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Venezuela Will Force Bitcoin Miners To Register With the Government (themerkle.com)
schwit1 shares a report from The Merkle: No one will be surprised to hear the Venezuelan government isn't too keen on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Since Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can't be regulated or controlled by the government in any official capacity, they could damage the country's brittle economy even further. As a result, the government has imposed new rules for anyone mining cryptocurrency. To be more specific, all miners will now be taxed and required to register with the government. Being taxed is not entirely illogical, but the registration requirement is pretty worrisome, to say the least. The government shouldn't need to know who is doing what in regards to crypto trading and mining. Nevertheless, authorities want to know who is mining, where they are located, and what type of equipment they use. "That'll put food back on the shelves," adds schwit1.
I wonder how they'll track miners.
"These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who's the banana republic now?" - Senator Bernie Sanders
https://www.sanders.senate.gov...
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
As Venezuela Collapses, Children Are Dying of Hunger
New York Times 2 days ago
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed.
Don't click on that link if you have a weak stomach. The images are horrifying.
Late-stage socialism at its finest - Venezuela has run out of other people's money.
It annoys me when I see their beards and glasses and hairy arms.
Why do hipsters have beards and glasses and hairy arms?
Why do they **always** have beards, and **thick** black glasses?? It annoys me, and alot of other people.
Someone generating profit, needs taxing, not entirely illogical ? Seriously ? Seems pretty logical to me.
but the registration requirement is pretty worrisome, to say the least. So how else are the going to tax it ?
It's actually quite amazing there hasn't been more of a legislative reaction to bitcoin considering how it's basically dark money being generated off the books.
Especially since the prices are skyrocketing in the last month, the amounts you're talking about are no chump-change.
The only party that might get damaged is the government. The people of Venezuela can at least use bitcoin as a way to store their value, and to conduct trade, free of the hyperinflation their government imposes on them with its rampant spending. For them bitcoin is a gift from heaven, a way out from their broken system.
The government, OTOH, should definitely be worried. Bitcoin offers no way for them to print money, so as their nation switches away from the old coin, government income will dwindle to nothing. They will be left with a valueless coin, and therefore without the means to effectively control their country.
And Venezuela is only the first country to go down this road. Eventually _all_ nations will end up in the same spot, as people will generally prefer bitcoin (which is free from inflation) over whatever local currency they are now stuck with. Governments that wake up to this in time will try to put a stop to it, using whatever draconian measures they can get away with. The people, who will have a major part of their wealth in bitcoin, will fight them.
It will be interesting to see who will win.
Mining virtual coin needs to use a lot of electricity, so if you are looking for cheap electricity, consider the small kingdom of Brunei
http://www.des.gov.bn/SitePages/Electricity%20Tariff.aspx
NEW ELECTRICITY TARIFF STRUCTURE
0001 kWh to 0600 kWh B$ 0.01 cents
0601 kWh to 2000 kWh B$ 0.08 cents
2001 kWh to 4000 kWh B$ 0.10 cents
4001 kWh and Above B$ 0.12 cents
I can see why Venezuala is trying to crack down on bitcoin mining. In Venezuala the energy sector is still heavily subsided, both for petroleum and electricity, when energy is actually available. Bitcoin mining is therefore a method of turning that government subsidised energy that is also bought in pretty much useless bolivars, and turn it into USD. But it does make the energy situation much worse as electricity is effectively wasted in an already electricity starved nation.
There is also a trade in illegal export of subsidised petrol and diesel out of the country to neighbouring countries where it can be sold at a profit and used to buy other goods.
Socialized electricity is going to be abused .. this is a logical outcome.
They are BANNED?
> Since Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can't be regulated or controlled by the government in any official capacity, they could damage the country's brittle economy even further.
Surely the former means the opposite of the latter.
That's all they need, another statute to violate the people's rights. This is one that they don't even have a way to enforce.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
This is what happens when you run out of other people's money that you were using to pay for the "free stuff" you were giving away.
You have to double down on shakedown schemes.
The only thing sustainable in Venezuela under the suffocating blanket of dying socialism is starvation and disease.
Are you really going to argue socialism could have worked in Venezuela had it been "done properly"?
<SARCASM>Yeah, right. Sure it would have.</SARCASM>
Do you have the brains to even ask why you have to do that every damn time socialism fails? Naah, you don't.
n/t
Since Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can't be regulated or controlled by the government in any official capacity, they could damage the country's brittle economy even further.
Or the patriots could just repair the country bringing in everything from food to medicine without government.
> Being taxed is not entirely illogical
Whatever services government provides must be paid for somehow. Taxation is not only logical but inevitable.
> but the registration requirement is pretty worrisome, to say the least.
Since crypto is being used to subvert the government-controlled economic system... registration is not only logical but inevitable.
>The government shouldn't need to know who is doing what in regards to crypto trading and mining. ...the opinion of people attempting cheat their government with crypto trading and mining.
The problem is political mismanagement of the economy, but you don't fix that by removing all economic control from the government unless you want things to get worse.
"You did something so we are going to take it away from you for all the lazy fucks out there"
New Hampshire seems to be doing pretty well.
The Chavez family has billions in assets. Is that getting redistributed at all?
There's no significant difference between an absolute libertarian state and pure anarchy.
The fundamental system shucks off all civility and slowly returns to the natural state of things if you remove intelligent management: predator/prey relationships.
I'm reasonably certain that the majority of people promoting libertarian states or anarchies believe THEY will be the successful local strongman lording over everyone else in such a situation. I'm also pretty certain they're delusional.
only because all the high paying jobs are south of it's border. Almost all jobs in NH pay a bit above minimum wage and for health benefits you need to use the ACA
> No one will be surprised to hear the Venezuelan government isn't too keen on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Neither is the USA; have we forgot about the IRS and the $20k request from coinbase? What about states forcing verification before you can trade bitcoin?
This post is just riddled with anti-Venezuelan propaganda. Lest we forget that the government is democratically elected. Did you forget that they just had an election that resulted in more seats being won by the evil socialist party?
Bitcoin offers no way for them to print money, so as their nation switches away from the old coin, government income will dwindle to nothing.
Stupid statement #1. The problems of Venezuela are not rooted in them printing money. The problems are far more diverse and numerous.
They will be left with a valueless coin, and therefore without the means to effectively control their country.
Stupid statement #2. Even if they cannot revive the bolivar they can simply use another fiat currency like the dollar or the euro. Countries experiencing hyperinflation do this commonly for periods of time. It isn't a cure all but sometimes it is a useful tool.
And Venezuela is only the first country to go down this road.
Stupid statement #3. Venezuela is not the first country to experience hyperinflation and bitcoin will not save their economy.
Eventually _all_ nations will end up in the same spot, as people will generally prefer bitcoin (which is free from inflation) over whatever local currency they are now stuck with.
Stupid statement #4. "free from inflation"? Umm.... no. Just no. No all nations will not end up like Venezuela and bitcoin is not likely to become a preferred currency. You are demonstrating a profound ignorance by stating that bitcoin is free from inflation. NO asset is free from inflation including bitcoin. You seem to not understand what inflation is or how it is caused.
Seriously, you post has to win the award for dumbest post I've read on slashdot this week. You are either young and naive or a bitcoin fanboi but either way you don't understand currencies and economics at all.
I just want to remind you that all attempts to create a libertarian state fared much worse than Venezuela?.
Nice try, comrade.
NOT.
It's really, really, really hard to go broke sitting on top of the largest oil reserves on the planet.
But Venezuela did just that.
Do you have the balls to look at the images of late-stage socialism in failure? Starving babies, an entire population with no food or access to medical care?
Grow some BALLS, you chickenshit son-of-a-bitch (and you most certainly are a chickenshit son-of-a-bitch for even trying to defend a system that resulted in what you can see if you had the balls to read that entire linked article), read, and LEARN:
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed.
Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing children.
The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it.
For five months, The New York Times tracked 21 public hospitals in Venezuela. Doctors are seeing record numbers of children with severe malnutrition. Hundreds have died.
SAN CASIMIRO, Venezuela — Kenyerber Aquino Merchán was 17 months old when he starved to death.
His father left before dawn to bring him home from the hospital morgue. He carried Kenyerber’s skeletal frame into the kitchen and handed it to a mortuary worker who makes house calls for Venezuelan families with no money for funerals.
Kenyerber’s spine and rib cage protruded as the embalming chemicals were injected. Aunts shooed away curious young cousins, mourners arrived with wildflowers from the hills, and relatives cut out a pair of cardboard wings from one of the empty white ration boxes that families increasingly depend on amid the food shortages and soaring food prices throttling the nation. They gently placed the tiny wings on top of Kenyerber’s coffin to help his soul reach heaven — a tradition when a baby dies in Venezuela.
When Kenyerber’s body was finally ready for viewing, his father, Carlos Aquino, a 37-year-old construction worker, began to weep uncontrollably. “How can this be?” he cried, hugging the coffin and speaking softly, as if to comfort his son in death. “Your papá will never see you again.”
Hunger has stalked Venezuela for years. Now, it is killing the nation’s children at an alarming rate, doctors in the country’s public hospitals say.
Venezuela has been shuddering since its economy began to collapse in 2014. Riots and protests over the lack of affordable food, excruciating long lines for basic provisions, soldiers posted outside bakeries and angry crowds ransacking grocery stores have rattled cities, providing a telling, public display of the depths of the crisis.
But deaths from malnutrition have remained a closely guarded secret by the Venezuelan government. In a five-month investigation by The New York Times, doctors at 21 public hospitals in 17 states across the country said that their emergency rooms were being overwhelmed by children with severe malnutrition — a condition they had rarely encountered before the economic crisis began.
“Children are arriving with very precarious conditions of malnutrition,” said Dr. Huníades Urbina Medina, the president of the Venezuelan Society of Childcare and Pediatrics. He added that doctors were even seeing the kind of extreme malnutrition often found in refugee camps — cases that were highly unusual in oil-rich Venezuela before its economy fell to pieces.
For many low-income families, the crisis has completely redrawn the social landscape. Parents like Kenyerber’s mother go days without eating, shriveling to the weight of children themselves. Women line up at sterilization cl
I am. In fact I'm astonished, because only last week the Venezuelan government announced that it will develop its own cryptocurrency (backed by natural resources, apparently, although I'm not sure how that will work).
Compare that to RussiaðYðY and you can see how competent, uncorrupt and efficient their government is.
But our mainstream media will utter the "Putin corruption" BS every day.
I assume they cannot imagine the existence of patriotic presidents.
I make a recommendation to actually talk to some libertarians to find out what libertarian state would actually look like. You see, what people like you miss with the libertarian philosophy is the personal responsibility aspect. I think you truly can't imagine what it means to be allowed to do whatever you want, but be held responsible for everything you do. In pure libertarian society, you want to get drunk and drive? Go for it. You kill somebody while you're doing it, congrats, you now get to support their family for the rest of your life. Now, knowing that's going to be what's coming at you if you fuck up, are you likely to actually do it? Very different than anarchy. Libertarian society would have a government set up to hold you accountable, anarchy would be every one left on their own. The difference between anarchy and libertarianism in a word is accountability.
>I make a recommendation to actually talk to some libertarians to find out what libertarian state would actually look like.
You're an idiot if you think privatized courts and policing wouldn't lead to chaos and ultimately local warlords.
>The difference between anarchy and libertarianism in a word is accountability.
The difference between anarchy and libertarianism is the philosophy. The inevitable conclusion is identical.
intelligent management: predator/prey relationships.
Intelligent management...as in communism, responsible for over 100 millions deaths globally? How about fascism, where the Nazi party as "intelligent management" - you don't march across Europe without at least some intelligent management?
There's nothing inherently good or evil about order or chaos. They're two different axis. For example: you can have evil order, benign order, evil chaos, and benign chaos. Chaos is merely an agent of change. That's it! And depending on the state of society, it may be welcomed, or might not be.
Life is not for the lazy.
>Intelligent management...as in communism, responsible for over 100 millions deaths globally?
Ask an old Russian how they felt about Communism compared to the state of Russia shortly after Communism fell. Or anybody who survived a state in 'transition'.
Order is better than chaos for the majority, even when that order is pretty grim.
>How about fascism, where the Nazi party as "intelligent management"
How about the overall order of the world that brought that under control? In a more chaotic world there would have been nothing to stop the only organized force present.
Almost all jobs in NH pay a bit above minimum wage and for health benefits you need to use the ACA
Horseshit
Master strawman this guy.
>Intelligent management...as in communism, responsible for over 100 millions deaths globally?
Ask an old Russian how they felt about Communism compared to the state of Russia shortly after Communism fell. Or anybody who survived a state in 'transition'.
Order is better than chaos for the majority, even when that order is pretty grim.
What do you think brought about about the collapse of "Communism"? Here's an idea: it was the regime failing to sustain itself.
Black unemployment in USA at lowest rate since 1777, when it 0%.
What do you mean could? POWER METERS do that.
Venezuela, unfortunately, has a central bank like we do. The currency in that country has crashed, such that millions of citizens want to get out of the Venezuelan currency and use dollars/pesos/anything else. The government has prevented this by 'fixing' the currency to the dollar to ensure a very bad exchange rate, trapping the citizens into using a worthless currency that can't buy them much of anything. Bitcoin has been enabling transactions, allowing some of the poorest in that country to buy bread, milk, and other necessities, often on the border where a healthy 'black market' thrives and accepts other currencies, including bitcoin.
This action by the Venezuelan government is their attempt to completely squash any last monetary freedom present amongst their citizens.
That part is coming, that's why they just lowered the tax brackets and changed withholding so that you have more takehome pay
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
This post again. Are we really allowed to post affiliate links all over Slashdot to earn extra money? If so I got about 10 dozen amazon links I'd like to start posting.
Perhaps if you're a high school dropout or convicted felon. Do you have any sources to cite for your assertion?
This person is trying to dupe Slashdot readers into clicking on affiliate links.
Well, a government should not oppress it's people. That said. The people of Venesuela might in unision, accept donations of bitcoin miners, and convert their vast resource of oil into bitcoin to alleviate their debt to international bankers and restore prosperity to the region. Just don't borrow from international bankers ever again.
There's nothing inherently good or evil about order or chaos. They're two different axis. For example: you can have evil order, benign order, evil chaos, and benign chaos. Chaos is merely an agent of change. That's it! And depending on the state of society, it may be welcomed, or might not be.
Life aren't DND.
Avantgarde Hebrew science fiction
https://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Handbook-Behavior-Almost-Politics/dp/B007M5V5ZK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513747896&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dictator%27s+handbook
From the summary:
Since Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can't be regulated or controlled by the government in any official capacity, they could damage the country's brittle economy even further.
If a competing currency can "damage" an economy, it's already damaged. The competition just makes the damage more conspicuous, by allowing people additional choices, choices they sometimes choose to take.
Remember the Soviet Union and East Germany? The people running their governments tried to quash competing currencies, too.
Golly. What's the common denominator, here?
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.