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Comment by woah | Hacker News Reader

How does the crypto community encourage circumventing laws?

I don’t have time to compile a list, but if you listen to crypto proponents you frequently hear advocacy for circumventing democratically enacted laws and institutions like fiat currency, taxation, financial regulation, international regulation, etc.

... No we want more efficient and transparent systems where possible. Avoiding taxes is breaking the law, circumventing fiat currency isn't exactly a democratic institution, did you vote for the monetary policy of the US government?, I'm all better financial regulation. I think you talk to kooks.

I agree that people like Peter Thiel are kooks ;)

Of course every generalization is wrong but a not so little part of the crypto community seems very interested in avoiding taxation, money laundering and buying illegal stuff without detection.

You know whats used way more then crypto to buy illegal things and launder money? Cash

You can’t use cash to buy a kilo of XXXX from Sergei in Ukraine when you live in Chicago.

You can. It’s just more difficult. But you can use cash to buy a kilo of XXXX from someone in Chicago very easily.

Making it difficult is entirely the point.

I live in Chicago. I've bought plenty of drugs. Buying on the internet is much, much easier.

You are using the wrong denominator. You need to compare the percentage of cash transactions (or cash exchanged) for illegal activities compared to crypto.

If you start moving more than $10,000, you will have IRS attention. (I think they like to pick on little guys because it's easier than the guys whom have lawyers, and CPAs?)

Actually, I was flagged over $6000 deposit over the sale of a car.

The IRS gives rewards to bank employees if they report (successful conviction) any suspicious behavior.

I still don't know why I was flaggged. Probally because I had long hair at the time?

I had a bunch of sleepless nights over that incident, and a bunch of emails back and forth.

I hope we wouldn't have to go through a bunch of sleepless nights for doing nothing bad. There are semi random checks of "suspicious behaviour" being done in masses. These things can get out of hand sometimes (redefining what suspicious is...), when those elected get a bit crazy

Internet file sharing was/is illegal when it first started. Now its the main form of distribution for music and movie industry. Are you only seeing criminal part of crypto and ignoring the rest to confirm your bias?

> Internet file sharing was/is illegal when it first started.

Internet file sharing is older than you think. Together with remote terminal access (TELNET), file transfer (FTP) is one of the oldest Internet protocols. When file transfer over the Internet first started, that is, when the Internet itself started, it was not "illegal".

Oh pleasssssssssseeee ...

Biggest eyeroll in history.

So many times across reddit and discord servers have I saw cryptocurrency enthusiasts trading ways to dodge taxes, for example.

I don't think what the government calls "drugs" should be illegal, but, selling and buying drugs with cryptocurrency is an oft advocated for activity that I've seen in these communities.

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