Quote from: Puppet on December 07, 2013, 01:57:29 PM

Are you blaming government intervention also for inputs.io, labcoin, pirateat40, and countless other scams?

Not at all, I'm just saying you can't necessarily blame lack of government regulation for their existence either. Government regulation usually ends up fighting small scams and enabling large scams.

Quote from: Puppet on December 07, 2013, 01:57:29 PM

ITs been crystal clear from day 1 that these bitcoin security issuers and exchanges are violating relevant laws in just about any country on earth.

Of course, but that alone doesn't make them scams. They could violate every law imaginable and still benefit their investors, as some Bitcoin securities have. Laws made by governments usually benefit governments, not people.

Quote from: Puppet on December 07, 2013, 01:57:29 PM

Now you may object to laws that require security issuers to register their shares, make certain disclosures etc, you may think its a good idea that an anonymous entity operating from a phone-boot in Nigeria can legally operate a money exchange and hold millions of dollars of other people's coins with no verification, oversight or accountability, but then you should protest those laws instead of blaming government for enforcing them when someone knowingly violates them.

Personally, I think bitcoin asset market is doing a very good job proving why there is a need for at least some sensible regulation and oversight, just leaving it up to the free market makes it a paradise for scammers and a useless minefield for investors.

I don't necessarily trust Wall Street bankers and their good friends in the Treasury department to do a better job than an anonymous entity operating from a phone booth in Nigeria. And yes, I do protest these laws, as well as blame the government for enforcing them the way it does. But the point is, Bitcoin almost had a chance to develop a new system of distributed regulation, in which people act in their own self-interest and yet the community as a whole judges and rejects those who try to act unfairly. The way we currently do this clearly doesn't work that well, as proven by the high trust rating TradeFortress had until very recently. But it's a work in progress, and the last thing we need is government intervention.