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Semi on-topic: Why should the federal government even entertain a "strongly" pro-cryptocurrency agenda, when the real goal of cryptocurrencies is to displace/re

by zelias 2y ago

Semi on-topic: Why should the federal government even entertain a "strongly" pro-cryptocurrency agenda, when the real goal of cryptocurrencies is to displace/reduce the power of the U.S. dollar, from which the federal government (and the American people) derive many, many benefits?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
snowwrestler 2y ago
That’s not the real goal of cryptocurrencies. It started off that way—remember people buying pizzas and domain names with bitcoin? That is the sort of thing that people do with dollars. But it became quickly apparent that cryptocurrencies suck as currency because they are so strongly deflationary. However, that makes them work great as commodity financial instruments. So viewing crypto as a financial market (not a currency), it benefits the U.S. to have as much of the market transacting within the jurisdiction as possible. Then you get the tax benefits, and ancillary benefits (e.g. rich crypto owners buying things).
RestlessMind 2y ago
Because blockchains can be a great weapon against dictatorships who cannot allow free expression. US has enough cultural and institutional flexibility to accommodate dissent. First amendment protects almost any speech against the government, including insulting the president. Compare that against China, who simply cannot tolerate citizens having any freedom of expression beyond what the party allows. See "tanks of tiananmen" smart contract[1] or "winnie the pooh" NFTs [2] - the only thing CCP can do at that point is to ban the entire blockchain ecosystem. But if blockchains are a big success in the rest of the world, CCP also has to cater to it just to keep pace with the West's tech progress. [1] https://bscscan.com/token/0xb79c9c73e8c7b4be7244e697e6bdb9f511208e9c https://bscscan.com/token/0xb79c9c73e8c7b4be7244e697e6bdb9f5... [2] https://opensea.io/collection/poohsnft https://opensea.io/collection/poohsnft
mac-attack 2y ago
Because you need to be/stay elected in order to enforce policy. As an aside, one could easily replace 'crypto-currency' with 'fascism' in your comment to accurately describe why Republicans are following a similar tact in spite of the benefits of a democracy
googledocsftw 2y ago
Crypto people care about the price. They know it cannot be a mainstream currency because of how wasfeful, slow or insecure it is (pick 1+ depending on the coin) so really BTC/USD number goes up makes us richer is the game. Also encouraging degen gambling is the game. As is Ponzi. All of which makes insiders money. The best coup would be Bitcoin as a gold that backs USD. This would force the price up well above a million. It might also make the world dark. $1 per kwh. $10 per kwh and so on. Other coups would be lebanon style power interruptions while energy is diverted to mining with various subsidies.

by zelias 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

snowwrestler 2y ago

That’s not the real goal of cryptocurrencies. It started off that way—remember people buying pizzas and domain names with bitcoin? That is the sort of thing that people do with dollars. But it became quickly apparent that cryptocurrencies suck as currency because they are so strongly deflationary. However, that makes them work great as commodity financial instruments. So viewing crypto as a financial market (not a currency), it benefits the U.S. to have as much of the market transacting within the jurisdiction as possible. Then you get the tax benefits, and ancillary benefits (e.g. rich crypto owners buying things).

RestlessMind 2y ago

Because blockchains can be a great weapon against dictatorships who cannot allow free expression. US has enough cultural and institutional flexibility to accommodate dissent. First amendment protects almost any speech against the government, including insulting the president. Compare that against China, who simply cannot tolerate citizens having any freedom of expression beyond what the party allows. See "tanks of tiananmen" smart contract[1] or "winnie the pooh" NFTs [2] - the only thing CCP can do at that point is to ban the entire blockchain ecosystem. But if blockchains are a big success in the rest of the world, CCP also has to cater to it just to keep pace with the West's tech progress. [1] https://bscscan.com/token/0xb79c9c73e8c7b4be7244e697e6bdb9f511208e9c https://bscscan.com/token/0xb79c9c73e8c7b4be7244e697e6bdb9f5... [2] https://opensea.io/collection/poohsnft https://opensea.io/collection/poohsnft

mac-attack 2y ago

Because you need to be/stay elected in order to enforce policy. As an aside, one could easily replace 'crypto-currency' with 'fascism' in your comment to accurately describe why Republicans are following a similar tact in spite of the benefits of a democracy

googledocsftw 2y ago

Crypto people care about the price. They know it cannot be a mainstream currency because of how wasfeful, slow or insecure it is (pick 1+ depending on the coin) so really BTC/USD number goes up makes us richer is the game. Also encouraging degen gambling is the game. As is Ponzi. All of which makes insiders money. The best coup would be Bitcoin as a gold that backs USD. This would force the price up well above a million. It might also make the world dark. $1 per kwh. $10 per kwh and so on. Other coups would be lebanon style power interruptions while energy is diverted to mining with various subsidies.