Quote from: Lohoris on June 06, 2013, 02:05:58 PM

Quote from: bluemeanie1 on June 05, 2013, 09:07:26 PM

Quote from: Lohoris on June 03, 2013, 02:32:40 PM

Of course they do matter.
They can close down exchanges, they can close down business, and while this won't outright kill Bitcoin, it will make it much less useful and easy to use.

they can't close down an exchange built with this: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwUFHE6KYsM0ZkxLVmFwbXQ3ck0/edit?usp=sharing

I've read it, and it looks exactly like Ripple.
Which basically trades IOUs.
And yes you can close down gateways exactly like you can close down exchanges, so you would have solved nothing.

I don't see how this is like Ripple. Ripple relies on a system of mutual credit, not to mention the very nature of the project is questionable.

this doesn't have 'gateways', that's Ripple you're talking about. It's not easy to shut down the authorities. They can be run from a cell phone or any other kind of unreliable connection(even email is possible). It doesn't require that anyone run a server, so you could authorize transactions from anywhere, even a mobile device. Secondly you must shut down ALL the authorities- and there could be hundreds all in different countries with different connections. It's quite resilient.

The fact is if you want some kind of asset with backing, there must be some kind of authority somewhere, because ultimately you need to be able to redeem those assets somehow. This system offers the MOST flexibility for designing that authority.