The one hurdle that will kill Bitcoin (and any other altcoin)

[DrMaximum]

holy shit, these comment !

How the hell governments lose income and power to bitcoin.
Do they lose income and power to gold?

If people pay their taxes like they do when they make purchases with cash then
what's the problem for governments.

google it, dollars are backed by a big reserve of federal gold

for in case of a crash

the economy can be controlled to a large extent, because fiat is not decentralized

even do the banks caused the recession, they also allow a lot of control,
that the gov. can't afford to loose

it's pretty clear that a lot of the people that are shouting that bitcoin wont get regulated to death
just don't know anything

[hellscabane]

I actually don't see the government thing as an "ultimate" hurdle.

The only way to kill Bitcoin is if all governments ban Bitcoin, and I really don't see that happening.

Heck even in the U.S. things can be jumbled up.

If one state decided to adopt Bitcoin, the U.S. government wouldn't be able to prevent that state from using BTC (violation of the 10th Amendment). Sure the financial and regulatory issues would be convoluted, but from an overarching perspective the state could still allow people to transact in it, as long the state transacts with the federal government in USD.

[BADecker]

As fast as the "they" are trying to take freedom down, the "we" are finding out new ways to be free. Bitcoin is gradually working its kinks out and finding more and more acceptance. Lyndon LaRouche is in the process of setting up impeachment of Obama - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/impeach-obama-campaign - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWb3AKKfme0.

There is a lot of trouble governments can make for people, but if they take the people down, they destroy themselves. After all, it is the people that support them, physically, through their labor. If governments try to make the people THINK that hey have more freedom than they have... the people are starting to see through it.

NSA spying is mostly there to keep an eye on the people so that the Super-rich Elite can try to figure out what kinds of moves to make to keep the people in bondage to them.

If Bitcoin dies, it will be because it is replaced by something a whole lot better, and a whole lot freer, if you can imagine something like that.

[DrMaximum]

I actually don't see the government thing as an "ultimate" hurdle.

The only way to kill Bitcoin is if all governments ban Bitcoin, and I really don't see that happening.

Heck even in the U.S. things can be jumbled up.

If one state decided to adopt Bitcoin, the U.S. government wouldn't be able to prevent that state from using BTC (violation of the 10th Amendment). Sure the financial and regulatory issues would be convoluted, but from an overarching perspective the state could still allow people to transact in it, as long the state transacts with the federal government in USD.

good point.. It will never die completely

however for bitcoin to mean something in the future,
I think everything stands on what the US does...

If the US takes a positive stand on BTC

western euro countries, I think are likely to follow

in Belgium and the Netherlands, Finland and Norway, there are some positive voices already ( along with negative warnings )
but no decisions are being made... and few politicians understand BTC

once USA and western euro countries embraced BTC, ( not regulating it to death )
BTC will take off

[MashRinx]

google it, dollars are backed by a big reserve of federal gold

I have, as have others.  Have you?  The US came of the gold standard decades ago. US Dollars are NOT backed by gold.  

[RodeoX]

Wait, you think we are going to stop using BTC because someone says so? Haha, that's a good one man!

[hellscabane]

I actually don't see the government thing as an "ultimate" hurdle.

The only way to kill Bitcoin is if all governments ban Bitcoin, and I really don't see that happening.

Heck even in the U.S. things can be jumbled up.

If one state decided to adopt Bitcoin, the U.S. government wouldn't be able to prevent that state from using BTC (violation of the 10th Amendment). Sure the financial and regulatory issues would be convoluted, but from an overarching perspective the state could still allow people to transact in it, as long the state transacts with the federal government in USD.

good point.. It will never die completely

however for bitcoin to mean something in the future,
I think everything stands on what the US does...

If the US takes a positive stand on BTC

western euro countries, I think are likely to follow

in Belgium and the Netherlands, Finland and Norway, there are some positive voices already ( along with negative warnings )
but no decisions are being made... and few politicians understand BTC

once USA and western euro countries embraced BTC, ( not regulating it to death )
BTC will take off

It definitely would be nice if the US somehow adopted Bitcoin.

That said, even if the US doesn't, it's very likely that would cause a bunch of other countries to adopt it (you know, good old politics and hate towards the US). It'd kinda be like a fun balancing scale. Some country is going to act contrary to another country's politics and fiscal policy at some point.

[andy10000]

The one hurdle that will kill Bitcoin: Public perception as an insecure currency. You know a nice thing about regulated banks is that I give them my money and I don't have to worry about never getting it back. I don't have to worry about an inept/crooked/anonymous CEO robbing it, losing a paper wallet, or a virus stealing my savings.

It takes more than a protocol to make a secure currency. It takes human systems too.


P.S. "Federal Reserve notes have not been redeemable in gold since January 30, 1934" - http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/currency_12770.htm. Keep up.

[Brangdon]

Yes they could legalize it, but ,in that case, very likely Bitcon will be taxed and regulated to death anyway.

I think they will tax and regulate it, and that won't kill Bitcoin. Why should it? It doesn't kill cash. When a company pays in bitcoin, that payment will be on their books and available to auditors. Salaries paid in bitcoin will be taxed at source. It'll no more evade tax than perks like company cars do.

We'll have bitcoin credit cards, and that will be an improvement because it will be more secure. Currently to pay with a CC the information you give to the merchant is the same info they could use to steal from you. With bitcoin, making a payment does not involve giving the merchant your private key. It's better.

We'll see things like payment processors and charge backs layered on top of the core protocol. I think they'll be optional. If you want the extra consumer protection that the CC charge back system gives you, it should be you who pays for it, not the merchant.

It will be interesting to see which of the benefits of bitcoin turn out to be due to "cutting corners" on things like consumer protection, which are due to efficiencies such as re-using the internet infrastructure, and which are due to avoiding fat-cat monopolistic self-serving policies of credit card companies and banks.

[zimmah]

the governments can only do whatever the hell they want because we allow them to. If we stop allowing the governments to control us, they can't do stuff to ban things like bitcoin, or other things to keep us under their control.

[RUEHL]

google it, dollars are backed by a big reserve of federal gold

for in case of a crash

U.S. is only backed by "In God we Trust" -- in 1971 President Nixon officially ended the gold standard of backing currency by gold.

[jbreher]

google it, dollars are backed by a big reserve of federal gold

for in case of a crash

U.S. is only backed by "In God we Trust" -- in 1971 President Nixon officially ended the gold standard of backing currency by gold.

Simply astonishing how many get this simple fact backwards.

[Bit_Happy]

As a free human being you're the only one who can subject yourself to them.

Bitcoin is protected in the United States by the First Amendment. Bitcoin is a ledger; a digital book of accounting. You're using this book of account with permission from the creator who made this an open source project.

If the United States adopts Bitcoin (not just accepts it but actually adopts it) and opens a professional exchange in New York with partners being banks, corporations, and other large entities; the UK and then eventually the rest of the world will do the same. It's like anything else in business, you can't just sit back and watch your competitor making money without attempting to do so yourself.

If the USA just said, "no Bitcion" it would be viewed as a blatant infringement on Constitutional rights regarding the First and Fifth Amendments.

"Freedom in our lifetime", really? This is going to be exciting...

[pungopete468]

As a free human being you're the only one who can subject yourself to them.

Bitcoin is protected in the United States by the First Amendment. Bitcoin is a ledger; a digital book of accounting. You're using this book of account with permission from the creator who made this an open source project.

If the United States adopts Bitcoin (not just accepts it but actually adopts it) and opens a professional exchange in New York with partners being banks, corporations, and other large entities; the UK and then eventually the rest of the world will do the same. It's like anything else in business, you can't just sit back and watch your competitor making money without attempting to do so yourself.

If the USA just said, "no Bitcion" it would be viewed as a blatant infringement on Constitutional rights regarding the First and Fifth Amendments.

"Freedom in our lifetime", really? This is going to be exciting...

Freedom is a personal choice, not an empty statement, or guarantee... You can make the choice in your lifetime if you choose to. There's never such a thing as "free" freedom, the cost of freedom is the risk of where you will end up should you lose it, and also the risk of what your offspring will suffer should you let it fade away quietly... Either way, it's worth the risk in my opinion.

This is how you become free: Define freedom, and then pledge yourself to honor it.

I am free because I made a personal choice in favor of death before involuntary servitude. I would rather die resisting than suffer life with the knowledge that I'm not living free. What I do is by choice, my own choice, for whatever reason.

I'm a husband and a father and I would die fighting before I could allow myself even the logical thought that my family, all the way down to my future descendants, might suffer the torment that I was too afraid or wasn't willing to fight against. I would stand up in defense of another person if they were unable to defend themselves. I'm not religious but I live by moral code; logically I understand that there is a bigger picture, and I wish well on others. I don't cheat, steal, or infringe on the rights of others. I follow laws which I agree with, or laws which serve to benefit the public in a comprehensible way. I follow laws not as a follower, rather a supporter. I will choose to disobey laws that I don't support, I'm not a drug user but if I wanted to be, the law would be the last point on my list of reservations about it...

I don't believe that people are as bad as the television propaganda would have us believe, nor do I feel the desire to be protected from them. I don't trust anybody unless they earn it first, and I don't offer my respect to anybody who doesn't reciprocate the gesture.

That's who I am. Free, by my own definition. That's as good as it will ever get in this world...

[Beliathon]

OP = clueless

/thread

[g4c]

google it, dollars are backed by a big reserve of federal gold

ha ha.