Notices

1. Patrick Breyer (echo_pbreyer@chaos.social)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:31 CET Patrick Breyer

   🇬🇧A draft EU Parliament report published today would ban anonymous payments and donations in #cryptocurrencies such as #Bitcoin & #Ethereum. The stated aim to tackle money laundering and terrorism is only a pretext to gain more control over personal data.

   https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/digital-cash-eu-parliament-attacks-anonymous-payments-in-cryptocurrencies/

   • Karsten Gerloff (kgerloff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:28 CET Karsten Gerloff

     in reply to

     • rysiek

     @rysiek @echo_pbreyer Long interview is long. But Varoufakis makes the very valid point that “no algorithm will remove the need for a genuine revolution” (though he may be using that last word a hit lightly).

   • Karsten Gerloff (kgerloff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:29 CET Karsten Gerloff

     in reply to

     • rysiek

     I’m with @rysiek here. When it comes to the flow of wealth, we need more transparency, not less.

     @echo_pbreyer The book “Kleptopia” by Tom Burgis offers a fine case study on what happens when cash flows are opaque.

   • rysiek@mastodon.technology's status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:29 CET rysiek

     in reply to

     • Karsten Gerloff

     @kgerloff @echo_pbreyer to be absolutely clear, I would love a digital cash equivalent that has a similar growth of friction with the amount as cash. That would be more than fine by me.

   • Karsten Gerloff (kgerloff@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:29 CET Karsten Gerloff

     in reply to

     • rysiek

     @rysiek Several central banks are running PoCs or pilot projects for digital cash equivalents.

     Do you have any thoughts on those? I’ve been meaning to read up on them, but haven’t gotten around to it.

     @echo_pbreyer

   • rysiek@mastodon.technology's status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:29 CET rysiek

     in reply to

     • Karsten Gerloff

     @kgerloff I don't have well-formed thoughts, but this interview (Morozov interviews Varoufakis) talks about cryptocurrencies and digital cash equivalents a bit:
     https://metacpc.org/en/crypto-blockchain/

     Long read though!

     @echo_pbreyer

     Mercè repeated this.
   • rysiek@mastodon.technology's status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:30 CET rysiek

     in reply to

     @echo_pbreyer I usually agree with you. Not this time.

     This is not as clear-cut as it seems to be.

     Cryptocurrencies (especially the "privacy coins") are not a cash replacement, the power dynamics are different because cash has friction when used in huge amounts that cryptocurrencies lack.

     This makes cryptocurrencies (and esp. "privacy coins") way more useful for organized crime, corrupt politicians, and the superrich, than cash could ever be.

     The power dynamics are *opposite* to those in case of cash.

   • rysiek@mastodon.technology's status on Tuesday, 15-Feb-2022 22:32:30 CET rysiek

     in reply to

     @echo_pbreyer let me say this differently: where cash is a boon to private citizens in preserving their privacy from the rich and powerful, cryptocurrencies (esp. privacy coins) are a boon to the rich and powerful in making it more difficult to hold them to account.

     The "cryptocurrencies = digital cash" false equivalence is a sham. Be careful what you support.