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Sure, hypothetically, but there is a lot that can go wrong. Scalability is an issue. In the future we will probably have to rely on thin clients making bitcoin

by tmerr 13y ago

Sure, hypothetically, but there is a lot that can go wrong. Scalability is an issue. In the future we will probably have to rely on thin clients making bitcoin less attractive. Governments won't peacefully accept bitcoin. Why would we let people make under the table payments, enabling tax evasion and laundering? They've ignored it so far but as it becomes more popular we could see action taken against it. You may object that bitcoin is decentralized and on the internet and therefore invincible. But if exchanges were shut down that would be devastating. A better cryptocurrency could take its place.

oleganza 13y ago
1. Scalability is a solvable technical problem. Also, there are many ways to implement fast micro payments outside the blockchain and make all IOUs resolvable within a day thus preventing all sorts of fraud (e.g. fractional reserve banking). 2. Governments will die off without ability to have "budget deficits" via money printing. No one would vote for politicians because they wouldn't be able to build stuff "for free" by borrowing money from your unborn children. 3. Owners of Bitcoin have all incentives to adjust the protocol to fix all bugs and implement all useful features to not lose their wealth. Not a problem for Bitcoin and not a problem for anyone else either. Even if Bitcoin is replaced by Bitcoin2, it won't change things for the fate of the governments.
- deleted 13y ago
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- grinnbearit 13y ago
  There are 2 paths a populist government can follow, left and right. Both governments persecute outsiders to the benefit of insiders. Both realise that taxation isn't a viable strategy. In the leftist case, the outsiders are the rich and the insiders are "99%", they use deficit spending to remain in power. In the rightist case, the outsiders are wealthy foreigners and the insiders are their own citizens, they use expansion and conquest to remain in power. Fiat currency enables leftist policies, hard money encourages rightist.

by tmerr 13y ago

oleganza 13y ago

1. Scalability is a solvable technical problem. Also, there are many ways to implement fast micro payments outside the blockchain and make all IOUs resolvable within a day thus preventing all sorts of fraud (e.g. fractional reserve banking). 2. Governments will die off without ability to have "budget deficits" via money printing. No one would vote for politicians because they wouldn't be able to build stuff "for free" by borrowing money from your unborn children. 3. Owners of Bitcoin have all incentives to adjust the protocol to fix all bugs and implement all useful features to not lose their wealth. Not a problem for Bitcoin and not a problem for anyone else either. Even if Bitcoin is replaced by Bitcoin2, it won't change things for the fate of the governments.

deleted 13y ago
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grinnbearit 13y ago
There are 2 paths a populist government can follow, left and right. Both governments persecute outsiders to the benefit of insiders. Both realise that taxation isn't a viable strategy. In the leftist case, the outsiders are the rich and the insiders are "99%", they use deficit spending to remain in power. In the rightist case, the outsiders are wealthy foreigners and the insiders are their own citizens, they use expansion and conquest to remain in power. Fiat currency enables leftist policies, hard money encourages rightist.