>Bitcoin is the textbook speculative mania for our time.
This is either false or unknowable, there are plenty of reasons why bitcoin speculation is happening, and it's because it has been a very long time since there has been a new desirable commodity.
>The largest elephant in the room is the environmental damage done by bitcoin mining.
This is very true, i don't think it's the largest elephant though.
>Cryptocurrencies disproportionately victimize vulnerable people and those in marginalized communities without access to traditional investments or financial advisory.
This is nonsense. Desperately marginalized communities have no access to safe economic vehicles, which bitcoin does, theoretically, provide.
>Cryptocurrency is, by design, the single greatest enabling factor in the rise of exponential explosion in ransomware extortion attacks. A network which is designed to evade sanctions...
This i believe is the best argument for banning it. There is no better tool for extortion in the world than an anonymous, unrestricted asset. We should expect to see a dramatic rise in kidnappings worldwide in the future as bitcoin becomes more accepted.
The author leaves out what I believe is the main reason I've stayed away from bitcoin, and it's another reason to ban it.
It's easy to steal.
It only takes one 0-day wipe you out, irreversibly, and completely. My bank could get hacked, but we, as a society, can just decide that I still have the assets I had before, the paper stocks and coupons are in a drawer somewhere. The loan contracts are in a filing cabinet (or they should be). I get my bank statements every month. There's some cash and some gold in a vault. A breach is, at least theoretically, reversible. That's not true with bitcoin.
>It only takes one 0-day wipe you out, irreversibly, and completely. My bank could get hacked, but we, as a society, can just decide that I still have the assets I had before, the paper stocks and coupons are in a drawer somewhere. The loan contracts are in a filing cabinet (or they should be). I get my bank statements every month. There's some cash and some gold in a vault. A breach is, at least theoretically, reversible. That's not true with bitcoin.
Isn't this more just an argument that cryptocurrency's are just riskier because unlike tradition financial institutions/investments they are unregulated and lack protections such as insurance etc. Maybe I am just getting caught up in semantics but a 0-day wiping out the value of Bitcoin/Crypto with no vehicle in place to restore that value to its owners if something were to happen just makes it extremely risky/highly speculative investment not necessarily easy to steal
n = How many 0-days are out the there that could topple the systems in control of the BTC I own.
p = The probability that said exploit is used on me and my wallet and not someone else.
n * p = my risk of losing everything
p is very small, but n is very, VERY... big
With tradition assets, they are backed with contracts that can make potential thefts unwound or made whole in some other way. With crypto, every ocean's 11-style cat-burglar in the world has access to every bank in the world... and that can't be unwound.
I, obviously, bring it up because the author is making statements of fact that they can't possibly know to be true. This should be a reasonable criticism of the author. Don't talk nonsense if you're trying to write a serious argument.
This is either false or unknowable, there are plenty of reasons why bitcoin speculation is happening, and it's because it has been a very long time since there has been a new desirable commodity.
>The largest elephant in the room is the environmental damage done by bitcoin mining.
This is very true, i don't think it's the largest elephant though.
>Cryptocurrencies disproportionately victimize vulnerable people and those in marginalized communities without access to traditional investments or financial advisory.
This is nonsense. Desperately marginalized communities have no access to safe economic vehicles, which bitcoin does, theoretically, provide.
>Cryptocurrency is, by design, the single greatest enabling factor in the rise of exponential explosion in ransomware extortion attacks. A network which is designed to evade sanctions...
This i believe is the best argument for banning it. There is no better tool for extortion in the world than an anonymous, unrestricted asset. We should expect to see a dramatic rise in kidnappings worldwide in the future as bitcoin becomes more accepted.
The author leaves out what I believe is the main reason I've stayed away from bitcoin, and it's another reason to ban it.
It's easy to steal.
It only takes one 0-day wipe you out, irreversibly, and completely. My bank could get hacked, but we, as a society, can just decide that I still have the assets I had before, the paper stocks and coupons are in a drawer somewhere. The loan contracts are in a filing cabinet (or they should be). I get my bank statements every month. There's some cash and some gold in a vault. A breach is, at least theoretically, reversible. That's not true with bitcoin.