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Comment by BitwiseFool | Hacker News Reader

Call me paranoid but I think governments of the 21st century ultimately want the ability to track every single transaction they can.

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That's the whole point, and they've been talking about it since at least the 90s. They're already phasing out cash here in the Netherlands. I can no longer deposit money at my bank, I'm supposed to go hunting for an ATM that takes cash deposits. (It took me a week to find one that wasn't out of service.)

Governments of every century wanted that. They just didn’t have the means before.

If you're worried about that then Bitcoin isn't for you. It's not just Governments, anyone can see _every_ transaction as it's in the public ledger.

I'm aware that full ledger visibility is a fundamental part of Bitcoin. I'm actually more concerned that the governments and central banks of the world will push for near total traceability with their own currencies. Whether that comes in the form of "GovCoins" or reporting requirements, I do not know. But I think it is practically inevitable.

Your concerns likely are legit and justified. It appears indeed what plenty of governments are already working on and pushing towards just that .. and it won't be pretty if they ever manage to convince enough people to make it a mandatory if not the only legitimate way of monetary exchange.

However, I think it's actually the current unregulated crypto currencies ecosystem that should worry people far more. Consider the shady people that operate this space and their ability to mine all kinds of data. People might be surprised how valuable and useful behavioral data of individuals can be, especially when it relates to how they behave when dealing with speculative and uncertain dynamics (like e.g. the realities of crypto currencies themselves). That's all I will say about it.

Why does everyone talk about regulators as if they rule over us rather than answer to us?

Federal Agencies are supposed to be accountable to the people, nothing of consequence ever seems to happen to these bureaucracies when they break the rules or mismanage their operations. Agencies like the VA, IRS, and EPA are notoriously inefficient and have poor service.

Because they do.

And they're almost inevitably corrupt.

the banks are already reporting every transaction, including your personal info

see Common Reporting Standard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Reporting_Standard

If that's the case why would they need these regulations? Is the whole exercise just bEUcrats trying to trying to justify their existence?

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