As purpose of a larger exploration of non-obvious funding methods for terrorist organizations, the European Union has proposed new legislation to enforce background checks on Bitcoin users. News sources conduct hold picked it up. One may ask, to what end?
Let’s explore.
FACT: What people practise non sympathise typically scares them.
FACT: Few people sympathise the intricacies of how cryptos move together with why the usage patterns are what they are.
FACT: Government administrators are people that are scared of things too. Only they conduct hold the ability to accept unrealistic fears together with plow them into bizarre witch hunts and, inwards the worst example scenario, illogical legislation.
Yes, I know Ross Ulbricht, blah blah blah. Certainly roughly nefarious activity tin move connected to cryptos/ digital currency. But I would wager that roughly nefarious activity tin move connected to many things. Let us continue inwards mind, the USA Treasury Department launched a formal query into whether or non the Toyota Motor Corp. was supplying ISIS with trucks. Let us sympathise this idea process. 1) We run across many ISIS fighters using Toyota trucks. 2) Toyota must know how they are beingness acquired (or must move selling the trucks to ISIS). I volition readily acknowledge that I would non pose it by whatever multinational company to engage inwards semi-legal net turn a profit grabs (we run across this inwards finance consistently inwards the U.S.) but this does appear a littlefar fetched.
Similarly, Bitcoin is a talking signal to continue the masses nether the impression that authorities is taking active steps to protect their voting populaces. Most people that read a headline regarding Bitcoin together with the (flimsy at best) link to terrorism conduct hold had rattling niggling exposure to the technology. For those folks, certain the declaration ostensibly makes sense. But allow us await at the possibility of a linkage explored inside a brief idea experiment.
If you lot are inwards a terrorist organization, together with you lot conduct hold used illegal fossil oil sales, drug trafficking, summation many other nasty methods equally revenue engines, together with those way of earning conduct hold historically gotten you lot what you lot needed (keep inwards withdraw heed that 1 of the nearly insane terror plots of all fourth dimension was carried out Septemeber 11, 2001), why would you lot speedily encompass this novel technology? This is non precisely a civilization of early on tech adopters. In intelligence, all nosotros tin rely on are probabilities. Is it possible? Of course. Is it plausible? Probably not.
To move abundantly clear, nosotros alive inwards rattling fast moving together with strange times amongst foreign characters, technologies, together with decisions dominating tidings cycles together with shaping international discourse. Historically authorities has been reactionary, together with inwards these times beingness a pace behind tin toll the lives of citizens. The preventable loss of innocent lives is devastating together with and thence rattling difficult to understand. I applaud those inwards authorities who conduct hold been able to strike a truthful together with meaningful remainder betwixt keeping us prophylactic together with everyday liberty. It is a difficult remainder indeed together with 1 that is, admittedly, easily critiqued.
But, equally before mentioned, nosotros alive inwards an era of talking points. Should the potential usage of technology, cryptos/ digital currency non excluded, for nefarious together with deadly ends move examined? Of course. But before nosotros file something into the “Fear” file, let’s ensure that nosotros sympathise it. I practise non call back that talking heads, politically together with inside the media, conduct hold taken the fourth dimension to perform the diligence necessary to come upward to a conclusion.
That type of fearfulness based hyperbole does non audio similar protection. Actually, it doesn’t sound like anything. But it FEELS similar incrementalism. And that is a conversation for roughly other day.