Quote from: DeathAndTaxes on August 23, 2012, 02:47:14 PM

Quote from: pauljr8 on August 23, 2012, 01:37:52 PM

Bitcoin should be able to stand on its own. Calling for governmental regulation and/or oversight is the typical knee-jerk reaction for people who feel or have been slighted in their business dealings. We have the talent and ability to overcome these problems before bringing widespread attention to what BTC is instead of what it could be. Government intrusion into any area of our lives always results in a loss of liberty and could make BTC too much trouble to deal with and has never protected anyone from those people of poor character. The entire USA was ripped off by the collusion of the US government and the financial sector. Government is not the answer; we are.

However governments exist and it is naive to think you can opt-out.

With no govt to protect him, someone stealing $5M would likely end up getting tortured to death unless he revealed where the money is (and then probably killed anyways in a very unpleasant way). People get assaulted and killed for a lot less then stealing $5M. The thief's property, assets, home, kids, wife would also be at risk of seizure by "investors" who combined have a lot more guns then he has. Under such a scenario that RISK acts as a deterrent. Scammer is less inclined to scam when there is a real consequence (and no a scammer tag on bitcointalk.org is hardly a consequence for gaining $5M in wealth in a couple months).

However while the victims can "opt-out" and pretend the government doesn't exist. Pirate can choose to "opt-in" and use the very same govt to protect him from any consequence for this actions. A band of investors tracking him down to "negotiate" a settlement would likely find themselves arrested by the very govt they are pretending doesn't exist. Saying you won't use the legal system in place, as some purist masturbation exercise may make you feel good but it won't accomplish anything. It will simply encourage more scams as scammers realize they have nothing to lose.

+1 much needed realism.