[ExI] bitcoin again

[spike at rainier66.com]

…> On Behalf Of Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat
…

>…I agree Adrian, you know it, I know it, everyone here knows it.  My prediction is that the criminal courts will not accept the liability of enforcing ownership law on cryptocurrency.  I predict they will just tell crypto holders they are on their own: homemade currency, homemade security to protect it.

 

>…I disagree.  Property is property, homemade or not.

 

>…If the courts ruled otherwise, that opens way too many run-arounds of existing law….  Adrian

 

 

 

Adrian, do allow me to clarify.  Technology changes quickly, but law changes only slowly, if at all.  

 

In the state you and I inhabit, theft of items valued below 950 bucks is no longer a felony.  Homeless people may now legally smash your car windows to take a 20 dollar sweatshirt: they will treat the broken car window as vandalism, which is a misdemeanor and the theft as a misdemeanor, both of which are functionally legal for the homeless guy.  Result: lots of broken car windows.

 

If some judgment-proof homeless guy steals your 200 dollar computer with a hundred thousand bucks worth of cryptokeys stored on it, I predict the lawman will treat that as a 200 dollar theft and not even bother trying to get your 100k in BtC back.  It will be considered a misdemeanor, which is functionally legal in our beleaguered crime-ridden state.  Before we complain, consider that we did this to ourselves.

 

I stand by my prediction: Bankman Fried will not be prosecuted under criminal law, but will be (somehow) prosecuted under tax law.

 

spike

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