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Comment by DistressedDrone | Hacker News Reader

I assume you're thinking of blockchain tech? How do you think the genie will be put back in the bottle?

BTC has value because people exchange it for "real" money. If BTC is heavily regulated or outlawed, a whole lot of folks are going to duck out. It's one thing to try and get in on the ground floor of the latest meme stock, it's another thing to buy into a currency/practice that's illegal in your country.

Add onto that making it illegal to pay ransoms in BTC, then there's really no value in using it as a ransomeware currency. No one is buying it so all you are getting are some random digits on a piece of paper.

The US and other government wills outlaw all cryptocurrencies but the ones that they control (“Govcoin,” as The Economist refers to them). Game over.

You're assuming the US and other government are not using cryptocurrencies for their own covert transactions.

So what? Many governments have nuclear weapons arsenals but they don't make it legal for everyone to buy or manufacture atomic bombs.

I would expect that the drug production and export business is a more apt analogy.

>The US and other government wills outlaw all cryptocurrencies but the ones that they control (“Govcoin,” as The Economist refers to them). Game over.

Just like how outlawing drugs ended the drug trade.

Outlawing a thing except for when the govt controls it is just another way of saying governement regulation. Which is both common and successful.

When was the last time you drank bootleg liquor? Answer: I don't know of course, but for most people in rich western countries I would think the answer is never.

It's a good point but that's a particularly bad analogy. Brewing and distilling are strongly culturally ingrained, at least in the west. I live in a state where (last I checked) no legal method exists to distill ethanol for personal use. Nonetheless, a surprising number of acquaintances over the years have had stills and offered me samples.

Do you think your local circumstances are broadly generalisable? I would be surprised.

In the US, honestly, yes. I've had the same experience in two different states at this point and friends who relocated from other places have reported similar. I mean, you can literally order a small still that you use on your stove top from Amazon!

I think it just depends on the sort of people you choose to spend time with.

Well mark me down as dubious but not invested enough to research it. However, I do wonder if you/they test or filter for poisonous impurities like methanol? Seems like a bit of a risk?

Testing and filtering is accomplished by the distillation itself. A very basic understanding of what comes out when is more than enough for a simple pot still and only one or two passes. Humans have been doing that since long before the concept of a molecule even existed.

If you decide to mess around with a large fractionating column though, do read up and make sure you have a full conceptual understanding of how the chemistry works. Even seemingly benign chemicals can be extremely dangerous to ingest or handle once concentrated. (For example, vinegar. Dilute acetic acid makes for a good salad dressing. Above 90%, contact will leave you with severe burns and scarring.)

How so? The US has banned heroin, cocaine etc but it never provided a state-sanctioned alternative.

Blockchain has many uses, including as a record of transaction. Crypto currencies are merely a subset of what might be available using blockchain. Legislation can certainly target that subset.

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