This is just a peek into a possible future. With the trend of eliminating cash, the powers that be can prevent people from buying anything deemed harmful. Or a large company can close down a small but innovative competitor with a flick of the wrist.
Yes, some may save the bitcoins will save us from this. But seeing all governments are looking closely to regulate the *coins, I believe it will be locked down just like the credit cards.
The problem with that is there are a number of ways to prevent you from holding cash as well. Bank regulations around how much money you can withdraw/access, scrutiny around how much money you can carry to an airport, asset forfeiture without due process etc. all allow governments to coerce you into whatever they want. Cash is not necessarily a solution either.
Sure, cash is far from ideal. But it's something we already have (zero implementation resistance/delay/cost). And it still works fine (at least at small scales) when the power fails, or internet is down, or server gets hacked, or whatever.
Correct. But I’m mostly addressing the GP’s comments around the need for preserving cash as a mechanism against government/private entity overreach, which it isn’t.
Currently at an airport right now. Nobody will even TAKE cash. I could be holding a million dollars right now but I cant use any of it to buy a coke. Availability is not the bottleneck.
>"But seeing all governments are looking closely to regulate the coins, I believe it will be locked down just like the credit cards."
The Bitcoin crowd is adamant that no government can regulate Bitcoin. They are correct in the sense that Congress is unable to pass a law dictating what the Bitcoin protocol must do, and that as a decentralized network people are free to follow whichever fork of Bitcoin they choose.
However, they have not given much consideration to the fact that governments have full authority to regulate those that use Bitcoin. In other words, no government needs to change Bitcoin. All they need to do is dictate what the lawful use of Bitcoin looks like in their jurisdiction. There is nothing stopping a government from declaring that all wallets owned by their citizens must be registered, and that all transactions must be voluntarily reported to the authorities. In the context of this article, I doubt that a government would prohibit the sale of these games, but I agree with your assertion that the government is likely to start locking down cryptocurrencies in some way that impedes privacy.
> There is nothing stopping a government from declaring that all wallets owned by their citizens must be registered, and that all transactions must be voluntarily reported to the authorities.
This would likely drive capital and the fintech companies and financial institutions behind it to friendlier countries and more welcoming markets.
Each bill of American paper currency has a unique serial number. In practical terms, this means that paper money is not guaranteed to be untraceable for transactions; particularly when engaging in the sort of transactions where large stacks of cash are moved between banks.
> Banks don't know who gets what serial number when you withdraw cash.
Do you have evidence to back this up?
In Canada, many bank branches don't carry cash except at ATMs, which means 100% of the cash transactions at those branches go through ATMs. Bills are inserted without an envelope, and are counted one by one, which means they're already being optically scanned (read: photographed) to determine the denomination. It's not a stretch that the serial number could be captured at this phase. When bills are withdrawn, they're withdrawn off the top (or bottom) of a stack of bills, so it is known which elements are removed from the stack. Again, it would not be infeasible to track all of the serial numbers in the stack, in order, and associate those numbers with withdrawals.
I do not have evidence that this occurs, but I've always assumed it was at least possible. It's technically trivial. But if you're claiming that it's either impossible or it doesn't happen, I'd need some convincing evidence that that's the case.
according to a german report ATMs can scan the serial numbers when the money is dispensed, logging them to the account from which the money is withdrawn. it's generally not done now, but it is technically possible. in china it apparently is already enforced. elsewhere at a minimum they track which notes are sent to which ATM in order to resolve ATM robberies. likewise when money is deposited, it is being scanned for fakes. counting and sorting machines can track the serial number too:
Yes, some may save the bitcoins will save us from this. But seeing all governments are looking closely to regulate the *coins, I believe it will be locked down just like the credit cards.
So we need to ensure we keep cash available.