Let's ground all the planes in the world because they enable drug trafficking.
You are correct: crypto enables crime. But the solution is to fight hacking, not crypto currencies.
You are correct: crypto enables crime. But the solution is to fight hacking, not crypto currencies.
Let's make absolute pronouncements as if everything in the world is a black and white moral question, rather than assessing things pragmatically.
If we ground the planes, some level of drug trafficking will reduce, the knock on effects are that nobody can travel. Pretty serious to the world economy.
If we severely restrict the ability to transact large amounts anonymously, as we have been doing in the non-cryptocurrency world for some time, we can impact the ability of criminal ransomware gangs to get paid, and the knock-on negative effects are ... ?
I'm not saying it's a good example of a negative consequence of "restrict the ability to transact large amounts anonymously" since you mention large amounts though.
A small language point: I'm French and the word for I guess illegal drugs is "drogues", whereas the word for regular medicine (which is also called drug in English) would be "médicament", at least in common speak. Sorry for the confusion, I used "drugs" while thinking about "drogues", and not what "drugs" represents.
Why was the bicycle, a very simple machine, invented 100 years after the steam engine, a very complex one? My theory: the idea of auto-motion had to be invented first. I imagine, the inventor of the bicycle must have observed a moving train and though: hey! like those levers, my legs could move a wheel as well. Eureka!
The blockchain is a very, very powerful idea, the application as decentralized, untraceable currency is powerful as well, even though we clearly understand the pitfalls. But the idea is already there, with real life applications, with many advantages.
For this particular case, I think we better fix/improve infosec rather than hunt down cryptos.
> Let's talk about why cryptocurrency is the single factor that created the ransomware plague that is ravaging our healthcare system and public infrastructure.
> cryptocurrency is the single factor that created the ransomware plague
Why is this wrong? Without the ability to get paid like this, are you seriously telling me we'd see this stuff on the same scale?
This is also far from the sort of thinking I wanted to point out that the OP is exhibiting. We see it here on HN all the time and it wouldn't surprise me if it comes from coding - "I can think of another situation and if I apply the same rule blindly, doesn't it show that the rule is broken?"
The point is we don't have to apply the same rule everywhere in a society, and a rule that doesn't work well in one place can work well and provide value in another. The law is not code. Human society is not a computer model.
Why would we go from a volatile currency to another volatile currency that additionally needs access to a computer/smartphone (not everyone has these), it's hard to understand and it's not accepted in any shop?
Everyone wants US Dollars
I think what the author of the tweet is missing is that crypto is here to stay and it would be invented again if it didn't exist. (I.e why don't we just ban crime altogether? Oh, wait..)
But the inability to convert imaginary coins into fiat is a political decision away.
> Of course crypto is here to say. That's like saying math is here to say.
I think banning cryptocurrencies as an activity isn't like math, unless you meant "doing math" as in solving an equation. I.e if by some higher power you could find cryptocurrency operations then these would seize to exist (and be "not here to stay"), while the knowledge of math won't.
It would shrink massively. Cryptocurrency itself is not as base a desire as drugs or prostitution. They are a goal in and of themselves, for people seeking them. Cryptocurrency not so much.
And for specifically for bitcoin[1] the "goal in itself" is the anti-inflationary part. Nobody wants to lose what they have because somebody else thought that creating new money is a good idea. Putting your cash into other assets such as real estate achieves the same goal, bitcoin is just more convenient.
[1] I say "specifically for bitcoin" as what a value of any cryptocurrency is depends on how it's actually coded up (how/when it's created, burnt etc). Not all cryptocurrencies are good for "stores of value".