China bans Bitcoin. Will other countries follow?

Don't know about banning it, but its not something I would trust shrouded in far too much tech speak gobbledy gook and mystery for my liking and no one really wants to or can explain for sure how it works its like they want it to remain a secret only they understand. Also a lot of scams involved with it from what I have seen, maybe that why those who know about it don't want others too.

This has been coming for a long time. People have been looking for an alternative currency to trade and exchange for goods and services to cut out the tax liabilities. It’s like me fixing your roof in exchange for you mowing my lawn. We have both benefited from the exchange but the taxman gets nothing. Bitcoin is much the same except it is a true cash alternative that sits outside of conventional regulation, banking and tax laws. It can also be generated apparently out of thin air with the correct technology. As such it is attractive to criminals and has become the currency of corruption. Millions can be stored on a usb memory stick and exchanged with like minded individuals and organisations for goods and services (use your imagination). When people are able to trade and get what they need without recourse to conventional money it is no wonder governments take action to outlaw crypto.

I don't understand Cripto Currency. It's way over my head. On the surface it seems OK, but as I've read, it can allegedly be used for other than legal purposes.

Well that will vastly help the environment if they enforce it and close down all the factories of servers mining 24/7. China is one of the biggest countries for crypto mining. Other than closing down those factories there is not much they can do about trading online accept ban their legit businesses from offering bitcoin as a means of payment for goods alongside credit cards and PayPal but that only within China. There will still be black market goods being sold using bitcoin and there is absolutely nothing they can do about that.

Quote from mike murphy

I don't understand Cripto Currency. It's way over my head. On the surface it seems OK, but as I've read, it can allegedly be used for other than legal purposes.

The people not understanding it fully is what the crypto currency buffs want it allows them to manipulate they system to their advantage, basically I just don't trust crypto currency the way it is at the moment and I don't think it will every change so the general public can fully understand it.

Your right it's the fear of the unknown factor that comes into play here but I don't see it being any different from the current banking system only it's completely unregulated and there is no ruler as such and is completely digital rather than a hybrid. TBH the risk with investing in bitcoin is no different from the risk of investing in stocks and shares.

The biggest issue now is the scammers out there that invent a new coin with a pyramid type system which folk invest in and suddenly lose a lot of money. Before digital bitcoin got so big anyone could buy a dedicated server to run 24/7 and mine for bitcoin. A preset amount of bitcoin is released into the wild much like how stocks and shares rule the value of the pound. Because there is only a set amount released, floating around like a runaway train around the www, the earlier you jump on the bandwagon the more chance or getting the gold. It costs nothing to mine accept for the power to generate the server or servers running so as long as what you collect from mining values more than the cost of running it was like free money. The more you have the more power and more chance of mining more, just like mining for gold. The super rich and the Chinese factories killed this as they could afford more machines for a bigger return making it harder and harder for the regular person. Instead of it being an individual quest it became more mainstream and business like with them sucking up the bulk.

Now many are moving away from their own costly server factories and are using peoples browsers and Internet connection and device processing power instead either via malicious software or scripts hidden in a website. They use everyone's machines like SETI did to generate more power only SETI was volunteer work instead of thieving and completely within your control. You could now visit a website that has slower page load time than normal and your computers fans suddenly spin up, and unbeknown to you they are using your machine to mine for a few seconds or a minute or so. Multiply that by however many machines are connecting to that site worldwide and it soon amounts to large sums.

Later on after the bulk of mining then arrived the bitcoin exchanges where you, well....just like any other exchange could exchange you currency. This allowed the smaller folk to get involved but instead of mining you buy for a fee, whatever the exchange rate is at the time. It has advantages as it's all completely anonymous which is important when purchasing certain products like a VPN for example. Many shops and services also started to accept bitcoin as payment and still do. Not only online but in the real world. Make a payment in the same way as Apple pay or any other tap and pay type system only instead of taking the money from your bank it takes it from your crypto wallet.

The biggest risk by far is the fact that it's digital and not a physical product like coins and notes in your wallet. This leaves one vulnerable to not only digital attack / hacking but also losing your money if your crypto wallet drive dies and you don't have a backup. The same vulnerabilities are there that we have with the current banking system but you can also add human error factor in to that like input mistakes for example misplacing a decimal point when typing. The only bonus with the current banking system is if they lose your money or screw up they mostly give a guarantee but we pay for this not only in tax but also the risk in the stocks and shares market which of course is how the banks make money for themselves gambling with your money. When there is a another banking crisis like we saw before will they get bailed out again so they can guarantee the customer does not lose their money. With one system we are at the mercy of the banks and the government and with crypto we are at the mercy of ourselves plus the risk of government intervention like they are doing on China because it threatens the current system where they earn out of it.

Although all these machines use energy and are bad for the environment as is the Internet and all the data centres in general. We should ask ourselves how many machines the banking system uses especially now they are moving more towards digital currency themselves. The biggest threat to the human race and the climate is not vehicles, eating meat and the rest it but the digital age and all the machines worldwide that require energy and generate heat but nobody talks about this. Not to mention the wasted energy mining for peoples data to build on AI tech amongst other things which all requires energy to make computational calculations.

The key to better security is not to put all your money in one pot so to speak. Divide and separate things in different areas. If the current banking system crashes and everyone loses their money the only winners able to still trade with be those with Bitcoin or physical Gold stashed away. Maybe we should start collecting water as this is going to become an extremely valuable commodity in the future. Many folk believe stocks and shares are the way to go and it can be a quick little earner but it can also fall the other way like putting a bet on a horse, but don't forget they are tied into the banking system and part of the problem. A better solution is to buy property which those who can afford to do so but even then it has to property that either keeps it's value of goes up in value and not lose value. Actually the problem is much bigger and it's the financial system and how society operates that is the biggest problem.

Quote from Norra Batty

The key to better security is not to put all your money in one pot so to speak. Divide and separate things in different areas.

That’s what I do. I keep some under the mattress, another lot under the sofa cushion and the rest on top of the wardrobe.

Don't forget the biscuit tin in the kitchen cupboard

Quote from OLD BOY

That’s what I do. I keep some under the mattress, another lot under the sofa cushion and the rest on top of the wardrobe.

Quote from Norra Batty

Don't forget the biscuit tin in the kitchen cupboard

And you know all those places are way more safer and secure than trusting crypto currency.

That depends on which way the market goes like with stocks and shares. Don't forget you can always spend crypto currency on real goods...property that can also go up or down in value.

Just don't understand it enough to trust it, and no one seems keen to share any info about it which makes me all the more suspicious of it, and those that do try tend to try and baffle with geek speak and techno jargon. Most of what I have heard falls into the category sounds too good to be true and scam like.

Quote from Ron Manager

geek speak and techno jargon

Yeh I understand that. That's why I tried to explain in layman's terms above without getting into the techie side of it along with comparison to the current banking system as one knows it. There is massive risks with some of these new coins that appear but the original 'bitcoin' is as safe as you keep your wallet. If you start to get into the tech of Blockchain itself then it becomes complex and it helps if you understand the P2P (BitTorrent) protocol first along with some basic understanding of encryption and ciphers. But hey......how many of us truly understand the traditional banking system and how it works. We mostly put our trust in the banks. That's what it all boils down to at the end of the day, who do you trust. It's the same with connecting to websites and SSL (https) it's only as safe as the certificate provider and the strength of the cipher used to encrypt. Of course when there is money involved one has to be extra cautious and that includes making payments online. Most folk will just look to see if the little padlock in their browser is activated and don't even consider that it's possible that a really old and insecure 128 bit SHA1 encryption cipher could be in use so massively vulnerable to a (MiTM) man in the middle attack.

I'll stick wirh good old UK pounds an pence I know exactly what I have with that, no need for geek and techno gobbledygook for that. 🤣