Apparently we can't talk about any negative aspects of Bitcoin as it is placed in a non-bitcoin section. This forum has gone to hell. I have had many posts deleted that were very relevant.

There's a difference between can't and won't. Criminals can be tracked. Before Bitcoin, if you pay their ransom, you follow the money either electronically or at the drop point. Bitcoin can be tracked when it is spent. We don't catch criminals because it isn't profitable for the military/police industrial complex. Currently victims can protect themselves by hiring private investigators, but dark technologies will make it impossible to ever catch criminals. Because there is no way to catch criminals, there is no justification to pay for police protection.

I accidentally posted before finishing.

Anonymous payments over the internet is a powerful and dangerous invention. In the past I have likened it to Plutonium in how dangerous it can be. People can use it to collect ransom for only threatening to do terrorist acts and get away with it. Anonymous payments will support kidnappers and assassins. Even children could learn to become terrorists and make better money that peddling dope. If you have a family, anonymous electronic payments are terrifying. But there is something even more threatening to our civilization.

Surveillance technology is getting very powerful. Unless you are a hermit and pee in bottles your whole life, you will be recorded. Cameras and other surveillance equipment can recognize your face, gait, smell, and thermal image. You will be tracked by someone. Maybe not the state, but someone. This is the genie that is out of the bottle that is the biggest threat. Information about you can be used to control your every move. You will always be under the threat of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is just as sinister as an anonymous payment system, but the two are actually opposite sides of the same coin. One counters the other. Information can be disseminated openly and not be just accessible by statists. Anonymous payments are the necessary evil to counter surveillance technology.

Definitely. My next wife and sex-robots will be Asian.

The recognition technology genie is out of the bottle. If not a state, then someone will use it.

Cameras will be everywhere anyway. There is no escaping the surveillance state. Just get used to it and take your anxiety meds.

Not to derail the thread, but this discussion about Monero is merely a distraction to Bitcoin's adoption. People are overly concerned about anonymity. Don't keep all your wealth in Bitcoin. I think it's speculators wanting anonymity. If you want to invest in businesses that improve your community, then you don't want anonymity anyway. Bitcoin and gold are enough privacy.

I've suspected the Yahoo/China connection would covet Bitcoin as their edge.

Is it the company that when you call tech support it blows out your eardrums with a hillbilly shout?

I've been calling it Bubblecoin a long time. Fortunately we're not seeing +/- 50% volatility anymore, but volatility is part of the nature of a 24/7 global market with no "cooldown" mechanisms.

I didn't think we would see this last bear trap before the next bubble.

Not exactly.

There are ways to throw away money that are more fun than dumping bitcoins at a loss.

Ouch. I hope you waited to open those longs.

We can't know that for sure because at least in the early days he didn't reveal his investments publicly. Nobody can know if he invested in anything. Just saying.

The broken clock speaks. Back to ignore you go.

Some lucky people are getting cheap coins.

I want to see things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. Watch C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.