We were wrong

[00null]

Everyone always thought that the US government and regulators are the enemies of Bitcoin. The senate hearing clearly showed that this is not the case. Almost everyone defended and sometimes even praised Bitcoin.

However, one entity definitely acted as an enemy at this hearing. The lawyer hired by Ripple.

Is Ripple the new Dwolla? Trying to grow big on Bitcoin and then in the end hating Bitcoin when they finally realize how irrelevant they are themself

[wmcleod]

there's always going to be antagonists in big money games.
i honestly don't even know what a ripple is and they've been around for how long now?  i say "meh" to ripple lawyers.

[lindatess]

There were no enemies of bitcoin.

The real enemies are us here in forum, we the people collectively are the enemies of bitcoin.

We drive the price up and crash it back down. No one else can do it except the market.

We scare away the newbies, we make excuses to why the blockchain is not confirming, we don't provide solutions or a calculator to compute transaction fees, and much much much more.

In return they (savvy investors, mums and dads, and elitists) will punish "we the people" by ignoring bitcoins and then the value will plunge to zero.

The governments don't even need to regulate it, we will destroy bitcoin ourselves.

[kireinaha]

To come away from yesterday`s hearing with the conclusion that the US government approves of bitcoin is a bit naive, I`ve gotta say. It`s nothing but a tiny blip on their radar right now. If bitcoin actually does catch on and spread outside the small circle of crypto geeks and libertarians, trust me, they will start to care. And they`re not going to have good things to say anymore. They will find a way to tax it, regulate it, or bring it down. That`s what they do.

How`s the online poker scene doing these days? Oh, that`s right, the government essentially shut it down by seizing the bank accounts of all the popular sites, in the name of *money laundering*. Hmm, wonder if bitcoin could be used for money laundering... 

[Gorgoy]

To come away from yesterday`s hearing with the conclusion that the US government approves of bitcoin is a bit naive, I`ve gotta say. It`s nothing but a tiny blip on their radar right now. If bitcoin actually does catch on and spread outside the small circle of crypto geeks and libertarians, trust me, they will start to care. And they`re not going to have good things to say anymore. They will find a way to tax it, regulate it, or bring it down. That`s what they do.

How`s the online poker scene doing these days? Oh, that`s right, the government essentially shut it down by seizing the bank accounts of all the popular sites, in the name of *money laundering*. Hmm, wonder if bitcoin could be used for money laundering... 

I absolutely agree, bitcoin is very small right now for the US government. When it does grow the government will change its tune. We are still only at the beginning of this and there is a huge amount of development that still has to take place and that needs to progress to make it easier for everyday people.

The future is exciting!!!

[AnonyMint]

Re: We were wrong

Hey don't include me in the "we".

[LouReed]

"When it does grow the government will change its tune."

And hopefully by then, enough people have taken notice that they won't be able to stop us!  

[b!z]

Re: We were wrong

Hey don't include me in the "we".

"I was right, everyone else was wrong"

[Arksun]

To come away from yesterday`s hearing with the conclusion that the US government approves of bitcoin is a bit naive, I`ve gotta say. It`s nothing but a tiny blip on their radar right now. If bitcoin actually does catch on and spread outside the small circle of crypto geeks and libertarians, trust me, they will start to care. And they`re not going to have good things to say anymore. They will find a way to tax it, regulate it, or bring it down. That`s what they do.

How`s the online poker scene doing these days? Oh, that`s right, the government essentially shut it down by seizing the bank accounts of all the popular sites, in the name of *money laundering*. Hmm, wonder if bitcoin could be used for money laundering... 

I absolutely agree, bitcoin is very small right now for the US government. When it does grow the government will change its tune. We are still only at the beginning of this and there is a huge amount of development that still has to take place and that needs to progress to make it easier for everyday people.

The future is exciting!!!

Time will tell. Over here of course online gambling is legal (UK). I think the uk stance at the moment on Bitcoin is that it is a classed as a voucher......yeah....confused me as well.

[LostDutchman]

Everyone always thought that the US government and regulators are the enemies of Bitcoin. The senate hearing clearly showed that this is not the case. Almost everyone defended and sometimes even praised Bitcoin.

However, one entity definitely acted as an enemy at this hearing. The lawyer hired by Ripple.

Is Ripple the new Dwolla? Trying to grow big on Bitcoin and then in the end hating Bitcoin when they finally realize how irrelevant they are themself

Right.

The most dangerous sentence on the planet:

"Hi!  I'm from the government and I'm here to help you!"

My $.02.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

To come away from yesterday`s hearing with the conclusion that the US government approves of bitcoin is a bit naive, I`ve gotta say. It`s nothing but a tiny blip on their radar right now. If bitcoin actually does catch on and spread outside the small circle of crypto geeks and libertarians, trust me, they will start to care. And they`re not going to have good things to say anymore. They will find a way to tax it, regulate it, or bring it down. That`s what they do.

How`s the online poker scene doing these days? Oh, that`s right, the government essentially shut it down by seizing the bank accounts of all the popular sites, in the name of *money laundering*. Hmm, wonder if bitcoin could be used for money laundering... 

I absolutely agree, bitcoin is very small right now for the US government. When it does grow the government will change its tune. We are still only at the beginning of this and there is a huge amount of development that still has to take place and that needs to progress to make it easier for everyday people.

The future is exciting!!!

Care to compare the market caps between Bitcoin and all the various online poker sites combined?

[hayek]

Anyone notice the giant PR campaign going on right now and all the "rah rah government good"

It's like every Hollywood movie got it right =P The Pinkertons come in right after some successful anti-fear pr stunt and pump the government.

SR gets bagged as a trophy and then the Senate meets on Bitcoin and now youngish accounts are singing praise and halleluah.

/tinfoil hat

[Operatr]

My take on the whole thing is that they are still in a period of simply trying to understand what digital currencies are and what it means for them. The lack of regulation thus far is only a testament to the simple fact that cryptocurrencies cannot be easily regulated at all. Many of them had no easy answer to the tough questions, and probably never will.

 And as was made a very sharp point, attempting to regulate Bitcoin in the world stage might mean America gets excluded from the party as businesses simply move out of the US entirely to countries that favor or at least don't regulate digital currencies. They must consider this, as noted being the country that favors heavy regulation and red tape will find itself left behind. In many ways the US is already.

The powerful tend to want to remain powerful, as has been through all of history. Bitcoin is not yet a real threat to major banks and government financial institutions, so while they attempt to understand Bitcoin they are only postponing further action in place of a watchful eye, for now. All we can do in the face of that is keep on making Bitcoin bigger and badder, and we will face the challenges to come.

[scribe]

And as was made a very sharp point, attempting to regulate Bitcoin in the world stage might mean America gets excluded from the party as businesses simply move out of the US entirely to countries that favor or at least don't regulate digital currencies. They must consider this, as noted being the country that favors heavy regulation and red tape will find itself left behind. In many ways the US is already.

This totally. How different nations are responding to Bitcoin is significant. Bittorrent was captured (marketing wise) and demonised pretty quickly by RIAA etc. Bitcoin on the other hand is now seeing much more backing from chief finance people. The difference is that Bitcoin offers the opportunity to earn a quick buck.

 In a time of no-growth, any easy money doesn't get turned down quickly. But you can bet that governments are all developing their own Bitcoin kill-switch(es) as well. Just in case.

[ixne]

My take on the whole thing is that they are still in a period of simply trying to understand what digital currencies are and what it means for them. The lack of regulation thus far is only a testament to the simple fact that cryptocurrencies cannot be easily regulated at all. Many of them had no easy answer to the tough questions, and probably never will.

This. The government had to come out sounding positive about bitcoin, because the alternative is to reveal how impotent they are to do anything about it. To repurpose a famous quote: better to watch and be thought powerless than to act and remove all doubt.

[Come-from-Beyond]

Everyone always thought that the US government and regulators are the enemies of Bitcoin. The senate hearing clearly showed that this is not the case.

U do believe politicians? What about Santa Claus?

[Alpaca Bob]

You were wrong.

[MicroGuy]

There were no enemies of bitcoin.

The real enemies are us here in forum, we the people collectively are the enemies of bitcoin.

We drive the price up and crash it back down. No one else can do it except the market.

We scare away the newbies, we make excuses to why the blockchain is not confirming, we don't provide solutions or a calculator to compute transaction fees, and much much much more.

In return they (savvy investors, mums and dads, and elitists) will punish "we the people" by ignoring bitcoins and then the value will plunge to zero.

The governments don't even need to regulate it, we will destroy bitcoin ourselves.

Don't forget we hack the forum and take it offline for days on end.  

[NedKLee]

Seems to me the "Online Poker Scene" is as good if not Better than before Black Friday, there's a whole generation of players who don't even remember what it was like when the Americans were still allowed to participate.

How ironic that in the home of Poker a man can't come home after a day's work, sit at a PC and play an online 6 max, a 180 seat tourney or a 1/2 NLHE, this is all for your benefit of course you moron, heaven forbid you might just want to unwind and have a bit of fun.

The lesson for Bitcoiners is simple, sooner or later the American Govt. Will make Bitcoin immoral, illegal or just plain unAmerican and ban the use of the afore mentioned Bitcoin.

Rest assured the rest of the world will function just as well as before once the dust settles, for a while there will be a vacuum there, but you know how nature abhors a vacuum.

Once again it will be so sad to see the people who, like poker, did the most to promote Bitcoin, be left standing on the side of the road whilst the Bitcoin Bus races on into the future.

[SeanArce]

People are forgetting what currency is actually is