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I read the WH report and my impression, despite the one line everyone is citing, is that Washington is slowly working its way to justifying acceptance of proof

I read the WH report and my impression, despite the one line everyone is citing, is that Washington is slowly working its way to justifying acceptance of proof of work, despite whatever reservations they have, because its would be almost impossible, practically or politically, to ban it.

MeltingAaah 4y ago
It's easy to ban. Why wouldn't it be? This makes it much harder for companies to get proper electric contracts, you can snitch on companies, you can audit them etc. It might not be able to ban small setups but for sure makes a big dent in crypto companies. Official ones.
blantonl 4y ago
Impossible? You are kidding, right? The United States has a outstanding history of banning things. Alcohol. Drugs. /s
- BurningFrog 4y ago
  Sure, but both things were widely available during the ban. [fixed weird typo]
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > both things started widely available during the ban Also, and I thought this was obvious, alcohol and drugs are either more fun and popular or more fun and addicting. That combination of wide and deep makes them insidious and sympathetic. Bitcoin is neither.
    - BurningFrog 4y ago
      Bitcoin is money, which is how you can buy all the other fun/popular/addicting things.
      - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
        > Bitcoin is money, which is how you can buy all the other fun/popular/addicting things Most drugs aren’t paid for with crypto for the same reason most of anything isn’t paid for with crypto. For the religious, there’s PoS.
        BurningFrog 4y ago
        It's all fungible. You can buy drugs with untraceable dollars you buy with crypto.
        JumpCrisscross 4y ago
        > can buy drugs with untraceable dollars you buy with crypto This is also true of gummy worms and sea snails. Nobody argues against its possibility. Simply that for drugs, people will find a way. There isn’t a similar widely-held motivation for crypto.
        BurningFrog 4y ago
        My claims are that (1) money is at least as desirable as drugs, and (2) crypto is worth money. ...but we seem to be talking past each other somehow.
        JumpCrisscross 4y ago
        > crypto is worth money Everything traded is worth money. Just because something can be exchanged for money doesn’t make it as desirable as drugs.
paulryanrogers 4y ago
Is anyone proposing perfect, absolute enforcement? Once PoW is illegal wheels will start turning and it'll become impossible for larger miners. If that tamps down the energy usage enough the gov probably won't bother chasing down smaller players. Or KYC controls could make it impractical to use PoW coins outside black markets.
andy81 4y ago
It would be absolutely impossible to 100% ban mining. They could seize assets of miners big enough to need specialised energy deals, which would get rid of 90% of mining in the USA. They could crack down on exchanges banking in USD, which would get rid of 90% of mining worldwide. Stopping a single person running an algorithm on a single ASIC in a home environment is the impossible tail-end. I don't know if they even care about those, I'm not too worried about them.

MeltingAaah 4y ago

It's easy to ban. Why wouldn't it be? This makes it much harder for companies to get proper electric contracts, you can snitch on companies, you can audit them etc. It might not be able to ban small setups but for sure makes a big dent in crypto companies. Official ones.

blantonl 4y ago

Impossible? You are kidding, right? The United States has a outstanding history of banning things. Alcohol. Drugs. /s

BurningFrog 4y ago
Sure, but both things were widely available during the ban. [fixed weird typo]
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > both things started widely available during the ban Also, and I thought this was obvious, alcohol and drugs are either more fun and popular or more fun and addicting. That combination of wide and deep makes them insidious and sympathetic. Bitcoin is neither.
  - BurningFrog 4y ago
    Bitcoin is money, which is how you can buy all the other fun/popular/addicting things.
    - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
      > Bitcoin is money, which is how you can buy all the other fun/popular/addicting things Most drugs aren’t paid for with crypto for the same reason most of anything isn’t paid for with crypto. For the religious, there’s PoS.
      - BurningFrog 4y ago
        It's all fungible. You can buy drugs with untraceable dollars you buy with crypto.
        JumpCrisscross 4y ago
        > can buy drugs with untraceable dollars you buy with crypto This is also true of gummy worms and sea snails. Nobody argues against its possibility. Simply that for drugs, people will find a way. There isn’t a similar widely-held motivation for crypto.
        BurningFrog 4y ago
        My claims are that (1) money is at least as desirable as drugs, and (2) crypto is worth money. ...but we seem to be talking past each other somehow.
        JumpCrisscross 4y ago
        > crypto is worth money Everything traded is worth money. Just because something can be exchanged for money doesn’t make it as desirable as drugs.

paulryanrogers 4y ago

Is anyone proposing perfect, absolute enforcement? Once PoW is illegal wheels will start turning and it'll become impossible for larger miners. If that tamps down the energy usage enough the gov probably won't bother chasing down smaller players. Or KYC controls could make it impractical to use PoW coins outside black markets.

andy81 4y ago

It would be absolutely impossible to 100% ban mining. They could seize assets of miners big enough to need specialised energy deals, which would get rid of 90% of mining in the USA. They could crack down on exchanges banking in USD, which would get rid of 90% of mining worldwide. Stopping a single person running an algorithm on a single ASIC in a home environment is the impossible tail-end. I don't know if they even care about those, I'm not too worried about them.