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We Will Regulate Bitcoin if Risks Are Not Tackled, EU Finance Head Says (theguardian.com)
The European Union has warned that it will regulate cryptocurrencies if the risks exposed by the meteoric rise of bitcoin and its ilk are not addressed. The Guardian: The boom and bust of cryptocurrencies has seen some investors make millions where others have suffered heavy losses. Bitcoin, which now trades around $9,000 a token but recently dropped to less than $6,000, leads the pack rising nearly 2,000% to just under $20,000 in 2017, fuelling a global investment craze. "This is a global phenomenon and it's important there is an international follow-up at the global level," Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's financial chief, said on Monday. "We do not exclude the possibility to move ahead (by regulating cryptocurrencies) at the EU level if we see, for example, risks emerging but no clear international response emerging."
Cryptocurrencies are fundamentally different from other investments, in that they are the only kind where unexpected market twists and turns lead to winners and losers.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Look if frequent thefts of uninsured capital occur in a market, the attractiveness of that market is going to diminish.
The downfall of BTC is going to be that many people aren't sure if they can trust their wallets or the exchanges. These problems have little to do with the technology and trumps any advantages that cryptocurrency might offer an investor or consumer.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
also high fees and long transaction times
There are many kinds of regulation. It could be as simple as forcing sellers to educate buyers on the risks associated with Bitcoin; controls on advertising; placing limits on "transaction fees", etc. None of that has anything to do with how cryptocurrency works, just how it's sold.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
will condescend to keeping their subjects from injuring themselves.
Actually yes you can turn off the sarcasm machine. We DO need regulation surrounding cryptocurrencies to protect people. We do have laws and police and regulations for very good reasons. Many of those reasons are to protect those who aren't able to protect themselves both from financial predators and sometimes from themselves. Why? Because A) it's the right thing to do morally and B) nobody exists in a financial vacuum so one person's bad decisions tends to affect others. Are you seriously arguing that we should have no regulations of financial systems? Or are you one of the more foolish varieties of libertarian who suffers from the delusion that unfettered capitalism with no rules is somehow a good thing?
Look if frequent thefts of uninsured capital occur in a market, the attractiveness of that market is going to diminish.
Not until a lot of people endure a lot of unnecessary losses. Markets don't solve every problem and they especially don't solve unchecked greed. We have financial regulations for good reasons. Many of those reasons are to prevent people from being defrauded. It's cheaper to society to prevent a crime than to wait for a market to adapt which might take years if it happens at all.
The downfall of BTC is going to be that many people aren't sure if they can trust their wallets or the exchanges.
That's not the only problem with it though it is a big one. What's really going to kill it however is the high risk adjusted transaction costs. If bitcoin were actually cheaper than say the dollar on a risk adjusted basis, that fact alone would make it hard to stop. But in reality bitcoin is rather expensive and relatively complicated to use. (good luck explaining a bitcoin wallet to your grandmother) The biggest problem bitcoin has is that it is expensive compared to competing currencies for transactions.
Usual way:
1) Politician/regulator will suggest something outlandish that will clearly cripple the industry
2) Well-heeled members of he industry direct cash payments to politician/regulator and/or their families/interests
3) Politician/regulator comes back with a different proposal that locks in dominance of top 2-3 players in industry and squashes everyone else
4) Top 2-3 industry players and politicians/regulators PROFIT; everyone else heads over to Slashdot and Reddit to complain
They aren't in a position to address the risks either. They just think they are.
Actually they are very much in a position to address a great number of the risks. Among the options they have is to make dealing in cryptocurrencies illegal. While criminals will still be criminals, governments and law enforcement agencies are in a strong position to mitigate a lot of the damage that could be done just like they do for other types of financial crime and misbehavior.
So is Medicare/Medicaid. Government fosters that cesspit.
That "cesspit" as you call it is the only way our senior citizens would be able to get health care and insurance. No private insurance company could possibly provide insurance to the elderly and make a profit or even break even. Are you seriously arguing that the elderly should not have health care?
If you want to go to single payer like every other civilized country I'm all for it.
we, as modern societies, have agreed on.
Speak for yourself, schmuck.
By making it illegal to transfer the legal tender to or from a cryptocurrency ... essentially decree any such transaction is effectively money laundering or a drug deal. Cut out the entire banking system as a venue for exchange. Take a large amount of cash and go someplace where you can buy Bitcoin? Same as if you bought drugs.
Now, imagine Joe is paying Frank in cocaine. Or child porn.
People don't understand that governments can and will regulate financial markets. And if the market basically says "ha, we can't be regulated" ... then the market will be outlawed.
For the same reason you can't barter with drugs and child prostitutes, in the extreme example, they just make any transactions involving cryptocurrency illegal, no matter what it is for.
The short version is, no matter what the visionaries think, you can't decree what you're doing is exempt from government regulation. Because the government won't recognize what you think you've done.