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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Adrian Tymes<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 24, 2016 11:37 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] bitcoin used for nefarious purposes: was RE: quote for the day<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p>On Mar 24, 2016 11:20 AM, "spike" <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:<br>>>… If the bad guys got away with this, they just demonstrated a means to collect a ransom payment, and that leads di-freaking-rectly to all manner of bad things happening and all governments everywhere outlawing all crypto currency.<o:p></o:p></p><p>>…This is where your logic breaks down.<o:p></o:p></p><p>>…What does it lead directly to, that the government would object to, that is not already being done in fae greater quantity and to more public outcry with other currencies, particularly US dollars?<o:p></o:p></p><p>>…"All manner of bad things" is usually not something to panic about: if better quantatization than that is not possible, then most likely, the actual bad things that will happen are far smaller than they seem.<o:p></o:p></p><p>>…Also, since when do legislators and regulators respond to actual crimes? They respond to public reaction. Has this incident gained anywhere near the media attention that the latest celebrity scandal has? If not, then the legislators and regulators will probably ignore it until and unless such outcry is raised over something else… Adrian<o:p></o:p></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Adrian, I think the world of you my brother, and I hope you are right. But there isn’t a word in your reply (or Anders’ comments for that matter) that convinces me the bitcoin critics were wrong. If they got away with it, that hospital caper has demonstrated a way for the bad guys to do their nefarious deeds and get paid. If so, this leads directly to governments everywhere just saying no to cryptocurrency for a legitimate reason: it enables the kinds of crime we don’t want. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>If I owned any bitcoin I would be bailing out headfirst forthwith.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>