[LINK] Fwd: BitCoin DDoS and/or Wallet-Hack

Jim Birch planetjim at gmail.com
Tue Apr 9 13:27:26 AEST 2013


Here's a good piece by Felix Salmon on the terminal problems of Bitcoin
from an economic perspective:

https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb

I wasn't aware of what a crazy bubble Bitcoin was in at present.  As Salmon
says, any price curve that looks like that is headed for a crash.

- Jim

Jim



On 9 April 2013 11:27, Jim Birch <planetjim at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Kim Holburn wrote:
>
>
>> Which "the state" would that be?  It might be declared illegal in one
>> country but that is unlikely to break it.
>>
>
> That would be the US.  Which is basically where Bitcoin is used.
>
>
>> Your only argument is a kind of "if you're not doing anything wrong then
>> you'll have nothing to worry about when the state puts surveillance cameras
>> in your bedroom."
>
>
> I'm not arguing anything like that.  I wasn't trying to run an argument on
> the ethics of Bitcoin at all, let alone bedroom surveillance.  I didn't use
> the words "should" or "ought".  Bitcoin is used as a tax avoidance
> mechanism so it is already illegal and its "untraceability" makes it
> attractive to people who are doing illegal things.  Theoretically you could
> pay tax on Bitcoin transactions but I seriously doubt that that would be
> happening at all.
>
> In my opinion, a government would not allow a large volume of tax-free
> transactions to occur without going after it.  The fact that the
> transactions occur in a currency that it not issued by the government
> generates further issues of sovereignty and economic regulation.  If you
> think an unregulated finance industry is an economic problem - I do - then
> imagine an unregulated finance industry running on Bitcoin.
>
> Bitcoin is small and difficult to track that's all. The tax system doesn't
> (usually) go after people who put plastic bags of apples and a coin tray at
> their front gate but they certainly would if it became a billion dollar
> industry.
>
>
>>  If it's tax you're really concerned about well the people who get out of
>> paying the most tax are not poor or in general criminals.
>>
>
> Tax avoidance is actually already criminal in most jurisdictions.  I also
> regard it as unethical, but I wasn't arguing that.  YMMV.  (  Al Capone
> didn't go down for extortion, bootlegging, smuggling, conspiracy or murder,
> they got him on tax evasion charges.)
>
>
>>  The world black economy is the second largest economy in the world.
>>
>
> It is, and, guess what, it is subject to all sorts of sanctions.  You can
> be thrown in jail for participating in it, if you are caught.  In some
> places they will actually execute you.  If Bitcoin starts to account for a
> significant loss of tax revenue I think it will attract the same interest
> that other tax scams do.
>
>
>> Crime is not the only reason for privacy.  It is a reason people often
>> use to get rid of privacy.
>>
>
> Sure.  Most people with Swiss bank accounts, offshore accountants and
> safety deposit boxes are doing nothing illegal.  They just want to keep
> things to themselves for pure and angelic reasons.
>
> Jim
>



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