

BitCoin will be made illegal, but cryptocash is here to stay - diego
http://dbasch.posterous.com/bitcoin-will-be-made-illegal-but-cryptocash-i

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quanticle
The problem with all of these e-currency schemes is that there's still a huge
divide between the virtual e-cash world and the real "bills & change" world. I
can't use Bitcoin to pay my rent or buy food. In order to do that, I have to
go through a money transfer site. These sites are already pretty heavily
regulated. I'm not even sure that any additional laws would have to be passed
in order to make Bitcoin illegal; it might just take an administrative
decision by the Treasury department.

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tzs
More important, you can't use it to pay your taxes.

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mike_esspe
This looks like a plus :)

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kposehn
I don't really think BitCoin will be made illegal, simply because there's no
real reason to do so. As a concept, I find it interesting; however, I consider
the execution to be flawed in several ways (namely the entire concept of
mining).

In order to become a force which could get attention, BitCoins would need to
be used en masse for nefarious or questionable purposes (the definition of
those being whatever politicians decide they are). Right now the volume is
extremely low and quite frankly you're not going to conduct large scale
illicit activities in that system easily. If it hits $50bn in volume however,
then something might happen.

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ChuckMcM
For me I see the seminal (forgive the pun) flashpoint being when pay-per-use
pornographic web sites take BitCoins for services rendered.

The value proposition of anonymity is highly valued there I suspect.

Prior to that occuring, I expect there would need to be a service that
pornographers would 'buy' as enabling this as a valued currency.

So once we see the emergence of a referral system or advertising system in
which you can 'pay' for ads with Bitcoins I don't doubt we'll see sites that
accept Bitcoins as payment.

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grimen
We are considering enabling BitCoin in countries where Internet is now _owned_
by the government in same way as US, Russia, and China mainly. FIrst off:
Sweden and Netherlands in such case - a safe card.

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grimen
...and to clearify (a bit at least): We have built a de-centralised e-commerce
system that will work where web standards work.

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27182818284
_It reminds me quite a bit of mp3 files in 1997, when they were just a novelty
and record companies didn't know what to make of them._

Despite those industries' efforts and help from various world governments, MP3
filesharing, still exists. Likewise, it seems possible that BitCoin exchanges
will still happen despite it being illegal.

Is there a way to even shutdown BitCoin or would it turn into a pseudo-arms
race like filesharing has become?

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spike_flaptor
I checked bitcoin's site a little, and I don't quite understand how do you get
bitcoins in the first place... or more important, how the global amount of
bitcoin currency evolves.

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fexl
There are only three ways to get bitcoin:

1\. Create (discover) bitcoins using your own computer. This is slow and
requires a lot of processing.

2\. Provide a good or service in exchange for bitcoins.

3\. Receive them as a gift.

That is all. I've ruled out theft, i.e. stealing someone's wallet from their
computer.

That answers your first question. The second question, about how the supply
evolves, is more complex. My understanding is cursory, but I'm pretty sure the
bitcoin.org web site addresses it in depth.

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spike_flaptor
It will be interesting to if global inflation follows the usual pattern in
bitcoin.

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BarkMore
See <http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=inflation_controls>

