Bitcoin Forum

Was just reading this article
http://www.coindesk.com/fear-russian-ban-bitcoin-moscow-conference-cancellation/

And it says "Russia did not legally ban bitcoin".

It seems few governments are willing to outright ban bitcoin.  Are they afraid that if they do, people will see how terrified they really are of bitcoin?  Do they not want to show their hand in this grand poker game?  Are they sensing that if they were to ban it, it would give it 10 times as much attention?  And have the masses clamorimg for it?  Are they wishing instead it would quietly go away, trying to brush it under the rug while engaging in misinformation and burdensome regulation?

I think that the answer is something simpler, at least for the US: regulators like having things to regulate.  It makes them feel important and it means that they get to hire more regulators, and promote the current regulators.  If something is banned the increased budget and prestige don't go to the regulatory agency; they go to an enforcement agency.  No regulator wants that.

LOL

Sad...and pathetically true.

When you ban something people desire, you create a black market which is corrosive to respect for the law, as well as create the expense of prisons, judicial, etc.  Such treatment should be reserved for things that truly cause greater problems than the ban. 

When you regulate something, otoh, it can become a revenue source. 

Short answer; they're not banning it because they're too busy setting up to get a piece of it.

Definitely. They want to make money. And if bankers with a lot of money pay government officials to ban bitcoin, then they will pocket the cash with a smile and say byebye bitcoin. The real question is: How eager are the bankers to get rid of bitcoin, and how much are they willing to pay to see it buried? My guess is that they definitely want to kill it, but know that if bitcoin dies, then another coin will just take its place.

It is better if a few small nasty governments ban it just to show that it is worth taking seriously.  Even if some of the bigger somewhat totalitarian regimes like China, Russia, Iran banned it, but the free world supported it, money would still flow in from those countries.  Maybe even more money would come in.  Sometimes illegal goods are just made more valuable like alcohol and prohibition. 

Last I checked, Iceland was the only place BTC is "banned"/illegal.

I don't think govt wants to detroy crypto currencies.   But its their job to regulate these things.   One thing for sure,  it makes no sense to have more than 1 legal tender.   I doubt any crypto w be able to compete w USD or any sovereign fiat in this respect.

What is reasonable and probable is that banks will use the crypto concept to transfer money without a Clearing House.   Something like Ripple exceeds BTC in this function.

BTC will still exist for a niche.   But so will exist a bunch of alts each fulfilling some other niche.  Consumers will continue use sovereign fiats like USD.   But it'll be the institutions like big banks that build these services on top of a crypto network.  The bitcoin tech dream of digital cash will happen but most likely not using BTC.

The bitcoin Libertarian/ Anarchist dream aint gonna happen simply because people don't choose 'revolution' until life or death urgency.   Most want stability and progress/ evolution.   Central banks will continue to engage in monetary policies but probably another Bretton Woods type system will come along to address the instabilties of current system.  

Banning it and recognize it is 2 different thing.

Some might not ban it but doesn't mean they recognize / accept it

I hope a major economic collapse can be avoided. Chances are getting high that a Global crash is coming.
Maybe the Libertarian dream can help in a major crisis?

Maybe Russia are leaving the door open just in-case things take a turn for the worst. With all the sanctions currently on Russia and recent memory of devaluation of the Russian Ruble in the 80's has made them more savy. China is no longer buying US treasuries and starting to dump their US bonds. The Chinese government encourages the public to buy and invest in gold. You would think that Russia and China would tag team over Bitcoin.

Maybe they know something we don't?....

Lets not forget that the FBI now has the biggest Bitcoin wallet.

I'm sure they would rather have their citizens purchase Bitcoin rather than US dollars right?

Russia and China have close ties and i'm sure if things continue to escalate in Ukraine. Russia will divert its oil and gas from Europe and send it to China instead. If only they did international trade in Bitcoin...

Do you think that is because of Auroracoin?

Interesting, I did not know that. Thanks for sharing  :)

I really hope Auroracoin catches on in Iceland to serve as a successful working model to inspire other countries.

bitcoin is earth coin
as
auroracoin is to iceland coin

looking at the network effect, where each additional node increases the value of the whole network exponentially
which would you buy?

my bet is on bitcoin

Well said sir.

http://heygorgeoussa.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/rock.gif

What's the Icelandic government thinking with making auroracoin?

icelandic government dont endorse, know or care about aurora. much like indians dont know, care or indorse mazacoin.

but hullcoin looks interesting.. still not yet endorsed by the towns council, but looks more promising in comparison to the other 2 as the town council have more local powers to enable it in th town, and have atleast had some presentations and talks about the possibilities. unlike the other 2

If governments were smart, they would adopt it in a hurry.

Watching the various videos on YT, there are some who are convinced bitcoin was created by the NSA to make us all use one world currency in a one world government - and apparently the end result of this is all the sweet technology like 3D printers, internet contacts, virtual reality glasses that actually do VR finally, stem cell applications, BMI and AI, etc. is to enslave us all for some such reason we can't stop.

The other camp still sees the government as a single beastly entity who'se driven us in debt on purpose so it CAN install a one world currency.

Given the stupidity, greed and short sightedness of governments who've destroyed or otherwise destabilized the world's economy, the best thing they could do at this point is invest heavily in the alternative currency as a back up...but they won't do that if they can't meddle in it and rip people off.

I think the smart ones who grasp the potential disruption of bitcoin would officially dismiss it while secretly investing the hell out of it.

Governments are now obsolete, the world just hasn't figured it out yet.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/World_citizen_badge.svg/220px-World_citizen_badge.svg.png

I am a citizen of the world. To me all towns are one, all people my kin.

"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren and to do good is my religion"
-Thomas Paine

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
-Albert Einstein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_citizen

It's because the decision-makers are investing in Bitcoin themseves :)

Seriously though, there are no high profile government persons that dared to promote Bitcoin. I think they just want to appear responsible or just know too little to have an opinion.

Amen.


Pun intended.

They are not yet obsolete. 

I have hopes, and I am working hard on making at least some aspects of them obsolete, but for now anyway, it would not be prudent to attempt to form a working society without any.

Bitcoin's blockchain is an example of "self enforcing law" -- in particular people don't counterfeit bitcoins because they can't.  People don't misrepresent amounts because they can't.  It's all set up by protocol and enforced because enough ordinary people who don't want to be the victims of those crimes continue to honor the protocols that protect them.  I applaud the concept.

If we can extend it to cover most kinds of commodities trading, in a way that most of those crimes cannot be committed either, that will be a huge step toward obsoleting more functions of government.  It would be a huge win for everybody, a relief of that part of the tax burden combined with a relief from that kind of crime. 

But I have to believe that we will always need someone whom we can rely on to respond if some idiot stands up in a theatre and starts shooting people, and I can't come up with a cryptographic protocol that would prevent that. 

Not saying that government won't be completely obsolete within a century or so, but understand that to make government completely obsolete will take an AI capable of faster and more accurate thought than humans, fully capable of using force, and not under human control.  Right now I consider that more than a little bit scary.

IMO, there's nothing wrong per se with the concept of government , as long as it is 100% based on Objective Law and exists solely for the purpose of protecting individual rights.

It depends what do you mean by "ban bitcoin"

To make it illegal or to even punish for usage of it ?

Hard to say. There are similar things to bitcoin right now (only less decentralized) and no one even considered to make them illegal in any way.

No one will be crazy enough to ban even the possession of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is not some explosive device or a hard drug like heroin which can cause serious damage to the society. So no one will ban its possession.

Governments are reluctant to ban new technology.  They don't know what will be successful in the future.

But they have already started to "regulate" the conversion of fiat currency to/from Bitcoin.

And coming next will be "regulation" of mixing and laundry services.

And "regulation" of your internet service providers.

Case in point - saw a slew of articles about the crowdfunded assassination market with a list of political figures waiting their turn at being offed by the hitman taking on the highest bidder.

Much as the governments would like to ban it, the anonymity of it on top of being funded with bitcoin, makes it impossible to enforce unless the feds just get a lucky break. If they can't ban that, they won't be banning bitcoin. Or, they might issue rules and laws but the people will disregard them.

Not sure if the assassination market will ever achieve a true hit but I'd love to have the AM go mainstream in that just broadcasting the (ever growing) list might serve to put these corrupt douchebag political and LEO criminals on notice that they've been marked...maybe a "notice" list that they've been marked and have x amount of time to undo their criminal activities or step down lest they be moved to the Red List...and then so be it.

I'd have two screens up constantly: bitcoin charts and the AM list...and popcorn stock would go through the roof. That'd be more fun to watch than TV.  ;D

its all about the Benjamins baby, they wanna milk it if they can get it, its always how it been for many years.

There's no money in the ban for the government.

It's all about the taxes...

If governments will not ban bitcoin then we need to step up and do it ourselves.
Oh wait...  :D

I am in favor of banning or ending all forms of government beyond self government and installing administrators instead - who are not paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. I'd strip them of any authority to create and pass legislation and instead layer that "votecoin" concept onto all issues where people could simply vote themselves and their votes actually do count, and cannot be tampered with in any manner.

While here...

I'm in favor of releasing all non violent criminals from prison, giving all incarcerated their appeals within a year, releasing the wrongfully convicted, and incarcerating all those involved in pursuing a wrongful conviction (judges, jurors, lawyers, cops, etc) and send them all to prison or death row for the same amounts of (averaged) years they sent innocent people to face.

I've not looked too deeply into private law enforcement or security but I'm not against it on its face...could work far better than what we have now with not a single non corrupt police department anywhere on the planet.

I do, however, agree that the end of all "fed/gov" bodies or entities is a good thing, stripped of control, defunded, and kept in check...as much as I see a series of revolutions taking place here and now that will bring it about.

I credit the mainstream internet with launching the real revolution - once people tasted reach and power, and influence, the countdown clock began.