You sig spammers and your shallow statements. "Bad PR?"
That's the absolute last thing honey badger gives a shit about!
Read
"Only the Black Market Matters" by Justus Ranvier, he really nails it: "Anyone who isn’t actively working to expand and empower the informal economy is wasting their time."
No need to be offensive, actually both sides have arguments, sadly in this forum there are a lot of black and white people and that's what stops Bitcoin grow. I do agree with the article you mentioned to a certain extent, however we can't live in that utopia, at least those of us who run businesses and have credit cards because well, you can't basically exist without regulation, you are limited in many ways by the government and that's sad but just as you don't hand over your house keys to a homeless person, the government does its job in protecting itself too.
Bitcoin has without a doubt a bad image for the average person but not only that, it's very hard to adopt for non tech savvy people, for me those are huge barriers if we truly want a new currency, or perhaps you want it to be controlled by the elite alone?
Saying black and white thinking stops Bitcoin's growth is itself a black and white statement and also false; Bitcoin is growing nicely.
I think you should re-read the article. People in the informal economy are by definition doing unregulated business. They're people like street vendors selling snacks for cash or labourers who do handyman work for cash. Drugs and prostitution are a very small slice of this pie, terrorism funding is an even tinier slice (if it currently exists at all). However, controversial goods and services are justifications for governments to attempt to control the entire informal economy. Many governments are working on banning cash so that all transactions must go through the banks, to be "properly" taxed and regulated. Not only will this enrich the state, expanding their warmaking and surveillance capabilities, but it will put many of these marginal workers out of business and into poverty.
It's essential that Bitcoin be able to take the place of cash, if or when it's banned, lest we all end up living in some tyrannical dystopia. There's nothing elitist in wanting currency which can be used by anyone, for any purpose. Prostitution and drug sales are only a small part of the tremendous personal freedom which Bitcoin offers. You can't stop Bitcoin being used for such purposes without destroying Bitcoin, so find a way to tolerate such victimless "crimes." Forget about the disapproval of the traditional media, who often serve the purposes of government.
Like the article points out, there are now (or soon will be) more people employed by the informal economy than the regulated one. That people like sex-workers are actively adopting Bitcoin, despite its "bad PR" and technical complexity, is very encouraging for Bitcoin's future success and for individual liberty.
Bitcoin can most definitely be censored or declared illegal by any government and I wouldn't be surprised because if I were the government I wouldn't like a side currency that I can't control really, same as avoiding taxes if you ask me, that's how it all works. That would be the end of Bitcoin real quick if the punishment is as harsh as selling drugs for example, no one would touch it. I understand where are you coming though, I always thought Bitcoin would flourish in those markets, porn, gambling, etc, where no registration and instant deposits is a must but I just don't feel it worked. People still use CCs, Paypal or other payment systems, they just don't need Bitcoin and it's a hassle to get into for the average person, that's the bottomline that many can't seem to admit.
