2013-05-15 Forbes: It Could Be The Bureaucrats That Kill Bitcoin

[Arvicco]

All is lost, you cannot fight the all-mighty bureaucrats, run for the hills:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/05/16/it-could-be-the-bureaucrats-that-kill-bitcoin/

[WiW]

First they claim that if it's being converted to and back fiat then the whole thing is pointless.

If Bitcoin is to remain of even marginal usefulness it has to be a convertible currency, in and out of others (and I would argue, especially in and out of the USD).

Now they claim that it must convert to and back from fiat or else the whole thing is pointless.


Step up your game, skeptics.

[deadweasel]

USA still thinks of itself as very important, ccc.

The USA is not sentient.  The people are.  Just like where you live there are ALL KINDS of people.  It just so happens we have complete twats running the country and economy. 

Like all things, this is temporary.

[teknomunk]

...the crackdown on internet gambling and the financing of Wikipedia...

If I am not mistaken, that should be Wikileaks.  If not, since when did the government start cracking down of Wikipedia fincancing?

[DataPlumber]

USA still thinks of itself as very important, ccc.

The USA is not sentient.  The people are.  Just like where you live there are ALL KINDS of people.  It just so happens we have complete twats running the country and economy.  

Like all things, this is temporary.

I'm afraid "temporary" has had a really long run, so far.  I suppose it depends on your timescale, or just semantic issues of denotation vs. connotation.

I don't consider anything that's "unlikely to change in my lifetime" to be temporary, because from my mortal perspective, it's permanent.

If people were truly so unhappy with the status quo, there'd be less of it. ;-)

[StarfishPrime]

The market reaction to the DHS seizure of MtGox funds clearly speaks counter to the premise of the Forbes article: There basically was none, unless you count a knee-jerk 15% drop followed by an almost immediate recovery.

It appears that bitcoin's momentum can no longer be stopped - or even significantly slowed - by the action of a single agency of any single government, no matter how dramatic it was intended to be by the agency involved. Make no mistake, it was intended as a warning shot. The very fact that DHS was involved seems like intentional over-reach meant to insinuate some underlying nefarious activity.

[RodeoX]

What p!$$es me off is that the same people who let the banksters ruin wall st. and then gave them our tax money to make up their losses now want to protect us from bitcoin. The fraud committed by banks is staggering. They destroyed the lives of countless people and greatly, perhaps permanently, hurt the U.S.
Not a single person responsible for this mess is ever going to jail. Even the ones who got fired received golden parachutes to land on their 500 acer island estates. It is a stain on the legitimacy of us financial regulators.
Protect me from bitcoin? Pfft, right. I will secure my own future without you, indeed in spite of you.

[cypherdoc]

they aren't going to kill anything given the absurdities and inconsistencies that are now starting to come out.  ex: Chilton vs. DHS

[rlh]

What p!$$es me off is that the same people who let the banksters ruin wall st. and then gave them our tax money to make up their losses now want to ["]protect["] us from bitcoin. The fraud committed by banks is staggering. They destroyed the lives of countless people and greatly, perhaps permanently, hurt the U.S.
Not a single person responsible for this mess is ever going to jail. Even the ones who got fired received golden parachutes to land on their. It is a stain on the legitimacy of us financial regulators.
Protect me from bitcoin? Pfft, right. I will secure my own future without you, indeed in spite of you.

There, fixed that for you.  Subtle change but absolutely necessary.

[StarfishPrime]

What p!$$es me off is that the same people who let the banksters ruin wall st. and then gave them our tax money to make up their losses now want to protect us from bitcoin. The fraud committed by banks is staggering. They destroyed the lives of countless people and greatly, perhaps permanently, hurt the U.S.
Not a single person responsible for this mess is ever going to jail. Even the ones who got fired received golden parachutes to land on their 500 acer island estates. It is a stain on the legitimacy of us financial regulators.
Protect me from bitcoin? Pfft, right. I will secure my own future without you, indeed in spite of you.

... and HSBC launders USD 100's of billions for mexican drug cartels (obviously knowing that these aren't just mexican tortilla vendors) and is still doing business in the US like nothing ever happened: No fund seizures, no one is prosecuted and the bank is deemed "too big to prosecute" by the ever evasive Mr. Holder.

Meanwhile, the entire bitcoin market capitalization is approximately $1B - yet the DHS is seizing funds from a non-US based exchange for a possible non-compliance issue. Remember, bitcoin wasn't even recognized as requiring compliance at the time the "false statements" were made by MtGox.

[ManBearPig]

If we all started trading the EUR/BTC pair on exchanges without USD, located outside North America, would the US Gov be happy or not I wonder?

[solex]

If we all started trading the EUR/BTC pair on exchanges without USD, located outside North America, would the US Gov be happy or not I wonder?

If CNY/BTC became the most liquid pair, with negligible USD/BTC volume, then US Gov could only be ecstatic beyond belief...