3 ms·

Yes, the government is part of the real world. If you created a nuclear power plant in your basement that you feel is totally safe, that is great, but a good c

Yes, the government is part of the real world. If you created a nuclear power plant in your basement that you feel is totally safe, that is great, but a good chunk of the rest of the country wouldn't be comfortable with that and they would expect the government to shut down your nuclear power plant. You could disagree with them and the government, but it wouldn't work out well for you to invest all your money into your basement nuclear reactor.

smsm42 3y ago
That would not mean "nuclear power does not work". That would mean "people do not want it, whether it works or not". Except here it's not "the rest of the country" but a bunch of unelected bureaucrats which 99% of the country doesn't even know exist, and certainly didn't ask them to do anything. You started with claiming it "does not work", but ended with "it's bad investment because the government would destroy you". These are wildly different claims.
- gitfan86 3y ago
  Bitcoin was created specifically to prevent the government from controlling money supply, by creating an alternate form of money. The idea that it isn't succeeding because unnamed bureaucrats is misleading. The SEC and other regulatory frameworks exist today because of laws created over decades. Those laws were created to protect people, after many people were scammed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_sky_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_sky_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_C... People generally don't want to get scammed, which is why crypto is failing. Obviously we are not talking about the software here. I'm sure plenty of Web3 "software" works just fine, what doesn't work is selling unregulated securities to investors who lose all the money.
  - smsm42 3y ago
    > The idea that it isn't succeeding because unnamed bureaucrats is misleading. You use two distinct definitions of success here. As a means to transfer value beyond governmental control, Bitcoin has succeeded. You can do it any time, provided you are fine with your value stored in Bitcoins. The other definition is "anybody can use it without the fear of ever being scammed and the regulators can not make using it inconvenient or legally dangerous". This is obviously impossible - the regulators can declare anything they want to be illegal (even the Constitution is only a weak impediment, and it does not have any barriers preventing financial regulation, and as long as people do transactions, they could scam each other. This is absolutely unrealistic and non-sensical definition of "success" - nobody ever could deliver on this, including every existing payment system, where people get absolutely scammed all the time.

smsm42 3y ago

That would not mean "nuclear power does not work". That would mean "people do not want it, whether it works or not". Except here it's not "the rest of the country" but a bunch of unelected bureaucrats which 99% of the country doesn't even know exist, and certainly didn't ask them to do anything. You started with claiming it "does not work", but ended with "it's bad investment because the government would destroy you". These are wildly different claims.

gitfan86 3y ago
Bitcoin was created specifically to prevent the government from controlling money supply, by creating an alternate form of money. The idea that it isn't succeeding because unnamed bureaucrats is misleading. The SEC and other regulatory frameworks exist today because of laws created over decades. Those laws were created to protect people, after many people were scammed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_sky_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_sky_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Securities_and_Exchange_C... People generally don't want to get scammed, which is why crypto is failing. Obviously we are not talking about the software here. I'm sure plenty of Web3 "software" works just fine, what doesn't work is selling unregulated securities to investors who lose all the money.
- smsm42 3y ago
  > The idea that it isn't succeeding because unnamed bureaucrats is misleading. You use two distinct definitions of success here. As a means to transfer value beyond governmental control, Bitcoin has succeeded. You can do it any time, provided you are fine with your value stored in Bitcoins. The other definition is "anybody can use it without the fear of ever being scammed and the regulators can not make using it inconvenient or legally dangerous". This is obviously impossible - the regulators can declare anything they want to be illegal (even the Constitution is only a weak impediment, and it does not have any barriers preventing financial regulation, and as long as people do transactions, they could scam each other. This is absolutely unrealistic and non-sensical definition of "success" - nobody ever could deliver on this, including every existing payment system, where people get absolutely scammed all the time.