[alksjdalkj]

If you need to hire high powered lawyers to be able to use crypto, isn't that demonstrating that crypto has failed to be a universal, government-independent currency? Or am I misunderstanding something and that was never the point?

[dcolkitt]

My point is that you don't need a lawyer to use crypto. Just the same that you don't need a lawyer to order LSD off the dark net. And 99% of people who do both, do so without a lawyer. The rising price of crypto clearly shows the market shows no fear about this measure slowing down widespread adoption.

But for a small percent of unlucky people, mostly disadvantaged people without connections who can't afford the lawyers to insulate themselves from legal risk, the government will come in and randomly ruin their lives. No enlightened society should ever criminalize a victimless behavior, unless it's capable of widespread enforcement. Like the war on drugs, criminalizing an activity that you know you can't stop only ruins lives, without actually stopping the thing you're ostensibly worried about.