4 ms·

I was defending crypto. I’m an avid supporter of financial systems outside of government control, and believe we need to implement inclusive financial systems i

I was defending crypto. I’m an avid supporter of financial systems outside of government control, and believe we need to implement inclusive financial systems instead of exclusionary (read: kyc) systems. Unfortunately bitcoin isn’t very anonymous, but other cryptos are. There are oceans of things they can do about scams and crime. Simple things. Let me offer a few simple examples. Ex. Using a real time black hole list to kill spam and scam call centers. This is old technology that works and could be easily integrated into existing networks. Ex 2. Requiring anyone purchasing over a certain dollar amount of gift card to specify the recipient at the point of sale and apply example 1. This would eliminate most gift card scams. We are very much more capable than people realize of common sense solutions that move the needle and are cheap to implement. However regulators are focused on only large, but much more rare, financial crimes.

PaulHoule 3y ago
What I'm going to argue is that the prevalence of scams is a threat to the perceived legitimacy of the government, media and other institutions and has a terrible cost which is a lot more than people think. (e.g. how can you trust The New York Times when it has obvious scam ads? Doesn't continuous exposure to scam ads make Donald Trump's lies seem a little more "normal"?) By that measure it might be worth spending $1.50 to prevent $1 of scam. Gift cards should just be eliminated. I mean, my sister-in-law bought my son a gift card for Burger King but we don't have a Burger King in town. Why not save people the embarrassment?
mminer237 3y ago
We do have blacklists integrated already, but it's hard to get accurate reports and it's still just playing whack-a-mole. Without KYC coupled with it, the cost of getting a new phone number and picking up where you left off is almost nothing. Requiring more KYC for gift cards would help in theory, but I don't know how you would implement that in practice. I don't know that I've ever had a worker check my ID to pick something up when they're supposed to, and you would have to implement a whole government ID verification system just to use a gift card online? Then it also adds a whole 'nother issue trying to legally resell gift cards. Neither of those seems easy nor a solution.
- happytiger 3y ago
  What do you suggest? Or are you saying there aren’t workable solutions?

PaulHoule 3y ago

What I'm going to argue is that the prevalence of scams is a threat to the perceived legitimacy of the government, media and other institutions and has a terrible cost which is a lot more than people think. (e.g. how can you trust The New York Times when it has obvious scam ads? Doesn't continuous exposure to scam ads make Donald Trump's lies seem a little more "normal"?) By that measure it might be worth spending $1.50 to prevent $1 of scam. Gift cards should just be eliminated. I mean, my sister-in-law bought my son a gift card for Burger King but we don't have a Burger King in town. Why not save people the embarrassment?

mminer237 3y ago

We do have blacklists integrated already, but it's hard to get accurate reports and it's still just playing whack-a-mole. Without KYC coupled with it, the cost of getting a new phone number and picking up where you left off is almost nothing. Requiring more KYC for gift cards would help in theory, but I don't know how you would implement that in practice. I don't know that I've ever had a worker check my ID to pick something up when they're supposed to, and you would have to implement a whole government ID verification system just to use a gift card online? Then it also adds a whole 'nother issue trying to legally resell gift cards. Neither of those seems easy nor a solution.

happytiger 3y ago
What do you suggest? Or are you saying there aren’t workable solutions?