Proactive engagement (anti-government types: ignore this thread)

[flug]

All this being nice and shit - road to nowhere - they will dump you when good time will come for them...

Stand what you are and see who joins you - they are friends - talk to them

The most important point here is to have confidence within ourselves and not overstep the mark in seeking friends. Stay close to our integrity and don't fall prey to expectations. Then, being nice isn't a problem. Being dumped isn't a problem. Making friends isn't a problem. Just never leave our integrity behind, and we will stay in the strongest position.

[ollybee]

I’m not sure why so many people are convinced that governments will have a negative attitude toward Bitcoin or even try to ban it. Bitcoin brings down the cost of doing business making easier,cheaper and faster. Politicians (in the UK at least) are extremely keen to support a strong “digital economy”. If you read the European E-money directive you will see that legislators are supportive of the concepts as they can see the benifits. The reason for the legislation was create a level plying field and to stop consumers being scammed. It this second questions of consumers being ripped off by fraudulent or badly managed service providers that I think risks prompting unwanted regulation.

On a practical note I think longer term it would be worth having regional legal entities with a remit to promote the safe and legal us of Bitcoins (remit needs much more careful thought). If the organisations had elections, minuted meetings etc then it would make it much easier for other organisations to engage. I have specifically been looking at the UK and European payments councils, there is no other way we could work with them. Also it would give a point of contact for police forces who will certainly see it in a negative if they did not understand the concept.

[serchanto]

I’m not sure why so many people are convinced that governments will have a negative attitude toward Bitcoin or even try to ban it. Bitcoin brings down the cost of doing business making easier,cheaper and faster. Politicians (in the UK at least) are extremely keen to support a strong “digital economy”.

The point is that bitcoin takes "money supply" role away from governments.  This is a big no-no in their eyes, a lot of power to give up.  Taxation also becomes harder if you have no way of tracking the money flow.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Separation of state and money.

It should be written in the constitution, there's some pro-active engagement right there for you. Free market money is the future. They can fight it or get swept away like dinosaurs in tidal wave of technical innovation.

[TeraPool]

Well put Gavin.

More of this.

And less of this. (Srsly who is this guy? He looks "important" with all those posts...)