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A comment on Bitcoin Mining Now Consuming More Electricity Than Many Countries. Parent comment

Re:Bitcoin Mining Now Consuming More Electricity Than Many C... by qplex on Thursday November 23, 2017 @02:37AM (#15763505)
It's not at all that obvious. Bitcoin is _not_ like actual physical localized nation-state backed cash, nor does it function like one.

In your list of examples Bitcoin is the hero that saves individuals from the oppression of a government or regulation, but sometimes it's the bad individuals (e.g. tax evasion) against a government and suddenly it's not so bad if there are ways to seize assets and close their accounts.

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Re:Bitcoin Mining Now Consuming More Electricity Than Many C... by mrb on Thursday November 23, 2017 @01:13PM (#15766820)
Wrong. Bitcoin is literally digital cash: it is held in your wallet and transacted directly from wallet to wallet. There is no third-party intermediary (like a bank or credit card processor) whose authorization is needed to make a transaction. This is what makes it cash-like.
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Re:Bitcoin Mining Now Consuming More Electricity Than Many C... by qplex on Friday November 24, 2017 @01:38AM (#15769794)
>no third-party intermediary ... whose authorization is needed to make a transaction. This is what makes it cash-like.

You need to get your transactions accepted to the ledger and you need to pay for that to happen as well (I guess whether the mining network is a third party is debatable).

Not mentioning that people will most likely use some sort of intermediary for their digital wallet to begin with.

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Re:Bitcoin Mining Now Consuming More Electricity Than Many C... by braziliaagorist on Thursday November 23, 2017 @07:43AM (#15764642)
Well, only if you think that tax evasion is a bad thing..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)

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