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> It's because not even the government can confiscate your Bitcoin. They can really easily do that though. A court can say "give us your keys or you are going

> It's because not even the government can confiscate your Bitcoin. They can really easily do that though. A court can say "give us your keys or you are going to sit in jail until you do and we will record your conversations so if you tell the keys to someone else, we'll sell them"

delecti 3y ago
That's the "$5 wrench" argument rephrased. It's not much in its favor, but a sufficiently motivated person can resist handing over cryptocurrency better than they can any other asset.
- ithinkso 3y ago
  Or they can bury the gold and refuse to tell where...
  - delecti 3y ago
    But that gold isn't usable until retrieved. Cryptocurrency is (at least theoretically) just as usable while remaining unseizable.
    - adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
      not if you're in prison without internet access.
      - delecti 3y ago
        I feel like surely yours isn't a point made in good faith, because the point I'm trying to make is so simple. If I've got $20 bill or a gold bar in my pocket, I can use it at the store if I can get to the store, but someone could easily confiscate it from me. If I have a $20 bill or gold bar buried in the woods behind my house, it can't be easily confiscated from me, but I can't use that at the store, even aside from whether I can access a store. If I have a cryptocurrency wallet, I can use it in the hypothetical cryptocurrency store if I can access it, and it also cannot be easily confiscated from me (assuming reasonable security measures). The real criticism is "what cryptocurrency store?" and that's the real reason cryptocurrency isn't very useful. I'm not arguing that cryptocurrency is good or useful, I'm arguing very narrowly for one specific point: "owning cryptocurrency" is more like knowing something than it is like possessing something.
  - bulbosaur123 3y ago
    You can't travel overseas with billions of gold in your pocket. You can literally travel everywhere with billions in crypto saved inside your neural pathways. Crypto is better gold.
bulbosaur123 3y ago
> They can really easily do that though. A court can say "give us your keys or you are going to sit in jail until you do and we will record your conversations so if you tell the keys to someone else, we'll sell them" So? If sums is high enough they STILL can't confiscate it. In some cases it is preferable to spend some time in jail versus giving up outrageous fortune. They still can't take it by force. Also, only a few countries with backward laws (like the United States of America) have laws that allow that. Something insane like what you propose would never be possible in a developed country with a solid judicial branch like Estonia, for example.

delecti 3y ago

That's the "$5 wrench" argument rephrased. It's not much in its favor, but a sufficiently motivated person can resist handing over cryptocurrency better than they can any other asset.

ithinkso 3y ago
Or they can bury the gold and refuse to tell where...
- delecti 3y ago
  But that gold isn't usable until retrieved. Cryptocurrency is (at least theoretically) just as usable while remaining unseizable.
  - adgjlsfhk1 3y ago
    not if you're in prison without internet access.
    - delecti 3y ago
      I feel like surely yours isn't a point made in good faith, because the point I'm trying to make is so simple. If I've got $20 bill or a gold bar in my pocket, I can use it at the store if I can get to the store, but someone could easily confiscate it from me. If I have a $20 bill or gold bar buried in the woods behind my house, it can't be easily confiscated from me, but I can't use that at the store, even aside from whether I can access a store. If I have a cryptocurrency wallet, I can use it in the hypothetical cryptocurrency store if I can access it, and it also cannot be easily confiscated from me (assuming reasonable security measures). The real criticism is "what cryptocurrency store?" and that's the real reason cryptocurrency isn't very useful. I'm not arguing that cryptocurrency is good or useful, I'm arguing very narrowly for one specific point: "owning cryptocurrency" is more like knowing something than it is like possessing something.
- bulbosaur123 3y ago
  You can't travel overseas with billions of gold in your pocket. You can literally travel everywhere with billions in crypto saved inside your neural pathways. Crypto is better gold.

bulbosaur123 3y ago

> They can really easily do that though. A court can say "give us your keys or you are going to sit in jail until you do and we will record your conversations so if you tell the keys to someone else, we'll sell them" So? If sums is high enough they STILL can't confiscate it. In some cases it is preferable to spend some time in jail versus giving up outrageous fortune. They still can't take it by force. Also, only a few countries with backward laws (like the United States of America) have laws that allow that. Something insane like what you propose would never be possible in a developed country with a solid judicial branch like Estonia, for example.