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<p>Very fair points, thank you. And the history lesson was a good
one too.</p>
<p>I would not want to pretend I have the technical expertise to
question anything you said, and I have the same opinion on the
morality side of things. That being said, cybersecurity is more
expensive than spreading FUD like you said in the previous email,
and it's clear that that is what is keeping corporate media busy
these days. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies enable/boost
schemes like ransomware for sure, but USD, and currencies before
it, have also been an enabler of crime for the longest. It's not
like any of the crimes you mentioned are new. Yet the corporate
media, of course, chooses to mostly ignore that fact, because they
have a political agenda to further. So my criticism (and I think
part of grarpamp's email) is that the media is only looking at the
side of the coin that best serves its interests, not
educating/informing people (I guess that would be a first.)<br>
</p>
<p>You also ask "who lies on that scale?" and seem to be very
fixated with Trump. But US governments before and after him have
and will continue to do so. I don't think this point necessitates
much explanation? For what it's worth, Biden so far hasn't done
much to protect journalists and undo Trump's policies in that
regard. Those are precisely the people who can uncover truth:</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedom.press/news/biden-defends-trump-surveillance-of-reporters/">https://freedom.press/news/biden-defends-trump-surveillance-of-reporters/</a><br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedom.press/news/biden-justice-end-assange-prosecution-coalition-letter/">https://freedom.press/news/biden-justice-end-assange-prosecution-coalition-letter/</a></p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/amnesty-international-joins-civil-liberties-groups-to-ask-biden-to-drop-case-against-julian-assange/">https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/amnesty-international-joins-civil-liberties-groups-to-ask-biden-to-drop-case-against-julian-assange/</a></p>
<p>And for what it's worth, Ethereum is switching to PoS soon. That
should at least address their energy waste?<br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more/">https://blog.ethereum.org/2021/05/18/country-power-no-more/</a><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/23/21 10:41 AM, Phillip
Hallam-Baker wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAMm+LwhR7_rkE7oF5ecWQX0+uOgjqr+37y7xjF98QLxKbaaDaA@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, May 23, 2021 at
2:06 AM Marc Sunet <<a
href="mailto:msunet@shellblade.net"
moz-do-not-send="true">msunet@shellblade.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p>So what specifically is immoral about
cryptocurrencies in your opinion?</p>
<p>Also, throwing grarpamp in the Trump sack was a bit
out of the blue? He had some good points if you just
ignore the writing style. Some groups are ringing
bells about cashless societies, for example (last
link in Spanish):</p>
<p><a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jun/24/you-cant-pay-cash-here-how-cashless-society-harms-most-vulnerable"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jun/24/you-cant-pay-cash-here-how-cashless-society-harms-most-vulnerable</a></p>
<p><a
href="https://collateralbits.net/la-maldicion-del-dinero/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">https://collateralbits.net/la-maldicion-del-dinero/</a></p>
<p>This mailing list always turns hostile for no
reason. Since you are experts, why not educate
people when somebody raises a point here?</p>
</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Well
first off, this is not the only list on which grarpamp
has shared his opinions. I have found him to be long on
accusatory language (everyone I don't like is a statist)
and short on facts. He stopped posting on the
Cryptography list after being repeatedly schooled for
stating that professional cryptographers with decades of
experience who have been discussing BTC since it was
launched there need to 'educate themselves'. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">I find
accusing people of being statists, pro government, etc.
as a bullying tactic. That is all grarpamp has and its
all Trump ever had. Use Trumper tactics, get thrown in
the Trump sack, seems fair to me. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">The
aggressive gaslighting and coinsplaining is of course
entirely self interested. Anyone who holds BitCoin is by
definition a person with a vested interest in finding a
greater fool to sell their cowrie shells onto. That is
the second reason to throw them in the Trump sack - they
are con artists trying to put your money in their
pockets. I don't think that is moral behavior.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">I am a
big fan of the cashless society, I have spent a large
part of my 29 year career in designing and deploying
payment systems. I have been trying to develop a
micropayments scheme for buying Web content since 1992.
None of the current ledger bases schemes is remotely
close to serving that need with the possible exception
of Dogecoin which can't meet that need at scale. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">And
here we get to the fact that the only thing we have
learned about BitCoin after 12 years of deployment
experience is that it is impossible to change the
deployed infrastructure. We are long past the early days
of criminal-currencies. What you see now is all you are
going to get. Repeated attempts to change the
infrastructure have failed. So the fact that it costs
$22 to make a BTC transaction today is really
significant. That is vastly more than any other payment
system except SWIFT. And if you factor in the cost of
converting hard currency into and out of BTC, the cost
of using BTC to make an uninsured, irrevocable transfer
is five to ten times the cost of an insured transfer via
SWIFT and vastly more than other means.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">So this
is a ruinously expensive payment system that cannot be
improved after deployment. Does it provide any
advantages? Not unless you want to buy drugs, images of
children being raped, collect ransomware extortion or
evade exchange controls. The only selling point of BTC
as a payment scheme is that it enables criminal
behavior. And with the exception of evading exchange
controls, the criminal behavior in question is
despicable.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">BTC is
not decentralized, that is pure propaganda. While the
ledger itself is decentralized in theory, Network
effects have led to the creation of mining cartels and
the practical difficulties of managing crypto and the
cost of transactions have led to most of the float being
held on exchanges.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">None of
the criminality is acknowledged by BitCoin boosters.
They poo-poo the fact that BTC accounts for a negligible
fraction of global commerce and the majority of major
financial frauds. One-coin Quadrifinex, Mount Gox, The
most profitable way to run an exchange is to run it as a
Ponzi scheme.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">Nor is
the fact that proof of waste is a despicable principle
on which to assign value. The criminal-currency world
creates no value. They consume more electricity than the
entire nation of Argentina. They can't argue with that
fact so they instead pretend that the miners are using
renewable energy, a flat out lie. Who else lies on that
scale? Well Trump of course, back in the Trump sack
again. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small">There
is much more that could be said on the immorality of
criminal currencies but the verdict is clear: These are
despicable instruments being peddled by despicable,
greedy people who cloak their immorality with fine talk
of 'freedom' and vicious personal attacks on anyone who
dares tell the truth. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:small"><br>
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</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
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<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/">https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/</a></pre>
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