Bitcoin Forum

I think it has been established that bitcoin value will go up with usage which we would porbably all agree is a good thing.

If illicit goods and services are traded with bitcoins that will presumably increase the amount of people using them, which should push up their value, right?

Obviously there is the ever present risk of governmental regulation which has the potential to shut things down completely.

What do you guys think, good or bad?

Any currency will be used for illegal means.

I don't see it being used in Bitcoins, because it is completely tracked currency, unlike cash. Some people are saying it is totally anon, but they don't understand how easy it would be for gov't to actually track down any given ID, IMO.

i think we should make an effort to shun the users of illegal systems. I would wish drugs would be legalized so we don't have this issue in our society but for the interest of the currency it should be an officially condemned use of bitcoin and help the US GOVT track down when possible users of such illegal systems. from my experience with new tech and govt its best to take a we will help you approach than a suck it you cant stop it approach because we all know they can. The more good will we show the regulators and enforces the more lenient they will be with us

Yeah I'm not really debating whether or not we should accept, it shun it or condem it. I am just interested in whether people think that the benefits of the increased use outweighs the risk of regulation

Rather than look at it as good or bad, look at it in how things have historically gained traction when they were new.

- When the 'old west' was opening up one of the big draws was the presence of saloons, cat houses, and gambling parlors.
- When magazine subscriptions were starting to take off publications like Playboy were there.
- The debate between Betamax and VHS was partly settled because of video porn.
- The beginnings of the internet itself, while largely created for scientific and governmental purposes, contained large amounts of porn, wares, and hacking (and still does).

Many people may have looked down their noses at such things, but you can't deny the momentum that they helped create. So I ask back, Bitcoin should be any different?  We're seeing a few merchants dip a tentative toe into the market, but they are few. What are most of the postings here about? SilkRoad and other black market places and lottery (gambling) type places. Getting good traction in the illegal/illicit areas seems to be a harbinger of better things to come.

I may be totally wrong, but that's how I see it.

Bitcoins have gotten a significant amount of press over the past few weeks (months?) from sites like 'Silk Road'. For the time being I think that participation is the most important thing for the success of BTC. I don't think that BTC will ever be used solely as a black market currency, hence I think that the participation gains associated with Silk Road mostly benefit this community.

As to the anonymity issues associated with 'Silk Road'... I don't think that I personally will use 'Silk Road' for some time, but that shouldn't stop others entirely. I find this situation pretty analogous to the early days of torrents (using Napster, etc.). For the time being 'Silk Road' isn't perfectly secure, you're right. However, with enough participation the US government (as well as others) simply wont have the resources to track everyone down. I wouldn't go around buying loads of drugs if you hold a public office, have a government job, or even if you have priors. But, I don't think the US is going to be coming around knocking down doors for buying 1/8 of pot. At that point why wouldn't they just go to any college campus in America....

Of course it's good. Free trade is good. It's human right just like free speech.
What is bad is all-powerful criminal gang violating personal freedoms. Like, uhhh... US government and such.

Yeah this is basically what I was thinking but a lot of the naysayers cite the possible regulation by the US and EU as potential reasons bitcoins will fail

The US and the EU are just about to collapse in on top of themselves. Too much regulation, Too much corruption, Too much revolution.

This isn't just the evolution of Money, this is the evolution of the internet. This is the same battle that Napster started all that time ago: when people became free to choice what files they wanted on their computer. They created the internet to control us, but instead it will control them. They unleashed a collective unconscious that has become far more powerful then any mortal man; far more powerful then this god deity they say we should fear.  Most of us know we are all god collectively, and that fearing anything is nothing but an illusion.

Anyone who has studied the Drug War long enough knows that drug prohibition is the worst idea ever. Instead of dealing with addiction like a medical problem they have decided to deal with addiction by beating you until you comply...

...it isn't to protect you, it's to protect the Western Medical Institutions that practice a type Nazi science and call it medicine!

...they are stuck in the old world view of thinking...

...and that world is coming to an end.

LOL