2 ms·

> The theoretical benefit promised to the "smaller people" is far outweighed by the harm it does sustaining those dictatorships I have to disagree, as I am a s

> The theoretical benefit promised to the "smaller people" is far outweighed by the harm it does sustaining those dictatorships I have to disagree, as I am a small businessman and I have seen how liberating crypto was for people in small countries. Let me ask you this: What is worse for ordinary people: rich criminals stealing through Bitcoins? Or rich criminals running a country and banning your use of your own money? If you think Putin or his catamites are surviving on BTC exchange, you're crazy. Berlin is still paying Euros for his fucking oil and gas. The argument that free means of exchange should be wiped out because they are used by criminals, is the argument that has been used by criminals for hundreds of years to steal from everyone else.

throwaway290 4y ago
> Berlin is still paying Euros for his fucking oil and gas. Realize he is also vehemently losing tanks and people right now and supply of money is critical for this sort of fun. Then try to imagine being putin or one of his friends and spending those euros anywhere without the magic of crypto dark market. Good luck! Those guys are not above any working way of financing their activities, especially now that the west is suddenly less easy to transact with, and they have perfectly crypto savvy people working for them. For the record, the "zlato" in Bitzlato (one of the largest players at localbitcoins) is Russian for "gold", and the guy running it was Russian operating from China. I'm sorry if it sounds dark and shatters your dreams of legally unencumbered entrepreneurship but it's just the way it is.
- noduerme 4y ago
  No, this is one way of laundering money, but it is the same as cash. If Bitcoin doesn't exist, you don't think they can carry Euros over the border to China in a truck? Next day those get spent at some Louis Vuitton store in Paris. The Ruble they're paying the soldiers with isn't being propped up with Bitcoin.
  - throwaway290 4y ago
    Did you just make an argument that crypto is useless, because we have cash? Realize that the very things crypto is "solving" compared to cash is exactly why it is so attractive to this kind of laundering: scale. You can run a business on cash. You can't launder millions in cash with elegant ease. You need to pay for figurative duffel bags, vehicles to transport them, countless drivers and handlers who tend to steal and leak information.

throwaway290 4y ago

> Berlin is still paying Euros for his fucking oil and gas. Realize he is also vehemently losing tanks and people right now and supply of money is critical for this sort of fun. Then try to imagine being putin or one of his friends and spending those euros anywhere without the magic of crypto dark market. Good luck! Those guys are not above any working way of financing their activities, especially now that the west is suddenly less easy to transact with, and they have perfectly crypto savvy people working for them. For the record, the "zlato" in Bitzlato (one of the largest players at localbitcoins) is Russian for "gold", and the guy running it was Russian operating from China. I'm sorry if it sounds dark and shatters your dreams of legally unencumbered entrepreneurship but it's just the way it is.

noduerme 4y ago
No, this is one way of laundering money, but it is the same as cash. If Bitcoin doesn't exist, you don't think they can carry Euros over the border to China in a truck? Next day those get spent at some Louis Vuitton store in Paris. The Ruble they're paying the soldiers with isn't being propped up with Bitcoin.
- throwaway290 4y ago
  Did you just make an argument that crypto is useless, because we have cash? Realize that the very things crypto is "solving" compared to cash is exactly why it is so attractive to this kind of laundering: scale. You can run a business on cash. You can't launder millions in cash with elegant ease. You need to pay for figurative duffel bags, vehicles to transport them, countless drivers and handlers who tend to steal and leak information.