Bitcoin backlash as ‘miners’ stress power grids in Central Washington

Re:Bitcoin backlash as ‘miners’ stress power grids in Centra... by beagle3 on Sunday May 27, 2018 @04:38PM (#17168982)

This area of magical thinking just amazes me: Look at the recent two years! The big run up in bitcoin value has happened because people were moving money out of China despite capital controls put in place.

Is it still as easy? Probably not, I'm not up to date. Could people who have done that get in trouble for that in the future (thanks to bitcoins long memory)? possibly, if their opsec wasn't top notch and even if it was top-notch but they were unlucky enough to use a mixer that cooperates with the chinese government.

And Erdogan's turkey is also a great example; While the "coup" was happening, it was possible, even easy, to move money out of the country using bitcoin (not so fiat money). Quite a few people left the country afterwards, and many were arrested regardless of phone app. I don't know how many of them took their wealth with them in bitcoin, but they had much easier time doing that than any other way. at the time

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin backlash as ‘miners’ stress power grids in Centra... by acdha on Sunday May 27, 2018 @05:34PM (#17169219)

That’s just telling us that it’s easier to get away with something before the authorities take it seriously. Once something grows big enough that window closes, which means it’s not much of a selling point for mainstream adoption.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Bitcoin backlash as ‘miners’ stress power grids in Centra... by beagle3 on Sunday May 27, 2018 @05:46PM (#17169267)

You can keep moving the goal posts if you enjoy that. Yes, everything becomes harder once the authorities take note.

But if you have managed to acquire bitcoin, e.g. before a government crackdown, or some other way through help from people in other countries, it still provides the "cross border value store" function that gold cannot by virtue of being hard to move.

[ Parent | on HN ]