Quote from: anisoptera on June 06, 2011, 09:54:27 PM

Quote from: lemonginger on June 06, 2011, 09:44:03 PM

You don't think a similar unregulated currency would pop up within a week? Even with internet gambling, the only reason it was able be regulated was because there were bank accounts to freeze.

Exactly - the US government used its power over the financial institutions in the US to control the world economy in some way. It was able to prevent financial transactions between two independent parties from taking place because it did not find those transactions acceptable.

So, uh, yeah, see that's why I like bitcoin, because it eliminates their power to do that. You can't argue for regulation with one hand and then with the argue cry frustration about what happens when you allow that regulation.

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The money laundering charges were just how the DOJ finally got something to go on, since online poker isn't actually illegal in the US.

The reason they cracked down on this so hard was because of corporate (casino) interests.

Nah, casinos gave up that canard a while ago. I think it was just as motivated by the fact that UIGEA created the incentives to essentially create giant black holes of fradulent transactions where anything could have been going on.

Bitcoin is, by its very nature, a giant black hole (spare me the discussion of a transparent block chain), so whether or not the silk road exists, it is a tremendous threat to the surveillance state. Again, how do you propose to regulate bitcoin? Pretend that I agreed with all your assertions 100% and was just saying okay, that sounds great, but how do we do it?