh the negatives in Crypto is subject to debate. But to refuse to acknowledge that ANY positives exist is outright bizarre. There are lots of things I strongly dislike (eg: religion, guns) but to insist that there are absolutely zero positive aspects to these things in certain contexts would be intellectually dishonest.