One of my biggest fears of cryptocurrency is that the government adopts it and forces businesses and individuals to use it. Everything is taxed automatically and all the details are retained forever. Want to sell a bike on Craigslist? Now your income and sales tax are applied automatically. All of your purchase information is now centralized in the hands of the government forever.
How many institutions that bought in at $50,000-$60,000 are now sitting on huge unrealised losses, and are now trying to offload their positions to retail investors?
I'm pretty bullish on crypto but the concept of a bitcoin ETF that's managed by Wall Street seems to go against the purpose of decentralised finance to begin with. Why do investors need to go through a middle man when they could just buy something like the crypto20 which is essentially the same thing but without the fees.
I think it’s worth even reading one paragraph past the headline…<p><i>“A strong push by Wall Street to open up access to Bitcoin investment is meeting resistance from a bipartisan group of lawmakers and regulators in Washington, setting up a lobbying fight over the future of digital currency.”</i><p>…as this article is not so much about creating some sort of central bank crypto, but getting the SEC to allow investment in Bitcoin ETFs.
<i>SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a Republican on the agency’s five-member board, said Gensler’s recent warnings “conveyed the overly conservative approach that has typified the SEC in the crypto arena.” She said the agency should move forward with approval of crypto funds on their merits.</i><p>What are the "merits" of crypto [funds]?<p>Separating ever greater fools from their money to enrich early adopters without actually engaging in any real economic activity?<p>Money laundering?<p>Tax evasion?<p>Digital counterfeiting? (i.e. saying 1 USDT = 1 USD)<p>Ransomware?<p>Wasting energy?<p>Here is a fact: Congress' reputation is in the toilet. If it wants to get a modicum of respect back then maybe it should take a firm stand against "crypto." Nothing is economically new or innovative or useful in crypto for legitimate, real world applications. Never in history has a successful government abdicated control of its currency. Control over legal tender is one of the core functions of government.<p>If bitcoin is a currency then what it aims to do is not different from what Liberty Reserve or eGold aimed to do. At least eGold had some underlying real asset. Bitcoin is just made of air. Sorry "math."<p>If bitcoin is an asset then its value is akin to underwater swamp land in florida. I.e. it is a fraud.<p>No, people should not be able to just make a token on a whim and extract economic power in exchange for producing no real economic good.<p>If Congress wants to take a stand it should firmly ban US banks from interacting with entities that relate to the fraudulent scheme that is Bitcoin, et al.<p>Hester Pierce (wonder if there is a relation to Brock Pierce) is either really dull or really corrupt. Bitcoin has zero, actually negative economic value. It is ludicrous that an SEC chair would pretend it does simply because number big.<p>Anybody remember the AAA securitisation of garbage mortgages a decade ago? Just because a financial product is in current market demand or has a high price does not mean that it is legitimate or that it has positive economic value.<p>The job of congress and regulators is precisely to nip frauds like Bitcoin in the bud before they become bigger and wreck greater damage on the economy when they inevitably collapse or cause serious economic distortions (i.e. making billionaires out of early adopters who did not actually produce anything of value. The transfer of purchasing power from productive individuals to rent seeking individuals (i.e. those lobbying Congress to legitimise their Monopoly money) is a surefire way to harm an economy.<p>So Ms. Pierce what exactly are the "merits" of Bitcoin? Please tell...<p>This should not be a partisan issue. Just like printing fake dollars is not a partisan issue.<p>Maybe Congress can do something right for a change...doubt it though...sadly.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that a system of CA certificate encryption has been around forever, and Bitcoin is burning electricity for literally no reason?