Why countries legalising Bitcoin is bothering me.
I am a financial anarchist. I love the thought that we could take back control of money. That back to the days when we all had gold or pebbles, or even our own things to trade with and governments just made laws and enforced justice. (was there ever such a time).
I note with interest the way that governments are "legalising" Bitcoin, in some ways that's good, because it will encourage acceptance. But on the other hand it worries me that they may try and take control of it. Ok, I know that technically you can never take control of Bitcoin because of it's structure. But I expect that those government officials simply don't understand this.
We are brought up to believe in centralised financial systems and interest, debts and loans, which is why Bitcoin scams are all so successful, they are successful because the fiat world has taught us there SHOULD be those things. Bitcoin's nature and structure teaches those things are "bad". Bitcoin's structure is there are this many Bitcoins and people own them. There are no Bitcoins that are not owned. Unlike fractional reserve banking where there is money made out of thin air, or quantitive easing which is the same thing.
So if governments start legalising Bitcoin, is that simply another word for "taking control", or is it simply recognising that Bitcoin is a "Thing" and bringing it under regulation, some people think Bitcoin needs regulation. But does it? or do we need to learn what it is to be responsible ourselves, to be free ourselves with our currency?
I'm really interested in people's thoughts.
Government acknowledgment of bitcoin as a legitimate currency isn't necessarily a bad thing. Legitimacy leads to more individuals/companies incorporating blockchain technologies. However, i think it will be difficult for governments to completely regulate since bitcoin bypasses financial intermediaries and isn't controlled by a centralized authority. I personally believe more in the underlying blockchain technology and the potential that the smart contracts can have than bitcoin itself.
Yes I agree, but maybe they see the first stage of acknowledgement as a step towards control? LOL actually only perceived control.
What if they limit people in their country to only use an OFFICIAL wallet software so they can track it.... but of course how would they know people are not using their wallet?
As it stands now, governments simply don't have the scope or ability to enforce a mandate over who can use a wallet. Also, its a global currency which would present issues if governments each try to enforce their own rules.
Yes that's true - and in fact it would be nigh on impossible to police! So basically where we are getting to is simply that governments that approve Bitcoin simply are saying yes to something that is there and working anyway.