It’s funny, that when BTC tanks, all cryptos tank.
But in the event of the China ban, isn’t my question about XMR even more relevant? Ban it all you want, you can’t do anything if you can’t find out if someone has it or not.
The same is true for drugs, but I wouldn’t want to get caught with 10kg of heroin. Especially in countries like China…
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It’s a different thing to hide 10 kg of drugs. You buy it and sell it physically, and if they come and search your house, it’s easy to find. But crypto? Just write down 25 words somewhere (or underline it in a book) and good luck.
Besides, I can see how dealing drugs can be morally questionable. But outlawing some funny digital app for nerds? This is ridiculous and we should be outraged by it. But of course we’re not, because we saw it coming. In my opinion, this only legitimizes cryptos even further. Either cryptos are useless and not worth our time, or they’re dangerous and have to be banned, these options are mutually exclusive. The more they ban them, the more reason for them to exist.
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Yeah, just some funny digital app for nerds: 
You didn’t get my point. Either is BTC a joke and the price is much too high, or it’s for real. So I was purposefully downplaying BTC importance. Sure, the governments will find many reasonable justifications to ban cryptos: terrorism, crime, etc. But the bad guys will find a way, it’s about losing control over people.
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I don’t think the fact that it’s difficult to proof people are guilty will prevent governments from banning it.
You also have to consider that crypto has to be mined and bought. I’m sure there are plenty ways to shut this down it just depends on the effort (see P2P filesharing, darknet, …).
Just the ban itself would be devastating for investors, no matter how strict it would be enforced. Forget about institutional money or the average Joe investing into something that’s forbidden.
I’m not saying that I think it will happen or that this would be a good thing.
A better analogy might be a non-declared bank account. Difficult to detect but most people aren’t going to do it.
I don’t think these options are mutually exclusive. I am just learning about cryptos but clearly they have potential use. BTC is adding value in countries with failed central banking systems because it is trusted more than local currency (Nigeria, Venezuela). Criminal activity seems to be another use.
Probably the goverments in those countries are not very happy about either of these though! There are also use potentials for central bank backed crypto.
Unless crypto is illegal everywhere, mining & transactions (incl. between crypto World & real World) can happen in the countries where it’s legal.
I’m not saying they will not ban crypto because it’s hard to enforce. I’m saying, it’s not the end of the World. Yes, initially you might get scared, but if your friend does it, and your neighbour does it, then you might try it, too. Especially in countries with poor law enforcement and high corruption.
Again, a World where they ban cryptos everywhere is freaking scary. It’s a message, that there should only be one centrally-controlled local currency and you’re not allowed to create your own, or we will put you in jail. Don’t you see how dystopian this is?
This is just a bullshit reason. The Internet can also be used for criminal activity. So can be knives and cars. I guess we should ban or heavily restrict them? If you’re so paranoid about security on the macro scale, you will gladly welcome these restrictions. The social credit score will be a cherry on the top.
They are regulations for the Internet
Cars and knives are restricted… you can’t drive without a driving licence, there are strict rules about circulation, licence plates allow to identify owners of car, knives are forbidden in many public places, having a knife on you in some situations may get you in trouble even if you did not use it (e.g. fight) etc. etc…Yet we sill live in a democratic state.
Are there any regulations with crypto? Nope… therefore it allows any illegal activity you wish for
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Tho this world is the current one for thousands of years? State sovereignty over money matters is nothing new.
Edit: for example Templars got burnt for that stuff.
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If you guys are in favor of banning cryptos then I’m sorry, we’ve lost already.
You own and don‘t want the ban.
Or.
You don‘t own and want the ban/crash.
Not sure.
Seeing how the US politics is warming up to Btc, I really don’t think a ban is coming. That being said, all countries with a ban (or near ban) saw the volume of transaction increase. Actually I see that India changed their mind today and don’t want to ban crypto anymore.
As for monero, overall a fan but unfortunately the volume and number of users remain too low, we need a bigger network effect.
Finally, people talking about criminal activities should check what banks are doing and how much they pay in lawsuits every year… USD and HSBC are much better than btc for criminals.
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There’s certainly room for a middle ground…I’m not for a ban but the whole sector is in dire need of regulation
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Don’t like, don’t use it. Regulated crypto loses most of its appeal.
But then forget to have widespread adoption.
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You will certainly have regulation in the future, I am betting on a “kyc world” vs. “non-kyc world” that both co-exist. Why not, it will give confidence to institutions and potentially benefit the entire space.
The system of centrally controlled currencies has quite a few benefits to be kept in mind before advocating to throw the whole thing out
A central bank is lender of last resort. When there is a crisis the central bank can step in to guarantee deposits. The central bank can set interest rates & influence inflation, exchange rates can be managed.
Is it perfect? No. However in a more or less well run economy people understand what local currency is worth today and how much it might be worth in the future based on inflation expectations.
Without a central bank controlled currency the levers above disappear. If there is a run on banks deposits get a haircut. Savers demand higher interest rates on bank deposits to compensate. Fewer tools exist to cool or heat the economy , more volatility, less lending, less investment etc
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Color me intrigued. I’m not very knowledgeable on the topic and fail either to see how current public blockchains are not decentralized (are they not stored on a craptillion number of servers?) or to picture what truly decentralized blockchains would be. Can you expand on the idea?
Central banks are a menace. What happens now is that you can’t make decent interest on your cash, because the central bank keeps the interest rate low. You also can’t make money on bonds, because of QE.
I don’t know why you mention bank runs in the context of cryptos. There is no way to “withdraw” a crypto, so I don’t see the point.
Did you check out the concept of Ethereum 2.0 and “shards”? I did not fully grasp it, but there will be 64 separate chains.
Come on, I’m sure you can see a reason. In a simple, small-scale World we would just be bartering goods in a village and not be burdened by any tax. This freedom of doing business and exchanging goods has been highjacked by the governments. Cryptos give hope to bring this power back to the people. No anonymous men in suits to decide on the level of interest rate. Why should there even be a centrally controlled interest rate? Just let the market work it out.