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And there we go. The promise of a form of cash outside of USA government control is terrifying to the USA government. And well, most other governments too. It
by cultureswitch 3y ago
And there we go. The promise of a form of cash outside of USA government control is terrifying to the USA government. And well, most other governments too.
It is pretty obvious that when the USA government goes after crypto exchanges, what matters is to get the exchange shut down. The actual justification for doing so is an afterthought.
I'm torn on the issue of whether dematerialized privacy-preserving cash (and yeah, I know crypto exchanges had very little to do with that) is even a good thing to begin with. To me the strongest argument for it is that the crimes that would be facilitated by that are already trivial, as long as you're rich enough. You don't need Monero when you can "sell" a Monet in exchange for services instead. It is incredibly hypocritical of governments to complain that privacy-preserving currencies enable criminals when they have done literally nothing to stop the numerous convenient ways to launder money that are accessible only to rich and powerful people.
- gitfan86 3y agoThat is putting the cart before the horse. The USA is not a libertarian government. Why did anyone think that it was a good idea to invest in products that would only survive in a libertarian government?
- cultureswitch 3y agoInvest? I think investing in crypto is purely based on greater fool theory. Doesn't mean there aren't any legitimate uses for cryptocurrency, let alone the blockchain technology. In this sense, why should Coinbase and a currency exchange booth in some airport be considered any different? Of course, Coinbase doesn't quite operate statelessly like that, and to me that's the issue here.
- x86x87 3y agoLol. What is the US government?
- sealeck 3y agoI think part of it might be that the only use case for which crypto really works is for drug dealers to safely conduct transactions. I believe in the right to privacy, but I believe in it as an extension of a personal right to self-expression. Freedom to practice your religion, to date whomever you want, etc (provided it doesn't hurt others), sure. Freedom to hold 10^9 USD secretly so that you don't have to pay tax on it and can peddle drugs, not really.