Bitcoin is pseudonymous. Used correctly, it can be totally anonymous. It must, however, be treated like cash. Cash given to strangers is cash lost. This has been established, yet scams and hacks still occur to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
What troubles me more, is the non-anonymous scammers. Matthew Neal Wright isn't anonymous, is he? In an unregulated market like ours, or in some future AnCap society, what are the repercussions of scams like the one he has just pulled off? There were doubtless many people who used him to hedge their pirate risk, or who bought PPT's at a discount in hopes of turning a profit. For these people, MNW's scam has created a real, tangible loss of thousands of BTC. Now what? He walks away, laughing the whole time? He might not have stolen anything; the situation is closer to him having broken people's windows -- nobody wins but the window mender. When someone you know breaks your window, do they walk away laughing, never to reimburse you?
This troubles me greatly.
Topic: Anonymity, the Scam Slew, and AnCap Repercussions (Read 902 times)
Jump to: