
Singapore bucks the trend and welcomes Bitcoin - jasonlingx
http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/01/09/singapore-bucks-the-trend-and-welcomes-bitcoin-laying-out-tax-rules-for-the-virtual-currency/
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jasonlingx
What most people do not realise is that it does not matter if China or the US
or any country bans or criminalises bitcoin. All it takes is for 1 small
country (like Singapore) to embrace bitcoin for it to be worth $1,000,000 a
coin. The first country that wises up to bitcoin, starts investing in mining
and other bitcoin infrastructure in a big way, and legitimises its mainstream
usage as a currency, is going to reap tremendous benefits. And it's only a
matter of time before this happens.

~~~
threeseed
Are you serious ? What country is going to deliberately undermine their own
existing currency by dedicating taxpayers dollars to mining a speculative
currency used substantially for illegal activities. And in the process
basically throw their own businesses and people under the bus.

I think you are frankly quite delusional if you think ANY government is going
to do this.

~~~
stefan_kendall
Unless you're a country bound to a currency controlled by another nation.

Say the Euro collapses. There are many countries who may suddenly decide it
makes sense to switch to a new currency. Some may consider BitCoin. In the
historical case of Europe, this is unlikely, but it could happen elsewhere.

BitCoin might be a harbor in the face of runaway inflation. Even the swings of
BitCoin pale in comparison to periods of massive inflation in several
countries.

~~~
merloen
> BitCoin might be a harbor in the face of runaway inflation. Even the swings
> of BitCoin pale in comparison to periods of massive inflation in several
> countries.

It might be, but there's no inflation on the horizon anywhere. The Euro is
edging ever closer to deflation.

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neals
So much good news and so little bad news, though the market seems bearish.

~~~
VMG
The ghash.io story is very bad news

~~~
oleganza
GHash.IO is not news. If you were going to invest in Bitcoin, you were
supposed to learn about how it works. It's not hard to understand that
building a huge mining farm does not require zillions of money. Especially, if
you expect BTC value to grow a lot, you should have accepted that there will
be huge interest in mining. If you still feel that BTC is a good deal and
miners with 50+% of hashrate won't be dishonest in practice, then you buy.
Otherwise you don't. Everyone who is skeptical does not go into this game, and
those who move the price to $1000, accept it. (Those who don't learn much
about BTC, but still buy are most probably short-term speculators who quickly
exit the game anyway; or eventually stay and learn.)

~~~
makomk
GHash.io reaching 50% is something Bitcoin proponents have been loudly
insisting couldn't ever happen.

~~~
oleganza
I, as Bitcoin proponent, was never insisting that this would never happen. The
risk I'm taking as an investor is that if someone takes even 90% of mining
power, they'd have little incentive to play dirty (and kill the value of their
own savings as much as everyone else's) and a lot of incentive to play nicely.
Of course, that's personal evaluation of the risk and I cannot promise to
anyone else that shit won't happen. Everyone should think for themselves and
vote with their money for what they think it likely to happen.

I expect that until we reach a stable mining market when mining chips are
deployed as soon as being produced, there will be quick accelerations in
mining hashrate here and there. It'll be volatile like with BTC price. I take
the risk that during such volatility there won't be a Big Evil guy to step on
everyone's dreams, even if it causes big troubles only temporary.

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swframe
given how easy it is for law enforcement to tap into our internet activities,
I suspect bitcoin use is the perfect red flag for them; it is a different kind
of bitcoin mining. it is kind of a joke actually; there is some dude trying to
secretly buy something that he doesn't want the cops to know about but his use
of technology to hide his transactions is the signal that alerts the police to
take a closer look. even if he is just buying drugs, his use of bitcoin
justifies increases to the law enforcement surveillance and budgets. and the
funny part is that we are paying for it. bitcoin makes all of us more
vulnerable to surveillance. If you are into bitcoin because you've found a way
to get more out than you put in, then by all means continue to do so. If
you're into it because you don't want to be tracked then you're lying to
yourself.

~~~
drcode
In other words, don't stand up for your rights because it will only make them
mad. Better just accept your fate and don't rock the boat.

~~~
swframe
Using bitcoin doesn't give you more rights; If you are doing something that
the government wants to stop, then bitcoins gives you more rope to hang
yourself.

we have a long history that shows how to change your fate and rock the boat
without getting yourself killed/jailed. bitcoin doesn't seem to be capable of
doing that.

~~~
drcode
Holy free association of sentences, batman!

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nubela
Er hm er hm. As a Singaporean, we built casinos, we have $10000 bank notes, we
have no capital gains for parking capital in Singapore. And now Bitcoins. I
wonder what that points toward.

