What if you woke up tomorrow and completely lost access to your bank account, credit cards, PayPal, and Venmo, all because of something you posted online?

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[+] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (13 children)
  • [–] -1 points 5 months ago (12 children)

    The way to fight the surveillance state is to keep the fight simple

    Fight for free computing, keep encryption legal.

    With those two you can build much more on top, like secure communication, Monero and other crypto, etc.

    There is no need for a national currency like Wero

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  • [+] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (7 children)
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (6 children)

    I simply don't want the government to be able to sanction individuals, block certain transactions they don't like. So I'm against any payment system controlled by a central authority (banks, government, etc)

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  • [+] 1 point 5 months ago* (5 children)
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (4 children)

    I don't think my proposition was a big ask. Free computing and legal encryption are already the norm, I'm simply saying we should not let them be taken away.

    But I imagine that you're not talking about that. I imagine you're talking about the adoption of crypto. You are right, that it's a greater leap than Wero. But I would also hesitate to call Wero an improvement over the existing system. Visa and Mastercard are problematic due to their scale. That is why their actions become oppressive. If Wero reaches the same scale, then what prevents Wero from censoring the same content? Visa and Mastercard already compete with each other, why did they cooperate to censor porn previously, and why wouldn't Wero do the same?

    The problem is centralization. Small central authorities having control over the world's payment systems. Wero doesn't solve that. Now I don't mind incremental improvements, but as long as we recognize that the problem is centralization, then we should also be pushing for decentralization, and the only system we have that supports it (crypto).

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  • [+] 1 point 5 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not convinced that a triopoly (not sure what it's called) is significantly different from a duopoly.

    My own views are that we need a balance of control and chaos. Both extremes have substantual downsides.

    My main view is that a centralized system can be built on top of a decentralized one, but not the other way around. And by the way, if crypto and traditional banking co-existed, with broad support for both, that would be a decentralized system, and I'm fine with that. As long as people can easily convert their fiat to crypto and interact with the same sellers in order to bypass censorship.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (3 children)

    The problem with all of that is the "and other crypto" bit nestled in there.

    You KNOW crypto on-the-whole is bad for humans, because the Orange Menace is promoting it.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    "and other crypto" is there because the technology is still developing. I love Monero because it's private, and it's effectively the only way we have right now to make payments anonymously. But it also uses proof-of-work, aka bad for the environment. A choose-between-two-evils situation. But I'm confident a proof-of-stake coin can have the same privacy properties of Monero without the environmental concerns. That's why I talk about crypto the technology as a whole, and not specifically Monero.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    I can agree that value proposition was a siren song, and that I backed a Fistful of POS coins POST coins during the second and third crypto waves , but I fully exited that space because I believe it is inherently exploitable and that the technologies will not be a net benefit for humans.

    I get that a few of the tech firms I like including MullVad VPN company accept Monero as payment and I too want there to be financial networks which the US dollar and its interests can't lock people out of. But seeing the radical swings of Monero valuation, and it being the best example you and I have got, means the landscape is pretty disappointing for me because it will be pretty inaccessible for others.

    At this point I'm just trying to learn how to get an intl bank account which will allow me to interface with BRICs.

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