[ericmay]

> Crypto exchanges are trading digital assets, not equities.

Debatable[1] but you can buy commodities and currencies (and even Bitcoin) on public markets in addition to your S&P 500 or shares of Nvidia.

> Public markets need state intervention because the application of force is required.

So does your home and all private business.

> The point regarding democracy is that you cannot call a 25 person tribe a democracy just because they vote.

Why?

[1] It seems as a society we're still trying to categorize and regulation crypto currencies/assets/etc. so I don't think this is settled.

[injeolmi_love]

Just because an object can possess a property does not mean it necessarily has the property. Regarding Bitcoin, it does not necessarily require a regulated market (proof: existence of Bisq). Same holds for private households; instead of relying on force for enforcement, you can rely on trade via the non aggression principle- “I won’t steal your property if you don’t steal mine” prevents us from requiring force to settle disputes. This does not hold true for equities because of the owner/manager problem among other issues; there’s a lot of research on equities markets and why they require regulations you can read if it’s interesting to you.

It doesn’t matter whether the state says Bitcoin is an equity or not; it isn’t one. States frequently make all sorts of false claims.

Regarding democracy, in modern parlance it’s a set of institutions; a 25 person tribe is too small to support those institutions; accordingly a 25 person tribe cannot be democracy in the modern sense.