Ryan Grim
@ryangrim
Folks here are helping me narrow down what I don’t like about crypto. I see the argument that it is a way to freely move currency even in the face of authoritarian governments. I guess on the one hand, I just don’t believe that governments can’t find a way to crack down on it. All the crying from crypto folks about the tyrannical SEC suggests governments still do matter. But more importantly, I think it’s a much better use of time and energy to organize and fight to stop those authoritarian governments from existing in the first place. I see so many brilliant people spending so much time on this thing that is literally separate from reality (it’s right there in the name crypto) when that energy could be put to more fruitful use. Anyway, no final conclusions, just some evolving thoughts.
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matthewb
@matthewb
> I just don’t believe that governments can’t find a way to crack down on it the Biden/Harris admin tried to kill the industry and failed. see the debanking report by Nic Carter: https://www.piratewires.com/p/inside-biden-admin-plot-to-destroy-silvergate-and-debank-crypto-for-good-nic-carter. bitcoin, ethereum, and many other chains continued to run despite their best efforts. a challenging regulatory environment makes adoption more difficult, prevents citizens of a given jurisdiction from legally using certain software, and leads to companies operating offshore. it is very difficult (if not impossible) to outlaw open source cryptographic primitives and our job is to build distributed systems that are as resilient as possible. > fight to stop those authoritarian governments from existing in the first place absolute power corrupts absolutely. we will never have governments fully aligned with our interests as civilians. crypto is valuable precisely because it attempts to remain separate from the state.
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