https://mises.org/blog/danger-public-education
Governments want to get rid of cash and control digital currency so independence is eliminated. Its work so well since 1971…
Black Hats and pitchforks…would that be our defense against “the Beast”? Aloha, Steve.
No sooner than I mentioned it, I see an example already of how we will be sold on a government-controlled blockchain currency: blockchain currency is needed to protect us from economic collapse and hyperinflation.
http://observer.com/2017/06/illinois-is-venezuela-and-the-solution-is-cryptocurrency/
The author is a true believer in cryptocurrencies and thinks he has found in Illinois the perfect issue with which to convince everyone he talks to in the US that crypocurrencies are the way to go when government drives the economy and the government currency into the ground.
So what I’ve been searching for in these years of evangelizing and explaining the revolutionary power of cryptocurrency—including bitcoin, ethereum, ripple, litecoin, this new one BAT that I’m interested in and others—to transform basically everything, are examples that will resonate without sounding like I’m talking about 1930s Germany or the struggles of the second world. These last few weeks, I think I’ve got what I need. And it comes heartbreakingly from my home state. Illinois faces financial distress that’s unprecedented for any American state. Without a budget for two years and sitting on top of over $15 billion in unpaid bills, the state is, to use a phrase that State Comptroller Susana Mendoza borrowed from Bonfire, “hemorrhaging money as the state’s spending obligations have exceeded receipts by an average of over $600 million per month over the past year.”To be fair, he's talking about the value of cryptocurrencies that are NOT created by governments because they "can't" be inflated away into oblivion by printing more and more. However, he's laying the groundwork for a future government and central bank to "save" us by introducing a government-controlled cryptocurrency. By then the government will have some real world cryptocurrency disasters to point to to show why a government-controlled cryptocurrency will be superior to paper dollars and private cryptocurrencies (which of course are used by criminals and terrorists).
…and priceless, yes?
I think your argument is flawed… No one trusts Illinois bonds because they are afraid they wont be paid back. If and when the last 2% of purchasing power the USD has is inflated away do you think that the United States citizens will trust any solution coming from government? If the government decides to outlaw legit cryptos they in essence create a black market to rival drugs. I have seen how those in charge have been able to keep people from using drugs. Legit cryptos are more powerful than most realize and adoption is catching on very quickly… No one will trust a government issued one and as such it will fail.
MJB-
Legit cryptos are more powerful than most realize and adoption is catching on very quickly... No one will trust a government issued one and as such it will fail.Really? I disagree. I believe that lots of people would trust a government issued crypto currency. In fact, I'm willing to bet that MORE people would be willing to use a US government-backed crypto currency than bitcoin. Lots and lots of people already trust government-issued currency. They'll think: "same thing as a dollar bill - I trust a dollar bill - I can exchange 1:1, so what's not to like?" Go to the man on the street. Ask him if he trusts a dollar bill. He'll shrug. Sure. With 7 of them I can get some overpriced thing at Starbucks. How would this be different? Then say, "Imagine that your bank lets you send digital cash to anyone on the Internet, instantly. And all the internet merchants would give you a 2% discount for cash if you used it. Would you do it? Or does it sound too scary? Or would you prefer to use bitcoin - where you need to set up an account, buy this 'hardware digital wallet', transfer money to the exchange, buy the bitcoin, hope it doesn't go up or down too much in value before you spend it." If I were tasked with marketing Fedcoin, I think it would be pretty easy. "Full faith & credit of the US government." Last time I checked, the USD was still the reserve currency of the world. The dollar is always "just about to turn into confetti" but for some reason, it hasn't.
Really? I disagree. I believe that lots of people would trust a government issued crypto currency. In fact, I'm willing to bet that MORE people would be willing to use a US government-backed crypto currency than bitcoin. Lots and lots of people already trust government-issued currency. They'll think: "same thing as a dollar bill - I trust a dollar bill - I can exchange 1:1, so what's not to like?"Agree to disagree Dave
Last time I checked, the USD was still the reserve currency of the world. The dollar is always "just about to turn into confetti" but for some reason, it hasn't.In our lifetime the last 2% of purchasing power of the USD will be gone and it my as well be confetti. I believe this to be true and am positioning for it. Again agree to disagree. It is very apparent to me that we view the role of government and it's perceived powers very differently. I understand you are from CA? the most regulated state in the union? so I get it you are used to big government telling you what you can and can't do. Maybe you even think they know best? If you ever venture east I bet you will meet a whole group of people that can't stand government and don't trust them at all. Look into the Bundy Ranch case for a different line of thinking. There are others that would welcome a USD alternate, not being connected to the government is a strength not a weakness. Review Ron Paul's thinking for what real money is, if our legislators only followed the US Constitution the USD would still be measured in grains of silver. Oh wait Government said "trust us with your money" and our ancestors did.. The people dependent on government handouts I'm sure would agree with you.. The pool gets larger every day unfortunately and desperate people often times do desperate things.
MJB-
There are others that would welcome a USD alternate, not being connected to the government is a strength not a weakness. Review Ron Paul's thinking for what real money is, if our legislators only followed the US Constitution the USD would still be measured in grains of silver. Oh wait Government said "trust us with your money" and our ancestors did..Oh sure. There are definitely others that would welcome a USD alternate - there are probably a few million of them in the US. But that's dramatically different from what you said earlier. You said, "nobody would trust Fedcoin." Rephrased: none of the 326 million people in the US will trust Fedcoin. Are you now saying, "there are a few million out of the total US population of 326 million that wouldn't trust Fedcoin?" If you want to say that now, I'll agree with you. But the two statements are very, very different.
...it is very apparent to me that we view the role of government and it's perceived powers very differently. I understand you are from CA? the most regulated state in the union? so I get it you are used to big government telling you what you can and can't do. Maybe you even think they know best?You stated, "Nobody would trust fedcoin." I am 0.000000003% of the population. Dragging me and my beliefs into this doesn't support your case, since I am 1 person in 326,000,000. You were making a general assessment about the other 99.99999994% of America, (i.e., not you, and not me) and claimed that none of them would trust a USD-backed Fedcoin. To back up that statement, you need to provide evidence that the vast majority of the US population have already lost their faith in the currency. You can't do this by attacking my beliefs. Try using some large numbers that represent how (in general) Americans feel about their currency. Like money velocity, for instance.
Haven’t been paying much attention here for a while, but I’ll chime hoping to be helpful.
Zero Ring signatures on the blockchain change everything most people currently understand about blockchain privacy. Here’s information on what it is and how it will change some of the better and more privacy focused blockchain. More importantly it will be adopted in the next Ethereum release. It is already used in Z-cash and JP Morgan is adopting it for financial privacy in their blockchain solutions.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1612.01188.pdf
Blockchain can be a regular guy’s bazooka against tyrannical governments.
I’m sure conspiracy theorist will throw up a host of claims to repel this idea because it doesn’t conform to their confirmation bias.
Before you issue your dismissive, please recognize your own possible logical fallacies before you write them. I will call you out on any you try to slip by.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies
Please self-check your work before you click “save”.
Thank you,
Whomever quotes Ripple as a real currencies is laughable. It is nothing but air. It’s not even a blockchain currency in the slightest. It has no block. It has no chain. It is a company. It is not decentralized.
Please.
This thread is beginning to channel the spirit of the great and powerful Fonestar.
Looks like the move down has found some support @ 2400. The bullish engulfing pattern today is a pretty strong one. The 65% chance refers to the likelihood that this marks the low for the next 8 days. That’s a good rating for this particular pattern.
The trend forecaster remains bearish - however it is usually later in triggering than the candle patterns, which can spot reversals the day they happen.
mrees-
Welcome back.
I have several thoughts about private transactions.
First, if it does succeed in providing real privacy, that’s a massive advantage over the competition, and people will most definitely choose it over other alternatives. I looked at a handful of the suggestions, and they all sound like varying degrees of something interesting. I like the direction this is headed. Once again, you’re really useful to have around.
Second, any blockchain implementation presupposes a largely incorruptible codebase, and/or a largely incorruptible operating system & platform. I’m not sure that remains operative in the face of the NSA’s demonstrated technical ability. Can you make reasonably certain that the collection of public, critical, internet-connected “miner” operating systems remains largely secure? I didn’t see any discussion of underlying OS & hardware security and/or dealing with NSA-style hacking attempts in the paper you provided. “Beyond the scope of the blockchain problem”, I suspect. NSA generally doesn’t attack crypto directly. They act to subvert the endpoints. Thats why they have a large supply of 0-day bugs to exploit.
Third, any truly private transaction mechanism would - quite possibly - terrify the gang in charge to the point where they jump in with both feet. They are trying to eliminate anonymity, not increase it. They like bitcoin just as it is, thank you very much. If they made the decision to attack, the tool I believe they would use to make this happen is the banking connection. Nobody with a US banking charter would be allowed to connect to any exchange that had a “truly private” (terrorism-and-crime-supporting) *coin implementation.
But please don’t get me wrong. I’m really all for it. I support the rebel alliance. I love the idea of truly private blockchain transactions. I just think it will be opposed by the gang in charge. The Empire will Strike Back. How successfully? That’s hard to say. When? Perhaps when we see those anonymous transactions start to outnumber the ones they can easily track.
Might be good for a nice pop in ETH when the anonymous stuff gets deployed though. 
Dang it Dave and your lawyer-ish ways! I appreciate the check. Agree there will be people that will accept and adopt Fedcoin. My HOPE is there are enough people that won’t to throw a wrench in the govt machine. The machine that gives them the power to create money out the thin air. I am not a fan of that machine, it wields to much power and the people operating it cannot be trusted… IMHO.
Thanks again for the check!
MJB-
I would personally love for other currencies to rise up and compete with the buck. At the same time, I have to realistically assess how the other side will behave. As they say, “the enemy gets a vote.” They won’t just let stuff happen without response. And the vast majority of the US population are just fine with the buck. Absolutely 100% fine. It would be like asking them about air. “So, what do you think about air? Is it good? Bad?” Uh. Air. Its fine. Never thought much about it.
Time was, I believed the dollar-is-about-to-be-confetti storyline, and my belief led me to make a lot of bad choices that cost me too much money. Then I asked myself, “what is wrong about this story?” A lot of research later, I figured out the answer:
Historically, reserve currencies don’t get turned into confetti without a whole lot of really bad things happening everywhere else first. Failing that, something really bad has to happen to the nation with the reserve currency.
Since neither of those things has yet come to pass, no hyperinflation.
Here is the key insight: hyperinflation only happens when a government is unable to borrow.
Even then, hyperinflation is a policy choice. The government can decide to either default, or hyperinflate.
As I have noted before, empire has the means to resist cryptos but failed states with destroyed currencies cannot (Venezuela for example). This is where the opportunity is for BTC et al. If all fiat currencies are doomed, well, there you go. The first dominoes are the Bolivar, and the fire will spread up the chain from there.
As I said in my book, a smallish failed state might choose a decentralized crypto-currency as its reserve currency–a move that would change BTC (or whatever they selected as a reserve currency) from “outlaw” to “legal global currency.” BTC would make an excellent reserve currency b/c it’s limited and outside the control of any state
Lastly, all fiat-based systems are doomed. What we’re talking about is what replaces them.
As I have noted before, empire has the means to resist cryptos but failed states with destroyed currencies cannot (Venezuela for example). This is where the opportunity is for BTC et al. If all fiat currencies are doomed, well, there you go. The first dominoes are the Bolivar, and the fire will spread up the chain from there.
As I said in my book, a smallish failed state might choose a decentralized crypto-currency as its reserve currency–a move that would change BTC (or whatever they selected as a reserve currency) from “outlaw” to “legal global currency.” BTC would make an excellent reserve currency b/c it’s limited and outside the control of any state
Lastly, all fiat-based systems are doomed. What we’re talking about is what replaces them.
Charles save your time and bandwidth, Dave does not like cryptocurrencies
I do appreciate your contributions. As Michael Feldman would say " they are well reasoned and insightful"