Some thoughts on Bitcoin regulation...

[roslinpl]

"Not every aspect of our lives needs to be regulated. "

But I guess Bitcoin should be regulated somehow to make it more trustable for new users.

And bitcoin need a lot of them

[Warren]

I am not an anarcho-capitalist and I believe that centralized government has many roles to play.  Interfering in private commerce is not one of them.

Not every aspect of our lives needs to be regulated.  In fact, some aspects of our private lives remain completely unregulated and the world is not falling apart because of that.

Excellent points, but it sems this is now a minority viewpoint in most Western countries.

In the US there were 40,000 new laws passed in 2013 alone! Even if the vast majority of these are state laws and don't affect every citizen it seems that the police state that the US is turning into wants to regulate every part of citizens lives.

Did you for example know that it is now a crime to unlock your own smartphone so you can switch to another carrier if your current one sucks? This is now considered a crime that can land you in jail for 5 years!
(Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/the-most-ridiculous-law-of-2013-so-far-it-is-now-a-crime-to-unlock-your-smartphone/272552/ )

But I guess Bitcoin should be regulated somehow to make it more trustable for new users.

No. What we need is for more people to understand how Bitcoin works, then they will automatically gain trust in Bitcoin.

[erik777]

I am not an anarcho-capitalist and I believe that centralized government has many roles to play.  Interfering in private commerce is not one of them.

Couldn't agree more.  The question is how do we get politicians to scale back some of the unjust laws that are hitting good citizens?  It would of helped if EFF, which successfully opposed proposed internet laws that were pushed under the guise of fighting child porn, would take a stance in this manner.  Without EFF, we need a similar grass roots organization to take up the cause and help to inform the public and public officials how harmful to people, anti-innovation, and a hindrance to economic growth some of our laws and resulting regulations have become. 

[Warren]

I am not an anarcho-capitalist and I believe that centralized government has many roles to play.  Interfering in private commerce is not one of them.

Couldn't agree more.  The question is how do we get politicians to scale back some of the unjust laws that are hitting good citizens?

This is an almost impossible battle as long as there are no real repercussions for those that suggest and implement laws that are useless/harmful for the people that they are supposed to govern.

I believe many/most policiticians introducing new laws are well meaning. They are informed about a problem, (let's say children getting affected by parents smoking with them in the car), and they immediately assume that the best way to stop it is to create a new law. One major problem here of course if that there are so many of these well meaning people! By dramatically reducing the size of the government, part of the problem would be solved.

However, since reducing the size of government (in a meaningful way) is an almost impossible task in most Western countries I think the best way to stop idiotic new laws from being passed would be to introduce a 5 to 10-year rule that stated the following:

For any new law to be introduced, two old useless/harmful laws have to be abolished/repealed from the books.

This one simple rule would force politicians to carefully consider the effects of introducing a new law. It would be easy in the beginning because there are so many idiotic old useless laws still on the books, but as more and more new laws were introduced they would really have to balance up the benefits of any new law and if it's worth getting rid of two old laws to get it implemented.

I think that if a grassroots movement was started to force politicians to consider such a rule, it could potentially work, especially if people were informed about some of the incredibly stupid laws that are currently in effect.

[erik777]

For any new law to be introduced, two old useless/harmful laws have to be abolished/repealed from the books.

lol you have my vote.  run for congress!!

[Warren]

For any new law to be introduced, two old useless/harmful laws have to be abolished/repealed from the books.

lol you have my vote.  run for congress!!

I appreciate the confidence, but no thanks!  

I'm far too much of an independent anti-social loner to ever make it in politics. The best way for me to make a difference in the world is probably to just do my own thing. Besides I'm not even American!  

Maybe it would be worth starting a petition on Change.org though? I have thought about it, and the problem is widespread in most Western countries...

[CiaIgle]

My feeling is that as soon as a crypto gets regulated, just will become another currency.

Technicalities, mining, security, etc will stop being a key point.