[drakaal]

Senator Manchin is doing what America does.

We live in a country where a Governor will ban large soda's for our protection.

Every bag comes with a warning "not a toy".

Houses come with disclaimers not to eat the paint chips.

Raw Milk (which I wouldn't touch) is illegal for public safety.

By all counts, Bitcoin is scarier than any of these things. If not banned it should have warnings. We don't have a good way to put warnings on it so we ban it. Right wrong or indifferent that is what America does. Manchin is just making sure he gets credit for an idea that was sure to come up.

[minimax]

I see it the other way. From the comfort of my home computer I can speculate on the value of U.S. corporations, the future value of U.S. corporations, the value of shiny yellow metal, the exchange rate between the dollar and the turkish lira, the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro 12 months from now, the price of cattle, the price of corn, the interest rate on 30 year treasury bonds 6 months from now. The list goes on and on. I can do all of that legally. We have all the necessary legal and regulatory framework to support it. So to say, "yes you can make risky speculative bets on the price of gold but not on the price of bitcoin" doesn't really make sense to me as an American.

[drakaal]

Those are all regulated. BTC is not easily regulated.

[clamprecht]

Why is the US like this? (I'm from the US). Was it caused by lawyers? Liability laws that allow crazy lawsuits? How can this be avoided in other up-and-coming countries? (I fear it's too late for the US to change course on this). Or is it just an inevitable result of being a rich country founded by lawyers?

[drakaal]

Liability is a big part. We decided at some point that the populous is stupid and needs protection.

[DanAndersen]

As someone genuinely curious (and without a lot of international experience), I was wondering what countries are out there that you feel are better at not over-litigating on those things.

[drakaal]

The ones that are also the most corrupt. Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan. Countries where they have few laws, and little or no civil justice system.