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Oh man. This is a can of worms.

...I’m not sure if you actually want to have a conversation about this or not though. Clearly I would disagree, but it feels like anything I say might not matter?

Tone never comes across well via text though, so just follow up here if you want to dive into it :)

discuss

BrissyCoder|4 years ago

No I'm serious, happy to have a conversation and will consider your arguments.

I should point out that I also think there may be some value in cross border remittance (something like XRPs use case). I do think smart contracts are largely useless though (oracle problem mainly).

I think it's very telling that Ethereum seems to only really have been used for crypto kitties and NFTs (I think we can all agree both are stupid). On the other hand way back when I first encountered the space (2014ish I think) I succesfully (and very easily) ordered high quality class A drugs (with BTC) with really good customer service and without having to deal in person with unsavory peoples (gang adjacent etc...).

EDIT: grammar

cadillion|4 years ago

Well you can read the Chainalysis report yourself, if you like (https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2021-crypto-crime-repor...) and compare it to the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/money-laundering/overview.htm...). Chainalysis works with US law enforcement to track and eliminate illicit activity via cryptocurrency.

It turns out that illicit activity has dropped precipitously as a proportion of all cryptocurrency volume, and in reality proportionally less money is spent on crime with crypto than world fiat (0.34% in crypto via Chainalysis vs 2-5% in fiat via United Nations). On a pure cash basis, it's not even close ($10 billion in crypto, $1.6 - $4 trillion in fiat).

We definitely encourage you to check out our Discover page (https://live.hedgehog.app/discover), because the space has evolved a lot since 2014. From storage coins like Filecoin, Sia, and Storj; to oracles/prediction markets like Augur, Gnosis, and Chainlink; to cross-chain shims like ThorChain, Ark, or Polkadot.

We might be in the peak of inflated expectations, and the trough of disillusionment could be just ahead, but that doesn't mean that the plateau of productivity isn't right around the corner.

ganzuul|4 years ago

Here's a spin: Until now we have never had any kind of tracking for how much money is being spent on extra-legal drugs. Now we have a way to get the data that is needed for informed policy.