[CryptoPunk]

>>Bitcoin isn't worth fighting for here, sorry EFF, but it is a useful canary warning about the current state of low financial freedom and privacy (by historical standards) and surprising degrees of unofficial suppression of viable alt-moneys. I would be happily surprised if the FinCEN reg forced unlawful use cases out of the bitcoin ecosystem leaving a vibrant, healthy marketplace....

This is a completely incoherent paragraph. In the first half you bemoan the lack of financial privacy and freedom, and in the second cheer on privacy-violating and freedom-suppressing FinCEN regulations.

[drtillberg]

Let me simplify it.

The bitcoin ecosystem is a cesspool of ransomware payoffs, international money laundering and speculation. Eliminate 2 of those use cases via financial surveillance and I will be happily surprised if the 3d survives, or if any similarly robust marketplace springs up from the ashes. Because the bitcoin ecosystem is such a mess, it's not worth saving, in my opinion. It's a feature, not a bug, and it gives all alt-moneys a bad reputation.

I don't like dragnet-style financial surveillance, in general. If it bothers you when applied to bitcoin for philosophical reasons, it should bother you more when applied to other alt-moneys with less nefarious uses.

[CryptoPunk]

Any dragnet surveillance applied to Bitcoin will apply to other alternative digital currencies as well. If you want a future where people have financial privacy/freedom, you should not welcome dragnet surveillance of any digital currency, let alone the current flagbearer of digital currencies.