Andreas' current use of BTC

[o_e_l_e_o]

It seems to me that the US authorities understand cryptocurrencies very well, but that such laws are in place to deter people from using Bitcoin as a means of payment

Partly. I would bet that only two or three Reps or Senators could even give you a definition of a cryptocurrency, let alone explain what they are or how they work. But even then, they are quite happy to pass laws or regulations regarding it, not understanding the implications or ramifications of these laws. See, for example, the infrastructure bill which tries to make everyone collect the tax information of everyone else they trade bitcoin with.

Ok, that is quite good then already, but correct if I am wrong, that wasn't always the case was it?

You misunderstand my post. I'm saying that they should at least treat it that way, not that they already do. The tax situation here is a complete mess, with every trade between fiat and crypto or crypto and crypto generating a taxable event.

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[Lucius]

Partly. I would bet that only two or three Reps or Senators could even give you a definition of a cryptocurrency, let alone explain what they are or how they work.

Being elected to Congress does not necessarily mean being intelligent, but that is the way it is everywhere in the world - because recently journalists in my country have asked politicians in my country to try to define Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, and they have all heard about it but cannot give any meaningful answer. However, it seems that those at lower levels still understand a little better what it is about, because the state post office has been providing the service of a physical crypto exchange for a long time.

I am lucky to live in a country where politicians have no idea what Bitcoin is, but I can sell or buy a cryptocurrency for cash without KYC up to approximately 2000 EUR per transaction with a fairly reasonable fee (around 3%).

[o_e_l_e_o]

Being elected to Congress does not necessarily mean being intelligent, but that is the way it is everywhere in the world

You don't need to be particularly intelligent, but rather just have a little bit of common sense, to realize that passing laws and regulations on something you don't understand will not be effective and will just lead to more confusion and issues further down the line. But yet, that's exactly what they are doing. The US government is trying to apply laws which were written to regulate wheat, Irish potatoes, and concentrated orange juice to bitcoin, as if these things are in any way comparable.

Every member of Congress has an army of staff who are supposed to research and advise on issues like this. This is as much their failings as it is the member of Congress themselves. They propose these ridiculous laws, and then it is up to us to contact and educate them and change their minds or try to force amendments. Which will last for a few months until the next ridiculous proposal. The whole thing is a mess.

[Shenzou]

I love Andreas Antonopoulos. Having said this, he recently said something in one episode of his podcast that surprised me. He was talking about living on Bitcoin and he said that he HODLs his BTC and basically spends only USD. He gets paid in all different fiat, and he spends this fiat for his daily life. When he can, he buys more BTC and HODL.

While I understand that many of us HODL, isn't this just wrong for the future of BTC. First, Satoshi created BTC as a currency. It is intended to be spent. Second, if everyone HODL and nobody spends BTC, isn't this becoming just a pyramid scheme?

Although bitcoin has been created to be a replacement for current failing and ever so inflated finical system that has been always controlled by the government, but that idea has been started to fade away little by little ever since bitcoin started to reach some high prices, bitcoin has become just an asset and a way to make some quick and big profit for the majority of the new people who are investing it, and i am sure the majority of them if asked about what is the concept of bitcoin is they will just say its a digital currency and yet they don't use it as a currency and they don't even know the reason behind its creation.