[immigration311]

Making (certain) illegal activities easier is one of the primary positive effects.

[codyb]

I'll assume you're referring to obtaining drugs which many consider to be something that at the very least should not be punished by prison time (myself included), as opposed to say... the distribution of child pornography, ordering hit men, arms trafficking, or the selling of hacked credit card numbers, passwords, and zero days.

If that was your idea, wouldn't we be better served by lobbying our politicians to move the needle on the drug war (seems to be happening) instead of creating volatile whale controlled crypto "currencies" which use huge amounts of electricity as our planet faces a climate change crises and which also enables all of the other really terrible illegal things listed?

[postingpals]

Personally I assumed they meant exchanging money in secret if you are a whistleblower and the government is after you.

[bitxbitxbitcoin]

Same. Or maybe you're someone who was born in a country embargoed by the United States and you want to accept payment for freelance work.

[AnthonyMouse]

> If that was your idea, wouldn't we be better served by lobbying our politicians to move the needle on the drug war (seems to be happening) instead of creating volatile whale controlled crypto "currencies" which use huge amounts of electricity as our planet faces a climate change crises and which also enables all of the other really terrible illegal things listed?

What would really be better is to push politicians to stop using the banking system as a mass surveillance apparatus and allow there to be above-board systems for the anonymous digital transfer of modest amounts of cash. Then you destroy the demand for cryptocurrency by out-competing it, and eliminate the energy waste problem.

[BurningFrog]

Consider that there are many other countries than the US, where laws are often oppressive and should be broken.

[roenxi]

Although true, philosophically speaking the governments of the world take on powers that exceed what is reasonable.

The US, for example, will happily assert its ability to intercede when Iran and China trade. It isn't at all obvious why that should be the case, and it is profoundly unclear why China and Iran should cooperate. It is plausible that countries should be trading using a decentralised system like a bitcoin-style cryptocurrency. US law really should stop at the US border.

[mdoms]

Ah yes, nothing more positive than making the exchange of child pornography easier and safer for the peddlers involved.

[bingbong123]

"Think of the children" when all other arguments fail.

Kids would benefit if their parents' savings in USD wasnt debased at an accelerating rate aka 50% loss of purchasing power every 8-10 years (soon to be 5-10 years).