so ... currently the TOR protected blackmarkets are all taken down simultaneously / are "being attacked" , so if any of those "trustworthy" places are actually hacked / get spooked / decide to take this opportunity to run off with another few dozen thousands of btc of purely criminal money , we get to drop another $50 like we did 10 days ago ... if they stay down (potentially as a result of government action to remove those blights from society) , bitcoin loses all real current use value of obfuscating illegal activity ... yknow , since it's not easier , cheaper , or faster than traditional payment methods , and isn't used for remittances (since 3rd world countries don't *have* local currency bitcoin exchanges , poor people don't typically have bank accounts to link to exchanges anyway , and these economies have 0 places to spend raw bitcoin) ...
oh ... and taking bets on if all couple dozen or so unregulated exchanges are being run 100% without fraud / insider trading / false buying / false selling / illegal fractional reserve eventually leading to outright theft (aka goxxing everyone again) ... think about that ... yeah ... all , every single one , of the exchanges currently in operation are 100% being run legitimately , despite complete lack of regulation or oversight ... sure ... what , no takers ? ... comeon 10 to 1 i'll give ya ... no takers still ? ... damn ... but all joking aside ... i cannot wait to get just *ONE* fucking legitimate regulated exchange ... any new eta at all on gemini ? ? ? ... Q1 was the supposed target , and that obviously did NOT happen ...
btw ... when we fork this shit , do you all think price will plummet $50 , $100 , or $ 150 ?
Wow. Please point on the doll where the bad bitcoin man touched you...
Seriously though, I see your point. But is it not a natural progression of a new technology that the bad guys will leverage it first? We all know of the Gutenberg bible, but there is plenty of evidence ( although probably anecdotal) that it was far easier and cheaper to get your hands on pornography created on early presses than a bible. Same with moving pictures and the internet itself.
As bitcoin matures, anomalies like SR and BSM will become mere footnotes to the wider acceptance of bitcoin. Bitcoin pricemay crash in the shakeout, but that could happen from speculation/manipulation anyway. Long term prognosis though is positive ( but not moonish)
As for your point about :
and isn't used for remittances (since 3rd world countries don't *have* local currency bitcoin exchanges , poor people don't typically have bank accounts to link to exchanges anyway
Its not really an issue. Many unbanked people use other electronic tokens (mobile minutes) to transact. Making the leap to crypto wont be as onerous for them as many think.