Join me on an interview of the average Bitcoiner!
So Bitcoiner, you believe that Government money is a scam?
> Yes, complete scam. All they do is print.
And you like Bitcoin because it isn't controlled by central bankers?
> Yes. The network is controlled by the miners.
So what happens when the Government bankers that you're seemingly slighting have no more use for Bitcoin for their own illicit purposes and outlaw the exchanges?
> ...
What happens when they shut down the Internet?
> ...
> outlaw the exchanges?
an unsolved problem. bitcoin will still exist and function fine, but without an infrastructure which allows for daily use of bitcoin for daily needs... well, it's utility will drop through the floor, and the price will too.
> What happens when they shut down the Internet?
lol, who cares? End of everything. What happens when they shut down the ACH system? Same question.
@eriner
> their own illicit purposes
BTW, illicit purposes == best purposes !!
But yeah, the "public ledger" aspect of bitcoin cuts both ways.
> lol, who cares? End of everything.
Parts of the Internet can be selectively offlined without shutting down the whole Internet. I implied a whole shutdown, but you are correct that ending the Circuses is probably not advisable, so in practice it's more likely to be a selective shutdown. They'll make laws and go after the ISPs.
> What happens when they shut down the ACH system? Same question
ACH predated the Internet, but again, see above about a selective shutting down.
@eriner Yes, they could choke off the nodes by observing the traffic.
The only countermeasure would be for something like IPSec to be implemented globally, and for all communication channels to be stuffed to capacity to make traffic analysis difficult.
@IceCubeSoup yeah, which... isn't happening.
My point is that Bitcoin is ultimately at the mercy of the same Evil shits that make the Dollar. And it *REQUIRES* an uncensored Internet. No way around it.
It's just so silly. IMO, likely a Government fabricated trap; a controlled illusion that they could create a viable parallel economy free of Government. Bleed the skeptics of their Dollars, drive them into a box, and eventually reveal who's really in charge and rug pull.
Bitcoiners will be all:
@eriner I cannot disprove your thesis.
But I don't see any movement which will result in a viable parallel economy. Lightning is going nowhere.
Crypto only works when there's no need for the exchanges at all, and I can buy a gallon of gas (or a barrel of oil) without ever touching fiat.
I don't see this happening, therefore bitcoin is "safe" indefinitely.
But it doesn't live up to its promise...
> it will survive as long as the USA doesn't have total hegemony over the planet
My view is admittedly US centric, however the logic can be applied to any Government. I guarantee when the rug-pull does happen, the US won't be the only Government doing it.
@sun @IceCubeSoup I don't disagree at all. Bitcoin itself will probably survive until some Government reveals that they broke all conventional prime factoring based cryptography. But it won't be usable as a currency for those that live in the "dark zone".
@sun @IceCubeSoup plus, who can say with certainty that "Satoshi Nakamoto" isn't a pseudonym of Government Research Department #2293?
The whole viewpoint that the dollar value of bitcoin is important completely undermines its whole premise.