Frogolocalypse (u/Frogolocalypse)

Frogolocalypse commented on A Putin Aide Is Eyeing Cryptocurrencies to Beat Sanctions, Report Says bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/aalleavitch

acdha · 8 years ago

At that point, why not use cash? You’re already restricting yourself to small amounts and avoiding major purchases, so what does adding a cryptocurrency give you?

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

> why not use cash?

As as been repeatedly demonstrated to you, holding cash is unsafe, because it can be seized by the government without you ever having committed a crime.

> what does adding a cryptocurrency give you?

As has been repeatedly demonstrated to you, you have protection from it being seized through the insidious civil asset forfeiture procedure.

Frogolocalypse commented on A Putin Aide Is Eyeing Cryptocurrencies to Beat Sanctions, Report Says bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/aalleavitch

acdha · 8 years ago

> I don't have to explain what I did with my money. I have the presumption of innocence. You don't get to trawl through my financial records looking for a crime

Do you think you have to pay taxes? If so, the government needs the authority to confirm that transactions are properly accounted for.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

> Do you think you have to pay taxes?

Of course.

> the government needs the authority to confirm that transactions are properly accounted for.

Ludicrously false. You clearly have no idea how the law works. You must think you live in a police state. In spite of what you might think, if you live in a western democracy, you don't. You fill in your little boxes on the form and you pay your taxes. You may be asked to justify the numbers in the boxes.

You seem to have a bizarre belief that something illegal or wrong is occuring. You realize you're not a slave, right? You realize you have rights, right? You know what a right is, right? You realize the law is a list of things you can't do, not a permission list of what you can do, right?

Frogolocalypse commented on A Putin Aide Is Eyeing Cryptocurrencies to Beat Sanctions, Report Says bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/aalleavitch

DoveBrown · 8 years ago

The Treaty of Versailles specifically prohibited the German navy from having any submarines. They got around this by creating a company in the Netherlands through which the German high command ran their research and development.

After 1933, it's a different story, but it doesn't really hold as an example of restrictions increasing technological innovation.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

Thanks for the clarification.

Frogolocalypse commented on A Putin Aide Is Eyeing Cryptocurrencies to Beat Sanctions, Report Says bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/aalleavitch

acdha · 8 years ago

I agree that forfeiture is a huge problem but I’m missing what Bitcoin adds to this versus, say, just not keeping large quantities of cash. I don’t hear about cops running charges on people’s cards, for example.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

I'm actually confident that America will eventually get it right. I expect that America, when backed into it, will legislate your rights to protect the fruits of your labour. And then they'll have the moral authority again. They're just going to have to work harder in diplomacy. Which they are quite capable of doing at times. Underrated? Treaty with Iran. Iran ain't really in the news of late? That is better.

But to your question, keeping $1 million in cash, all legitimately acquired, in your house, which could be seized under the flimiest of pretenses, is madness. Bank? Gold? No thanks.

It's going to happen eventually. You might as well figure out how to get used to it. In spite of how the US sometimes is, they have inevitably come down on the right side of history.

Frogolocalypse commented on A Putin Aide Is Eyeing Cryptocurrencies to Beat Sanctions, Report Says bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/aalleavitch

acdha · 8 years ago

How did anything get into those wallets in the first place? If it involved any legitimate business or a known address, they know you had something and will follow up.

If it’s totally off the books, you need to flee to a few countries with lax banking laws before accessing it because you’ll have to explain either the income or non-trivial purchases (“how does a guy reporting $100k salary buy a $500k house in cash?” is the kind of thing which routinely catches small scale crooks).

Do any of that wrong, well, you probably lied to a federal agent and can face severe penalties for that alone.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

> How did anything get into those wallets in the first place?

I think you misunderstand the nature of freedom and rights. I don't have to explain what I did with my money. I have the presumption of innocence. You don't get to trawl through my financial records looking for a crime. You have to have probable cause that I have committed a crime, and then seek supporting evidence for it.

I think it's funny that the country with the first and second amendment is the one that has, for decades, pushed the restriction of rights in money. Americans seem to have forgotten what a right even is. With the first amendment, people aren't legally 'allowed' to say what they want. The government doesn't have the right to stop you saying what you want. With the second amendment, people aren't legally 'allowed' to have guns. The government doesn't have the right to take them away from you. For too long the surveillance state has crept in, and now there are people that believe that you have to prove your innocence. Incorrect. You have to prove I have a case to answer, and I get to protect myself from self-incrimination, and you have to prove that case beyond reasonable doubt.

That is what is so insidious about civil asset forfeiture. It is civil. Instead of proving beyond reasonable doubt that you have committed a crime, all they have to prove is the balance of probabilities. You are treated like a criminal, but it isn't you who is the criminal, it is your assets. When they don't know your assets, nor have access to your assets, because they can't just confiscate the cash out of your car, your house, or your bank, you are protecting yourself.

Law, meet bitcoin.

Frogolocalypse commented on IOTA: A tangled mess codesuppository.blogspot.... · Posted by u/wglb

cryptodogemoon · 8 years ago

It's clearly malicious.

Satoshi could have used a linear growth curve. Instead he used a log curve, giving himself and the smallest user group possible (first users to run the software within the limited timeframe where the hyperinflation took place) control of the majority of the supply for the least amount of work possible.

All users entering the system late beyond users before them are needlessly exploited.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

If you find it exploitative, you are free to create and use your own crypto instrument without these properties that you take offense to. All of the code is available for you to modify as you see fit, as it is open source. If you believe it has value, all you need to do is to convince others of the superior nature of your implementation, and surely they will adopt your solution for their crypto needs.

Frogolocalypse commented on Is IOTA the next big thing? · Posted by u/maurodelazeri

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15944112

Frogolocalypse commented on Www.oracle.com is down · Posted by u/Frogolocalypse

peapicker · 8 years ago

It's working for me.

Frogolocalypse · 8 years ago

Interesting. I'm clearly getting this message from oracle, so it's not a problem on my end. Perhaps a routing problem? It has been giving me this message for an hour.