New York BTC Hearings: Andreas Antonopolous' Rebuttal

[BittBurger]

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk_kDkrx62s&t=224m17s

-B-

[JoeyD]

I'm not an US-citizen, but I was completely disgusted with the remark about gladly stomping out 1000 blooming flowers just to maybe get 1 person laundering money.

Holy f$$k. Not only is this one of the most disgusting things I've ever heard a government official say in public, I doubt even the biggest scumbag dictator in recent history would dare to say something like that in public. Everyone knows that just about all the criminal-, terrorist-, drug-, blood-money in the world is being laundered in New-York and he dares say something like that in public.

I was very angry at all the people present in the room who just sat there when this remark was made and not only said nothing, but even continued like nothing happened. I was screaming at my pc for someone to stand up and confront that hypocrite psychopath on that horrendous stance. All the bitcoin advocates should have spat in his general direction and left right then and there.

And the second day was even more of a joke, what the hell was that? The only thing we've learned out of all this is that now we know for sure what kind of scheme Ripple is. So much for their bullshit about only wanting to help bitcoin and not wanting to compete. Could their tongues go up any deeper up the bankers rear ends? I hope they get real comfortable up there like the piece of shit they turned out to be and die with the rest of the corrupt cancerous growth that is sucking out the life of the entire economy.

EDIT
Looked at the earlier part of the video you linked, completely agree with Andreas and I'm glad I wasn't the only one outraged. Actually his reaction seemed to have calmed me down quite a bit, very reassuring to know that a lot of people aren't buying into the shit spewed out at those "hearings". Hadn't even considered the arrest being part of the show, if that's the case the whole thing is even more disgusting.

[FandangledGizmo]

I'm not an US-citizen, but I was completely disgusted with the remark about gladly stomping out 1000 blooming flowers just to maybe get 1 person laundering money.

Personally I think there is already a lower % of money laundering occurring in Bitcoin then there is in fiat, or via the large banks or other well known payment processors because of Bitcoin's public ledger. I think a few of the guests communicated that and I think the representative from Fincen at last year's hearings came to the same conclusion. 

So even in it's current form Bitcoin can give regular consumers lower costs, more efficient services. With a greater degree of freedom and privacy than traditional banks as well as the fact that Bitcoin is a limited supply money protecting them from hyper-inflation. While at the same time discouraging it's use by criminals. (Whether or not you agree that certain people should be 'labelled' criminals or not.)

I actually think it bodes well for Bitcoin's mainstream adoption with minimum regulation at exchange chokepoints.

______________________________________

As for Andreas Antonopolous, the guy is smart and passionate, but I don't think he is being very strategic.

A currency crisis is looming. Does anybody dispute that? If it hits tomorrow...

Will our world be better off, if Bitcoin is a small independent currency that only a small % of the public have any capital in? Or would it be better, if even at the sacrifice of some basic exchange level regulation, that a large % of the public have a little capital protected from hyper-inflation in Bitcoin? 

Even though I share some of his libertarian views, personally, I think we need to give as many people access to a limited supply money like Bitcoin as quickly as possible. The reality is that the technology is there for an alternative crypto to be the vessel of privacy and freedom that he craves. If it turns out that's what the public at large end up wanting too, then they will make the decision to switch, but you need to give them wider access to a gateway crypto-currency like Bitcoin first imo and as quickly as possible.

[JoeyD]

I agree with you about as many people as possible being able to get into bitcoin in the face of a currency crisis. But, don't forget what caused this crisis in the first place. In that regard I'm actually in favor of Andreas outspokenness. If bitcoin has to become the way out, we'd better make sure it doesn't have the exact same problems as what we're trying to run away from.