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So bitcoin has given us untraceable currency without the state, except that without traceability, you also have no accountability, no justice, no law. This libe
by frandroid 13y ago
So bitcoin has given us untraceable currency without the state, except that without traceability, you also have no accountability, no justice, no law. This libertarian nightmare will soon come crashing down.
- waterlesscloud 13y agoWhy do you imagine there's no traceability?
- Anderkent 13y agoYeah, exactly. That's why no one uses cash anymore. Just think of it! If you give someone your cash, they might just disappear! /s Bitcoin won't die just because people that want to ride the bubble lose some of their investments. It'll slow down, of course, but storing wealth is not bitcoins selling point, and trusted central exchanges are not essential to the model.
- dragontamer 13y agoHow do you exactly expect to convert your current dollars into BTCs without an exchange? Also, exchanges are natural monopolies. The more people that go to a particular exchange increases the network effect of an exchange. More people == faster trades, faster trades == more fair prices. Exchanges will centralize because the economics and network effects of exchanges demand centralization.
- waterlesscloud 13y agoThe exchange market is currently in the process of decentralizing. Counterintuitive, perhaps, but it's happening.
- dragontamer 13y agoIt sure is, because Mt. Gox messed things up with their customers. Mt. Gox WAS the central exchange for some time, but they have squandered their position. Anyway, the forces of physics can be resisted: A thrown ball goes against the flow of gravity, and even Airplanes and Birds can fly for extended periods of time. But in the long term... almost everything follows gravity in the long term. Similarly, centralizing market forces (in particular: the formation of "natural monopolies") are a known and documented phenomenon. But in the long term, the BTC Market gains more benefits from centralizing... than decentralizing.
- biafra 13y agoI bought my Bitcoins at the BXB (Bitcoin Exchange Berlin: http://www.bitcoin-exchange-berlin.com/p/was-ist-die-bxb.html http://www.bitcoin-exchange-berlin.com/p/was-ist-die-bxb.htm...) where I met the seller in person for a long enough time so he could not run with my money. You should organize a Bitcoin Exchange in your city.
- dragontamer 13y agoI am well aware of local exchanges. But you know, there is this thing called "the internet", which ought to allow me to trade BTC with anyone in the world. With a local exchange, you get the best price for BTC in your city. With an internet-exchange, you automatically get the best price for BTC in the world... INSTANTLY, without having to schedule a meetup. The more BTC exchanges converge, the better things will be overall. Trades will execute faster, at a lower cost, with maximum convenience with maximum fairness. It is damn near impossible to settle on a price without an exchange. Its simply a matter of which BTC exchange will be trustworthy enough to hold the title of "defacto exchange of the entire internet".
- tedunangst 13y agoI've never had someone on another continent take cash out of my wallet.
- MattyRad 13y agoClearly, because you're smart enough not to give someone on another continent your wallet, as per the analogy.
- tedunangst 13y agoI'd love to say it's because I'm smart, but inaccessible to bad actors on other continents is the default setting for my wallet. Hell, I'm not smart enough to even figure out how to change the setting. :)
- mcherm 13y agoIt's the default for Bitcoin wallets also, but some users choose to "change that setting".
- vacri 13y agoPerhaps we should meet in Istanbul with a cashed-up wallet and a very long pair of tongs?
- davidbanham 13y agoI've never had a mugger pull a knife on me late at night to take my bitcoins. I _have_ had someone on another continent charge things to my credit card.
- tedunangst 13y agoDid you have to pay for the charges to your credit card?
- eru 13y agoOn average, yes.
- Frozenlock 13y agoYeah! That's exactly what happened with cash! Civilization crumbled and humanity disappeared. In fact you are just dreaming this life. Time to wake up! <insert dramatic chipmunk music>
- jacques_chester 13y agoCash certainly used to be stolen in this way (by the deposit-taker). What changed is that it became less valuable per unit of volume and mass (due to inflation) and that it became more traceable (due to regulation). In bitcoin's case, it's designed to be immune to both of these. The wild west is here to stay.
- biafra 13y agoBitcoin is traceable. I wonder how the Bitcoins mentioned in the article have vanished? Every body that put money in there should have close look at the Bitcoin block chain and find out where his Bitcoins went. But as always these kind of articles lack useful details.
- jacques_chester 13y agoLooks like I was under a misapprehension. That leaves (1).
- smtddr 13y ago>This libertarian nightmare will soon come crashing down. That sentence tells me everything I need to know about your thought process.
- frandroid 13y agoI didn't pretend to hide it... :)
- Houshalter 13y agoCredit card fraud is far far more common, and cash is also completely untraceable. Untraceable doesn't mean "no accountability or justice or law".