Topic: Can anyone post an exhaustive list of bad things Bitcoin is doing to this world? (Read 6154 times)

They would have to do it under the radar, as Silk Road banned arms trade.

And people being able to effectively defend themselves, despite pro-criminal safety government infringements of the most important human right, is not the worst use of bitcoin.

I would also say one of the potentially bad things is how easily they can be lost, forever.  One missed digit in a recipient's wallet, one lost paper wallet, one bad apple stealing from an exchange, etc., and they can never be recovered. 

Maybe there's a market for risk management, last I heard in the fiat world financial fraud cost over 6 billion a year and that's an out of data figure. Of course there would be costs involved...

The worst use of Bitcoin that is happening today is sell of arms & ammunitions. There were (maybe are) some sellers on Silk Road that dealed in this

The risk of holding thousands of bitcoins for 3 or more years through various rallies and crashes. 10,000 bitcoins in June 2011 was $320,000 in value. If you didn't sell, you risked losing $320,000. So, you held on, past the fall to $2, watching your $320,000 become $20,000. Ouch. Then, after what seemed like years, the exchange rate starts increasing again. Do you sell when it hits $32 again, almost 2 years later, regretting not selling the first time, or do you risk it and hold. Then in April 2013 it hits an ATH of $266. Do you sell. Did you sell on the way up? Do you hold? Will Bitcoin be worth anything in a year? Will a superior crypto currency be created? Will major governments outlaw Bitcoin? Will there be a 51% attack? Will there be a fork? Then it crashes back to $60 in a matter of days. Do you sell then? Will it go back up? Who can withstand these kind of fluctuations?

What big risk? Bitcoin is extremely risky. Any early adopter still holding early mined coins has experienced risk far beyond what any normal person will experience in their lifetime. The higher the exchange rate goes, the more risk they assume by holding on to their early stash.

Most early adopters have long since sold to investors who are capable of dealing with this kind of extreme risk.

It doesn't matter which money system is used, there will always be the extremely wealthy and there will always be the extremely poor. Bitcoin wasn't designed to change that because that isn't the job of money.

Keep pretending that the early adopters are just comfortably holding thousands of coins, without a care in the world, because they all knew it would make them filthy rich in a few years.

Grossly disproportionate rewards to a small community of self selecting early adopters.

The Kidnapping has apparently already begun, its just your files for now, children will take a bit longer.

http://www.coindesk.com/cryptolocker-malware-demands-bitcoin-ransom/

On a side note I would say that anything that makes people believe in Austrian economic nonsense is bad but that's a bit indirect as it's actually the implementation of Austrian economic practices that are damaging to the economy not people beliefs in them.

it is enabling criminals/terrorists/pedophiles/drug dealers/scammers/etc to acquire/manage/launder their blood-soaked money much easier and to continue their act, for one.

as for the thread, no one yet has the courage to admit to the truth that bitcoin causes harm as well as benefit.

everything has good side and bad side - bitcoin is no exception.

Why on earth would you convert back and forth to fiat? To be excluded from the blockchain?

Financial privacy is compromised due to the traceability of the blockchain.

While you can't immediately tell which address belongs to which person/entity, transactions that you participate in allow you to review details of someone else's financial history.

For example, if you receive your salary in Bitcoin then send me that $20 you owe me, I can follow the funds used in that transaction to find your salary.

Another example, if I give you $50 for something, I can then see where you send that coin. If I recognize the addresses (or can look them up elsewhere) I know exactly what you're buying.

So… Bitcoin is hurting our financial privacy.

There are methods to mitigate this somewhat (use more addresses, split up large transactions into multiple smaller ones) but they require special effort. Most people just send/receive.

Financial privacy is compromised due to the traceability of the blockchain.

While you can't immediately tell which address belongs to which person/entity, transactions that you participate in allow you to review details of someone else's financial history.

For example, if you receive your salary in Bitcoin then send me that $20 you owe me, I can follow the funds used in that transaction to find your salary.

Another example, if I give you $50 for something, I can then see where you send that coin. If I recognize the addresses (or can look them up elsewhere) I know exactly what you're buying.

So… Bitcoin is hurting our financial privacy.

There are methods to mitigate this somewhat (use more addresses, split up large transactions into multiple smaller ones) but they require special effort. Most people just send/receive.

And the end result is development entirely focused on improving energy efficiency of the hardware and cost effective operation will only possible with renewable energy. The Bitcoin network might end up using more power than the financial infrastructure one far flung day in the future but it will only burn a small fraction of the coal.

Another example, if I give you $50 for something, I can then see where you send that coin. If I recognize the addresses (or can look them up elsewhere) I know exactly what you're buying.

Tools are neutral.  Likewise, as someone said above, free, voluntary exchange should be free.