Government can kill bitcoin in a 2 pronged attack in conjunction with other governments acting simultaneously (the EU would be very happy to help for one).
done at the same time by multiple governments, this will be a bitcoin death blow:
1) kill and ban all the exchanges, this blocks fiat getting in and out of BTC
2) use Deep Packet inspection to block all BTC related traffic at the major internet traffic hubs.
One problem with this strategy is the rule of law. First the activity would have to become illegal for law to be enforced against it. Governments could adopt totalitarianism and dispense with law, substituting martial law, thus dispensing with the illusion of the consent of the governed. But Bitcoin is much less any government's problem than it is the central banks. Governments may just as well want free of the debtor's prison into which they have been conned. |
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You would tell if it was fake, you could see chords.
Synesthesia much? |
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When the flood is rising and God sends you a boat and you say, "no thanks, I trust God to save me", then he sends you a helicopter and you repeat, "no thanks, I trust God to save me".
A very good analogy! People rejecting bitcoin now remind me of that. Everybody is given a way out of the upcoming financial devastation, but most people stubbornly reject it as a false gift from the god of the machine. But this one is actually here to help  You just need a little bit of faith, that's all. I figured someone would turn my own logic on that one against my argument. Agreed while there is no viable alternative, then for the little guy it is better to buy Bitcoin than do nothing. My theory of concern applies more the large net worth investors (I actually stated that but it got buried in the discussion). I don't want the hassle of taking a small position in BTC and then be subject to tax audit later because of it, it would just slow me down (especially that would force me back to USA which I haven't visited since 2006). If don't feel safe to buy in large size, then I am wasting my time. I like where you are going with this. Please keep us informed, especially if there are holes to fill. |
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All you have done thus far is critique. As they say, the most dispensable person in the theater is the critic Ought I leave that role to you alone? The notion that something is perfect, or even best, simply because it succeeded is the death of innovation. |
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Third, mastercoin transactions are easy to spot. Miners can easily reject them, or insist on larger fees.
So long as this is maintained, the mining market can fix itself and compete for mastercoin txs. |
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The system is huge, complex, and has grown ever dependent on itself. It is a house of cards, a lumbering dinosaur, and not nearly as nefarious as some of you think.
+1 The government generally isn't bad as in evil, generally its bad as in incompetent. Problem is, when you have the monopoly on the right to kill, steal and imprison and impoverish, it amounts to about the same thing. It wants to do the right thing, but usually since that means not doing anything, it gets that part wrong and does something anyhow and poorly. "...monopoly on the right to kill, steal and imprison and impoverish." Lol, i take it you'd rather have everyone kill, steal and impoverish? What a wacky, wonderful world that would be! Soapbox rhetoric aside, governments have pretty lousy monopolies on murder, as anyone on the receiving end of "stand your ground" laws would tell you if the sucker could talk. Some governments are so bad at killing they don't even kill murderers -- the free market killing entrepreneurs. Some monopoly  As far as wholesale theft/impoverishment goes, i'd say folks here are doing just fine without any government help. Check the securities subforum. Money-revolutionary known as DPR tried to do some murdering too, but he botched that up. Oh well, maybe next time Incompetent and archaic as nation-states may be, they appear to control approximately 100% of this here planet Earth, while neo-anarco-capital-libertarian-whatevers control exactly goose egg. Go figure. Looks like we agree then. Despite having the franchised monopoly power on all those, they are incompetent at enforcing it. |
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i think governments all across the world do not represent the average citizen.
Add to this, that there aren't average citizens so much as individuals. Each of whom have different ideas. American people are more or less good or bad as everyone else but
american government is absolutely bad and I have the worst opinion of them.
All they want is profit and power.
As an American, I agree with this statement. Statistically, a majority of Americans agree with it as well. Not likely to see that on a ballot though. |
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The system is huge, complex, and has grown ever dependent on itself. It is a house of cards, a lumbering dinosaur, and not nearly as nefarious as some of you think.
+1 The government generally isn't bad as in evil, generally its bad as in incompetent. Problem is, when you have the monopoly on the right to kill, steal and imprison and impoverish, it amounts to about the same thing. It wants to do the right thing, but usually since that means not doing anything, it gets that part wrong and does something anyhow and poorly. |
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You can't fix a currency to something (gold, oil, another currency) unless you have complete control over both the currency (supply, printing, inflation) and the reserve.
But when you have complete control over the currency, you can gradually bring a commodity under your control by offering x amount of currency for y amount of the commodity at the state-controlled banks. The US government can't control the supply of Bitcoin so trying to fix it to silver would be futile. So govt says 1 BTC = 1 oz of silver. Ok people are trading it for 10x that. It just makes the government look stupid and powerless.
Government doesn't care about looking stupid if they can nip it in the bud. Government doesn't have to control the supply of Bitcoin. That is already done in the Bitcoin parameters - 21 million. All they would be offering to do is buy your bitcoin for an ounce of silver, same as the dollar. I'd outbid them 10 silver to 1 bitcoin, and laugh at anyone who took paper dollars. |
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This is already done, but better, and without the government, with coldhardca.shRather than fixing a price to a currency (which is essentially making the currency a token for that to which you fix it), we let the market set the exchange rate, and do it in real time. This is what is called the flexible gold standard, or bimetallic standard if we include silver (we do). The best minds currently advocating hard money standards tied to currency are following this model, and what is better is that you don't have to wait for a government to do this (hint: you will grow very old waiting). Instead it is already being done. Why wait? We had long contemplated the way to do this with the Liberty Dollar which was the most successful alternative currency of its time and reputedly an inspiration for Satoshi Nakamoto, and later we did do it with the New Liberty Dollar as well, and now have evolved the model even further with the Bitcoin Specie. It ties the precious metal bimetallic coin standard to not just the US Dollar, but more importantly to Bitcoin and to the major currencies of the world, coldhardca.sh. It is a new project and has relied on the wisdom and criticism of this community to come to fruition. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269535.0In the US, you can go to a bank, deposit money, and they show up at your home courtesy of the US Post office. |
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there's never been a bubble, just large holders dumping to accumulate more and scaring people away for a while..
+1 And it will happen again after the US decides on its digital currency regulatory policies on the 18th of this month. The news will create more questions than it will provide answers, giving the perfect opportunity to induce some panic into the public. *edit There HAVE been bubbles in the past, but this likely is not one of them... yet China , brasil , india , Iran , etc do not care about some pitty US rules. Even germany will not care. The $ is done and the world knows it LOL even us here in California don't care!!! "rules" hahahaa  Capital controls tend to increase the price. Just look at China... and Gox. |
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Word to the wise...once they put hands on you, they have to arrest you for something. The paperwork and liability issues are easier for them, its their training. |
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American people are more or less good or bad as everyone else but
american government is absolutely bad and I have the worst opinion of them.
All they want is profit and power.
I think every country has the government it deserves, maybe not always true for dictatorships but often true for other countries. Americans wanted a cowboy for president that starts wars, they had Bush, after they wanted a black President to get any credit, they have Obama. Russians want a strong leader who can take decisions by force, they have Poutine. Chinese people want a strong central goverment to be their political father who can direct them into their common goals. In the Nordic countries, the People and their politicians are the most trusting and the least corrupt in the world. Yes, Joseph de Maistre was right: "Every country has the government it deserves". Americans have the power to change, and if everybody complains about how bad the government is doing, it's their own faults for putting them in the first place. Very broad generalizations. Often US presidents have had less than 50% "approval ratings" for much of their time in office:   Usually just a pick of two choices, most do not get what they want, even when they think they do. |
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I think the sheer number of fields one has to have mastered to really understand Bitcoin and its significance, not just on a gut level but enough to have the iron-clad confidence to make a serious investment and weather the storms along the way, is immense and diverse. Economics (markets, money, incentives, emergent order, entrepreneurship), computer science including recent developments, investing, mathematics (cryptography, the exponential function). Note that very few of these topics are well-covered in school, even at the university level (economics is covered if you major in it, but in a bastardized way).
It simply takes a long time to really master these fields. Especially it takes experience to see the forest for the trees and to see what is really important from among myriad details.
I concur. Math, cryptography, programming, investing (did programming for William O'Neill & co), systems, economics, have all been helpful, as have career work in banking, telecom and manufacturing. |
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Bitcoin up, prices down... NEW PREMIUM RATE: | QTY | Spot+ | | 1 | 0.025 | | 10 | 0.02 | | 20 | 0.015 | | 60 | 0.013 BTC | | 100 | 0.01 | | 200 | 0.009 | | 500 | 0.008 BTC | | 1000 | 0.007 | | 2000 | 0.006 | | 5000 | 0.005 BTC | | 10000 | 0.0045 | | 20000 | 0.0042 | | 50000 | 0.004 |
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Early warning.
We are due for a premium discount on Saturday, but we may drop the prices earlier.
Mathematically it looks like we will be above the trigger point on the 30DMA even if the bitcoin price drops drastically.
So look for it sooner than that. Possibly even today (depending on where you happen to be standing on the planet).
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interesting and disgusting ruling, but what does this have to do with bitcoin?
It isn't specific to bitcoin, but I monitor the SCOTUS for constitutional erosion germane to things that impact the protocol. The legal precedent of non self-incrimination has implications for anonymity and privacy. |
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Will look for it on C-SPAN |
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