Friday, August 16, 2013

Adam Draper: A Bitcoin Regulation Sellout

Michael del Castillo reports:
“I believe that regulation is just the beginning of Bitcoin," [Adam]Draper [of Boost VC] wrote in an email today to Upstart Business Journal. "By regulating the ecosystem and the new currency they are validating digital currency. This will instill more consumer confidence in the world.”

Draper, son of noted venture capitalist Tim Draper and brother to internet TV talk show host Jesse Draper, said he thought the various government moves were inevitable.
A real money doesn't need confidence to be instilled by government. Read Ludwig von Mises on the regression theorem. The only thing the government will do is control and track--which destroys almost all the advantages of Bitcoin.

1 comment:

  1. Sigh…

    Bob, you continue to conflate bitcoin (the digital commodity) with individual bitcoin users/companies. They are not the same. In the past 4 years bitcoin (the commodity) has risen to monetary status through market forces - all without State blessing. Why would bitcoin need it now?

    Granted, bitcoin (the commodity) is not a universal medium of exchange but neither is the dollar nor is gold.

    What you are witnessing is the proposed regulation of certain bitcoin users - not bitcoin itself. Regulation of bitcoin will have about as much success as the regulation of recreational drugs and individual sexual preferences.

    The creators of bitcoin fully recognized that the State would never sanction bitcoin. That's why it was built the way that it was.

    No offense, but I would venture to say that these creators are more "libertarian" than most of us. They come from the Rothbard/Konkin school of thought. They created their own free markets (Silk Road, Atlantis, etc.). They created a market solution to monetary tyranny. Not perfect but pretty damn good.

    An argument can be made that state regulation would tend to drive up bitcoin prices but that is another discussion.

    What the market demands, the market will have and I predict bitcoin will be around long after the dollar self-destructs.

    I encourage you to take a trip down the Silk Road - you might experience a freedom that you have thus far only read about in economic tomes.

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