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Originally Posted by smartcat |
Shouldn't all creators be doing this?
Quote:
Charlie Lee, who founded litecoin in 2011, "sold and donated" all of his litecoin tokens over the past few days.
The litecoin creator said there was a "conflict of interest" with him holding litecoin. |
His Statement
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"Some people even think I short LTC (litecoin)!" he said. "So in a sense, it is conflict of interest for me to hold LTC and tweet about it because I have so much influence."
He added: "I have always refrained from buying/selling LTC before or after my major tweets, but this is something only I know. And there will always be a doubt on whether any of my actions were to further my own personal wealth above the success of litecoin and cryptocurrency in general."
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Secondly, if enough people with wealth decide its much safer to "hide" wealth in crypto, what can governments do? As long as their peers are willing to accept crypto, it is untracable. Its like you have chickens and your neighbor having cows, and you willingly start using eggs and milk as currency. Its illegal and that would make you a criminal, but can you be caught?
Remember, to live and survive, you need very little cash. Its the spending which can be curtailed by the govt. So if a software engineer paying tax in 20L a year income buys a 1 crore car , taxman will come after him. So he has to hide cash (which can be lost due to demonitization), or in the bank (which will have a tax problem), or in a USB pen drive.
Wealthy people like to hoard wealth.
Currently transfer of money out of country is a big problem, but crypto allows you to do so. It makes tax havens more powerful.
The creators may be techno-nerds, so they did not solve any economic problem. But they solved a technology problem with money movement. It will have legitimate uses (Ripple payments by 20+ Asian banks), as well as illegitimate uses. Govt may try to regulate illegitimate uses, but unless it can control where the money was converted to real goods, it will have no power.
I also see an argument, that when govts realize this they will try to clamp down. No they will not. They will just prohibit illegal use (just like buying drugs with money is illegal but money is not illegal). Secondly you also have to realize that the fantasy of of the people, by the people etc., is for civics books. Developed economies employ politicians. Would you help develop a framework which harms your employer?
The new order is here and it will be here to stay. Of course, the valuations are a bubble, just like dot-com, but when dot-com bubble burst, it did not end technology as such. Similarly Internet gave the opportunity to move information, and blockchain converts money to information. So no more silly swift systems. I can today buy crypto in on country, put it on my USB key and send it anywhere where user downloads it into USB key.
Unless conversion of crypto to real currency happens, there is going to be absolutely no way any govt can intervene. Can govts stop barter system?