6 ms·

Bitcoin and it's ilk are the perfect tool for government control. At first I was on board (be my own bank? sure, they're corrupt) but then someone pointed out

Bitcoin and it's ilk are the perfect tool for government control. At first I was on board (be my own bank? sure, they're corrupt) but then someone pointed out that the Fed will simply use the technology built by these people to create a fed-coin and we will all be forced to use it. I hope I'm wrong, sounds like a nightmare. Can't even give cash for a birthday present without being taxed...

Dylan16807 4y ago
The gift tax exclusion is $16k per year, per gifter, per recipient, plus another 12 million dollars of lifetime exclusion. Tracking would not change that.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Are you giving cash gifts of more than $16k as birthday presents?
kelnos 4y ago
> * Can't even give cash for a birthday present without being taxed...* Man, if you're worried about gift tax for birthday presents, I wish I was related to you and was a recipient. Quite a lot of money needs to change hands for those gifts to be taxable.
mindslight 4y ago
You don't even have to go as far as the government making a competitor. Lacking the key ecash property of untraceability, Bitcoin's ledger is completely open to usurpation. Imagine a government-run fork of existing Bitcoin, that can decide whether a given transaction is allowed based on flow/wallet metadata (etc). The govt then mandates that public exchanges need to abide by this, and it's illegal for them to facilitate buy/sell transactions that aren't approved. Then the requirements for getting a transaction approved slowly ramp up, culminating in standard KYC surveillance.
int_19h 4y ago
Why would the government want to use tech for a distributed ledger? From their perspective, a centralized ledger that runs on the servers owned by the govt is the ideal state of affairs, and it's technically much simpler than any blockchain.

6 ms·

Bitcoin and it's ilk are the perfect tool for government control. At first I was on board (be my own bank? sure, they're corrupt) but then someone pointed out

by rolobio 4y ago

Dylan16807 4y ago
The gift tax exclusion is $16k per year, per gifter, per recipient, plus another 12 million dollars of lifetime exclusion. Tracking would not change that.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Are you giving cash gifts of more than $16k as birthday presents?
kelnos 4y ago
> * Can't even give cash for a birthday present without being taxed...* Man, if you're worried about gift tax for birthday presents, I wish I was related to you and was a recipient. Quite a lot of money needs to change hands for those gifts to be taxable.
mindslight 4y ago
You don't even have to go as far as the government making a competitor. Lacking the key ecash property of untraceability, Bitcoin's ledger is completely open to usurpation. Imagine a government-run fork of existing Bitcoin, that can decide whether a given transaction is allowed based on flow/wallet metadata (etc). The govt then mandates that public exchanges need to abide by this, and it's illegal for them to facilitate buy/sell transactions that aren't approved. Then the requirements for getting a transaction approved slowly ramp up, culminating in standard KYC surveillance.
int_19h 4y ago
Why would the government want to use tech for a distributed ledger? From their perspective, a centralized ledger that runs on the servers owned by the govt is the ideal state of affairs, and it's technically much simpler than any blockchain.