[AnthonyMouse]

> If you don't trust your government you've got bigger problems than crypto. If you trust your government crypto is irrelevant.

This is far too black and white. You may trust your government not to engage in a vendetta against you for no reason and still not trust them not to pass onerous regulations that harm you unintentionally and then provide no recourse for the victims of that outcome.

[arcticbull]

Doesn't seem to be working in this case though?

[feanaro]

We don't know that yet since everything said so far is speculation.

[arcticbull]

Oh all I meant was the proposed legislation is a form of onerous regulation that harms folks, intentionally or otherwise, that offers no recourse - that crypto can’t help you out of. That likely extends outward IMO.

[AnthonyMouse]

That's exactly why the proposed legislation is so problematic. It harms folks and offers no recourse... other than breaking the law. Then some of the innocent victims of the harm become criminals because they prefer that to suffering the harm at no fault of their own, and you introduce all of the problems inherent in black markets.

I have yet to hear a solid argument for why it should be in all circumstances be regulated like investment securities even when only being used as currency (like cash).

[arcticbull]

Literally nobody uses it as cash. nobody

[AnthonyMouse]

First of all you're literally wrong. I've seen people use it to buy things with.

But even accepting that the majority of existing holders are using it for speculation, why do we have to pre-ruin its ability to ever be used as a medium of exchange?

Acceptance obviously has network effects. The user doesn't have much incentive to set up crypto if nobody accepts it, and the vendor doesn't have much incentive to accept it if few of their customers have it set up. But everything starts that way. Then some large merchant or group thereof decides they want to promote its use and offers everybody a 15% discount for using it, so a third of their customers do so for the discount, and then millions of people have it set up and other vendors start accepting it now that there are a large enough population of customers. That hasn't happened yet, but what's your theory for why it never could?