Re:Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021
by Chyzwar on Sunday January 02, 2022 @06:29PM
(#29775294)
> But at what cost? I'd argue that the costs outweigh the benefits. It hinders competition and innovation, makes it hard or impossible for some people and businesses to access the banking system, increases fees on consumers due to the immense cost of compliance (>$180bn a year worldwide), puts innocent people behind bars ("guilty until proven innocent" is the typical standard with AML), is a privacy nightmare, puts police investigative work into the hands of private sector employees, makes operating globally almost impossible, et
Benefit greatly outweigh cost. You can put your credit card details in random website, and it is relatively secure. When someone steals your card, you can get bank refund or do chargeback. For most consumer, making online payment is free of charges. You have sophisticated security, limits, monitoring, fraud detection and when bank is hacked or defaulted your money have government guarantee. My bank would ask me for additional authentication when making bigger payments, and even once blocked a transfer I made because it was a scam.
Meanwhile, in crypto world:
When your exchange is hacked (Mt. Gox) you lose everything. When someone steals your wallet you lose everything. You need to figure perfect personal security or you will get hacked and lose everything. Payments are slow, expensive and nobody protects you against scammers.
> Meanwhile, has it really deterred any crime? How about we just go back to catching criminals the good old fashion, with police investigations, for actual crimes, just like we did pre 1989. Hell, use financial data to inform investigations if needed.
Financial data is provided by banks as part of this regulation. Most of the cash transactions and trades in stock market are reported to multiple organizations that use that data to prevent/fight financial crime. This regulation make hard to create bank account for illegal activities because banks are liable for this[1].
Benefit greatly outweigh cost. You can put your credit card details in random website, and it is relatively secure. When someone steals your card, you can get bank refund or do chargeback. For most consumer, making online payment is free of charges. You have sophisticated security, limits, monitoring, fraud detection and when bank is hacked or defaulted your money have government guarantee. My bank would ask me for additional authentication when making bigger payments, and even once blocked a transfer I made because it was a scam.
Meanwhile, in crypto world:
When your exchange is hacked (Mt. Gox) you lose everything. When someone steals your wallet you lose everything. You need to figure perfect personal security or you will get hacked and lose everything. Payments are slow, expensive and nobody protects you against scammers.
> Meanwhile, has it really deterred any crime? How about we just go back to catching criminals the good old fashion, with police investigations, for actual crimes, just like we did pre 1989. Hell, use financial data to inform investigations if needed.
Financial data is provided by banks as part of this regulation. Most of the cash transactions and trades in stock market are reported to multiple organizations that use that data to prevent/fight financial crime. This regulation make hard to create bank account for illegal activities because banks are liable for this[1].
[1]https://www.wsj.com/articles/hsbc-fined-85-million-for-lax-a...