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They're not encouraging crypto anymore than a liquor store encourages alcoholism. The liquor store may lower the barrier to entry for obtaining a bottle of alco
by MathCodeLove 5y ago
They're not encouraging crypto anymore than a liquor store encourages alcoholism. The liquor store may lower the barrier to entry for obtaining a bottle of alcohol, but it's ultimately the alcoholics choice to enter the store and purchase it.
Offering a product is not evil or immoral. It may be amoral but that's not the same as immoral. Ultimately the market decides what stays and goes except in extraordinary circumstances.
- newswasboring 5y agoYou are conflating logistics with morality. The market will provide argument may make sense logistically but that does not mean its morality.
- MathCodeLove 5y agoLogistics is something else entirely. Any consumer driven market is strongly indicative of its consumers morality, people just don't like to admit it.
- newswasboring 5y agoWhat I meant to say was just because people want something doesn't mean its moral to provide it. People want tobacco, doesn't mean we have to make it super easy and addictive for them.
- seanp2k2 5y agoDistributing drugs is punished much more harshly than individual consumption. > Offering a product is not evil or immoral So weapons-grade uranium, chemical weapons, payday loans, extended car warranties, life insurance, habit-forming painkillers, etc are all fine? As a society, we have decided that some products are indeed unacceptable / immoral.
- MathCodeLove 5y agoAside from the WMD's, it's not the products themselves that you likely have grievances with, but the advertising behind them. Payday loans, while a bad reputation, can truly help someone out in a pinch who has no other options - but often they're not presented to be as abhorrently predatory as they usually are. Extended car warranties are pushed by the car salesman who tell the consumers that they need it when they almost definitely do not. Life insurance is actually a wise investment for some, not even sure why you put that on the list. Pain killers provide an essential service when used properly, the vast majority of consumer don't form a habit, and those that do were almost certainly not told by their doctor or pharmacist the potential addictive nature of the chemicals. All those products are, in my opinion, completely fine. What's not fine is the often fraudulent advertising required to sell those products. But that's a different discussion.
- ALittleLight 5y ago"Offering a product is not evil or immoral" - this is the motto of my "Heroin for kids" brand. Selling a ponzi scheme may not be illegal, but it seems plausibly immoral.
- quadrifoliate 5y agoYeah, but in this case Stripe is one step removed morally as well. I don't see this as materially different from them being a payment processor for an online liquor store or a pyramid seller like LuLaRoe. You could say that a payment processor should morally screen their clients in general, but that seems like a stronger and not-so-reasonable statement. They do prohibit certain kinds of businesses, but I think the bar for that is very high and likely related to chargeback concerns and such.
- mkr-hn 5y agoBoth would fall under Stripe's list of prohibited businesses.
- joosters 5y agoOh yes, the "If I didn't sell them X, someone else would have done" excuse.
- Nullabillity 5y agoPlenty of places do regulate liquor stores heavily for this reason.