Unregulated capital flight is really not a feature of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is money with the ledger built into it. It's not for hiding wealth, but for tracking it. This is a market correction that had to take place.
People get confused right now because the ledger is more or less blank. It won't be. (As a slightly dystopian side note, BTC with very little history may become very very valuable.)
In the future, it is going to be preferable to pay for anything large with cryptocurrency. It's overkill to buy a coffee with Bitcoin. But a house, a car, maybe even rent? What better way to prove you own or have paid for something? The currency knows when and how it was used.
We currently live in a world where banks try to foreclose on homes that aren't even mortgaged. Bitcoin and the like will end that. But even more importantly, Bitcoin is about wealth protection. The average Joe will have very little of the deflationary income. But large banking institutions will.
We currently live in a world where banks try to foreclose on homes that aren't even mortgaged. Bitcoin and the like will end that.
No, it won't. The problem was never proof of payment. The problem in almost all cases was proving ownership (by the foreclosing bank) of the ownership of the mortgage/loan, which Bitcoin can't and won't solve because it's not something that can be put into the Bitcoin protocol or software. (The bank you take out a mortgage from is rarely the bank that you end up making payments to; the original bank usually sells your mortgage to another financial institution willing to accept the credit risk.)
But even more importantly, Bitcoin is about wealth protection. The average Joe will have very little of the deflationary income. But large banking institutions will.
Why is this a good thing? You've basically just said that the rich will just get richer and the average Joe will, in relative terms, will become even poorer (as prices increase to keep pace with the increasing wealth of the rich).
Altcoins with faster transaction times and built-in inflation formulas could change the game. I'm bullish on crypto-currency in general, but I don't think it's a given that BitCoin is guaranteed to be the winner, long-long-term.
> BTC with very little history may become very very valuable.
Unpack this? I had thought that if you sent coins to a fresh wallet ID, it becomes effectively anonymous. (I've heard of some who generate a new public key for every transaction.)
> Unpack this? I had thought that if you sent coins to a fresh wallet ID, it becomes effectively anonymous.
Not really, you can see where the money came from, and assume the same owner (or a relationship between the owners).
To anonymize bitcoins you have to 'mix' them - take X bitcoins from N people, send them to a single address, then send X to new addresses for each of the N people. Because any persons bitcoins might end up going to someone else, you cannot assume it's the same person or a transaction any more.
"BTC with very little history may become very very valuable"
Perhaps, but I think that's why some degree of drug site users.. according to my readings, prefer litecoins. (just not sure how important of a feature ltc is, but it seems to be at least quite important to some)
The value is in having exchanges with little history, and having viable altchains that people can buy into and sell out of.
Bitcoin is money with the ledger built into it. It's not for hiding wealth, but for tracking it. This is a market correction that had to take place.
People get confused right now because the ledger is more or less blank. It won't be. (As a slightly dystopian side note, BTC with very little history may become very very valuable.)
In the future, it is going to be preferable to pay for anything large with cryptocurrency. It's overkill to buy a coffee with Bitcoin. But a house, a car, maybe even rent? What better way to prove you own or have paid for something? The currency knows when and how it was used.
We currently live in a world where banks try to foreclose on homes that aren't even mortgaged. Bitcoin and the like will end that. But even more importantly, Bitcoin is about wealth protection. The average Joe will have very little of the deflationary income. But large banking institutions will.