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The beautiful thing about Bitcoin is that is it a pure, global, free market writ large. There is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent individuals from choo

by nk1tz 5y ago

The beautiful thing about Bitcoin is that is it a pure, global, free market writ large. There is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent individuals from choosing to participate in it. Therefore the correct retort to someone like you is to tell you to "cry harder".

fnimick 5y ago
You've correctly explained the tragedy of the commons, congratulations. This is exactly why we need regulation to stop people selfishly destroying the environment for everyone for personal gain.
HenryKissinger 5y ago
> There is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent individuals from choosing to participate in it. Governments in authoritarian countries have shut down bitcoin mining operations and arrested people.
adrianN 5y ago
I can easily think of a number of measures that would make it much harder to participate in the bitcoin market that governments could implement without much trouble.
thehappypm 5y ago
This isn't correct, though. If I decide to start an anti-Bitcoin political movement, I can get leaders elected who can ban the use of Bitcoin in the USA. Sure, some motivated folks will use VPNs and the like, but cutting the general public off from Bitcoin would be devastating. Then who will be crying?
- satronaut 5y ago
  lol, try and ban bitcoin
  - thehappypm 5y ago
    Why would that be hard? It's used for tons of illegal activity (ransomware as an example).
    - satronaut 5y ago
      Only .4% of bitcoin transactions are used for illegal activities. It'd be hard because you'd have to find every single node and disconnect it from the internet, and something like 90% of Bitcoin nodes run over TOR
      - TomSwirly 5y ago
        > Only .4% of bitcoin transactions are used for illegal activities. And you know this... how? Did you know that 96% of statistics are made up on the spot?
        satronaut 5y ago
        https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/01/20/chainalysis-crypto-illegal-purposes/ https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/01/20/chainalysis-crypto-ill... Here's a source if you're curious
        thehappypm 5y ago
        Ah yes, cryptonomist.ch. Such a reliable, and unbiased source!
        satronaut 5y ago
        do you have a metric for what is reliable and unbiased? Any time I see an article on Bitcoin or altcoins on a MSM page its factually incorrect and heavily biased. Also, can you provide an article showing that Bitcoin is used for "tons" (whatever percentage tons means) of illegal activity?
RGamma 5y ago
A critiquing/problem-aware mindset can rightly point to risks and inappropriate excess. In that sense it is part of healthy self-regulation. If you let it take over, the ensuing negativity and Weltschmerz might paralyze you. And true, most criticism (whether justified or not) comes to nothing if there's a lack of regulating entity that could do something about it.

by nk1tz 5y ago

fnimick 5y ago

You've correctly explained the tragedy of the commons, congratulations. This is exactly why we need regulation to stop people selfishly destroying the environment for everyone for personal gain.

HenryKissinger 5y ago

> There is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent individuals from choosing to participate in it. Governments in authoritarian countries have shut down bitcoin mining operations and arrested people.

adrianN 5y ago

I can easily think of a number of measures that would make it much harder to participate in the bitcoin market that governments could implement without much trouble.

thehappypm 5y ago

This isn't correct, though. If I decide to start an anti-Bitcoin political movement, I can get leaders elected who can ban the use of Bitcoin in the USA. Sure, some motivated folks will use VPNs and the like, but cutting the general public off from Bitcoin would be devastating. Then who will be crying?

satronaut 5y ago
lol, try and ban bitcoin
- thehappypm 5y ago
  Why would that be hard? It's used for tons of illegal activity (ransomware as an example).
  - satronaut 5y ago
    Only .4% of bitcoin transactions are used for illegal activities. It'd be hard because you'd have to find every single node and disconnect it from the internet, and something like 90% of Bitcoin nodes run over TOR
    - TomSwirly 5y ago
      > Only .4% of bitcoin transactions are used for illegal activities. And you know this... how? Did you know that 96% of statistics are made up on the spot?
      - satronaut 5y ago
        https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/01/20/chainalysis-crypto-illegal-purposes/ https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/01/20/chainalysis-crypto-ill... Here's a source if you're curious
        thehappypm 5y ago
        Ah yes, cryptonomist.ch. Such a reliable, and unbiased source!
        satronaut 5y ago
        do you have a metric for what is reliable and unbiased? Any time I see an article on Bitcoin or altcoins on a MSM page its factually incorrect and heavily biased. Also, can you provide an article showing that Bitcoin is used for "tons" (whatever percentage tons means) of illegal activity?

RGamma 5y ago

A critiquing/problem-aware mindset can rightly point to risks and inappropriate excess. In that sense it is part of healthy self-regulation. If you let it take over, the ensuing negativity and Weltschmerz might paralyze you. And true, most criticism (whether justified or not) comes to nothing if there's a lack of regulating entity that could do something about it.