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Why America Should Ban Crypto
- senttoschool 4y agoI fear that the message will get lost in Munger's decision to use the CCP banning crypto as an example. See the first comment in the post. Munger is right and China was right. They're not wasting tons of precious energy and talent on creating scams, ponzis, casinos, rug pulls, and unlicensed securities. Grew some balls and ban crypto or at least create clear regulation that the majority of crypto falls in the securities category. It's a disease in its current form.
- jakupovic 4y agoGeeat idea rely on censorship and greater government control to regulate technology. Do we remember mp3s? Or decss code? Seriously don't expect a technology site to take this side. Just wow
- senttoschool 4y agoGreat idea to rely on government control to regulate drugs. Why not just let everyone smoke crack, cocaine, opium, and eat fentanyl everyday.
- atemerev 4y agoIn Portugal and Switzerland, you can do that (with some restrictions; you need to register as a drug user, only on-site consumption is allowed, and you’ll get psychological and paramedical help). But yes, technically, you can buy pharmaceutical-grade heroine here from the government, not some street weirdo. And you know, it works. No shady drug dealers on the streets (can’t compete with the government), less and less drug consumers each year (because it is totally uncool, and there are people helping you quit). I don’t understand why Swiss/Portuguese model is not adopted everywhere immediately. It works great.
- mamonster 4y agoI do not know about Portugal, but that is absolutely not how it works in Switzerland. >No shady drug dealers on the streets Patently false from my experience, what cities do you have in mind? From my own experience absolutely not the case in Lausanne, Geneva, Montreux, Zürich or Basel. In Lausanne Flon area they will literally line up to offer their wares on Saturday night at around midnight - 1 AM with absolutely no regard for the police. Riponne is even worse hearing from people who still live there. >Less and less drug consumers each year Is that like for hard drugs only or in general? Might be true for heroin/crack, absolutely not true if you include weed. In cities like Lausanne the amount of times you smell weed on the streets has gone up massively in the last 10 years.
- atemerev 4y agoGeneva: Quai 9, https://www.premiereligne.ch/ https://www.premiereligne.ch/ (haven’t seen a drug dealer in the wild here for about 8 years already). I have heard that something like this works in Zurich, too. Re: weed, it is still technically illegal here, but fully decriminalized, and nobody pays any attention if someone smokes it. I think it is a good thing, even though I don’t do it myself.
- jcarrano 4y ago> not wasting tons of precious energy and talent If it's China and the government owns that energy and talent then yes. If it is a free country, then the government has no businesses telling us how to best invest our resources and talent.
- nicbou 4y agoIt can however regulate the harmful externalities of where that talent is invested. Fraud and tax evasion are still criminal. Destroying energy with reckless abandon could be. I really don't like crypto, but I don't see why everything I dislike should be illegal. The active harm it causes should be illegal though, but I believe that it's largely the case already. Besides, crypto bros weren't exactly cracking the atom before crypto became profitable. The rest of our industry is devoted to either making people click ads, or creating toll roads on every human interaction.
- agumonkey 4y agoI was under the impression that there weren't that many people engineering crypto. Small startups and teams.
- unity1001 4y ago> They're not wasting tons of precious energy and talent on creating scams, ponzis, casinos, rug pulls, and unlicensed securities All of those exist in the financial derivatives market. And the finance sector in general...
- marcusverus 4y ago> Munger is right and China was right. They're not wasting tons of precious energy and talent on creating scams, ponzis, casinos, rug pulls, and unlicensed securities. So, the case for regulating crypto is that it, sans regulations, crypto harms consumers. Makes sense. The case for banning it is... what exactly? Charlie didn't bother to make the case. All you say is that it "wastes time and precious energy". But time-wasting is a cornerstone of the modern economy, and there's no way crypto ranks even in the top 100 on that front. And electricity is not a finite resource, so banning a technology just to reduce energy use makes no sense. What's the actual case for a ban?
- senttoschool 4y agoIn the US, we've banned many illegal drugs, casinos, scams. Crypto resembles all three.
- Synaesthesia 4y agoQuite simply it's a competitor to the dollar, which is illegal within the US. You cannot issue currency in the US, to my knowledge.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoSource for US federal law that would make it illegal? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_i... Of course, the feds are going to require taxes to be paid in USD, so you will need USD at some point.
- atemerev 4y agoHere in Switzerland, you can pay taxes with crypto (at least in the cantons of Zug and Ticino). Money is money.
- Armisael16 4y agoThat’s nonsense. You can’t pay taxes with other currencies, but issuing IOUs/gift cards is absolutely legal.
- fIREpOK 4y ago> Quite simply it's a competitor to the dollar, which is illegal within the US. You cannot issue currency in the US, to my knowledge. The USA has already ruled that Bitcoin is NOT a currency... I wish that they hadn't done that
- frank_bb 4y ago[dead]
- LatteLazy 4y agohttps://archive.ph/Z7ZGm https://archive.ph/Z7ZGm
- LatteLazy 4y agoThis is satire or a fake right? He not only offers no support for his weird position, but praises china, and then goes on to call for the banning of all (new?) public companies!?
- UncleEntity 4y agoIt makes sense, only aristocrats have the financial sophistication to properly trade in corporate stocks. Sure, this might lead to total monopolies in most industries but it’s not like that was a problem back in the day.
- PeterCorless 4y agoIt doesn't require a monocle and mustachio to recognize the massive problem with crypto. But this guy is saying that you can only trust monocles and mustachios.
- agumonkey 4y agoIs the sophistication argument discussed somewhere? Real question. I often thinks this to an extent. And Id like to have more pov.
- bitwize 4y agoSurprised he didn't make it a hat trick and advocate a ban on private land ownership.
- mamonster 4y ago>"What the English Parliament did in its anguish when this crazy promotion blew up, was direct and simple: It banned all public trading in new common stocks and kept this ban in place for about 100 years. And, in that 100 years, England made by far the biggest national contribution to the march of civilization as it led strongly in both the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution and, to boot, spawned off a promising little country called the United States". This is one of the most audacious feats of implied causality that I've seen in a while.
- ahartmetz 4y agoAt least it didn't prevent the Industrial Revolution, which is contrary to "MBA Adam Smith" conventional wisdom.
- mardifoufs 4y agoThat would be an argument to ban the stock market more than crypto, which is crazy to read on the wall street journal.
- danielmarkbruce 4y agoHe's not implying causation. He's implying there isn't any causation. The world economy motors along just fine with or without public securities markets.
- aliqot 4y agohot-take: banning any technology is regressive
- 7e 4y agoBring on the personal nukes!
- aliqot 4y agoWhat part of 'shall not be infringed' was unclear?
- seanw444 4y agoPeople seem to think that just because something is legal, that means it's plausible. Nukes require an insane amount of logistics and resources to produce. Most people still would not have them. At least until something far more dangerous is created, and everybody has moved on. The first half of the only correct interpretation of the 2A makes it clear that it's for the defense of the people against the tyranny of a rogue government, another person trying to do you harm directly, or a foreign enemy. And Joe Biden's right, how are we going to do that effectively without F-15s and nukes? "Here, we'll have the state-of-the-art in weaponry, and you peasants will only have peashooters. Tyranny-resistance satisfied, right guys? Right?"
- aliqot 4y agoHey buddy, it was sarcasm. I don't think anybody in all of Texas has conceal carry nukes. Come on now.
- akskos 4y agoWhy not ban gold as an investment too? It's just as much a zero sum game or gambling if you wanna call it that. Also a lot of resources wasted in storing it in bank vaults just sitting there for nothing.
- PeterCorless 4y agoBecause gold is real, physical, tangible and has real-world utility?
- mattwilsonn888 4y agoYou're just avoiding saying gold has value. Why are you avoiding saying that? Because then you have to make it clear that value is determined by people and people have deemed crypto valuable, especially Bitcoin. Your implied argument is, when explicit, more clearly vacuous.
- jjtheblunt 4y agoPerhaps his point is that the minimum value of a physical entity like gold is greater than $0, but I see your point/criticism too. Essentially "define value" can lead to varied definitions?
- 3327 4y ago[dead]
- mattwilsonn888 4y agoPaywalled
- mikojan 4y agohttps://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
- unboxingelf 4y agoDon’t ban crypto, regulate it like the security it is. But stay the hell away from my Bitcoin.
- ProjectArcturis 4y agoThis is a terribly written article. Whatever the merits of banning or regulating crypto, this particular article makes a bad case for it.