Questions tagged [politics]

14 questions
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Countrywide Internet isolation, inevitable fork

Many countries around the world have provisions for shutting off the Internet as well as isolating itself from the Internet (where networking within borders still flourishes), any transaction processing (mining) going on within that country will…
10
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4 answers

How safe it is that a single San Francisco company controls the canonical location of Bitcoin code?

The single most-trusted canonical source of Bitcoin client is https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin This URL is controlled by a single US company GitHub Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, United States. The US government (nor any other government)…
ria
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What are the qualities of a country that might make it more or less likely to freely allow Bitcoins or crypto-currencies?

As some examples which seem logical to me, but should only be taken as examples: A government that is susceptible to commercial lobbying is probably more likely to be pressured by banks to disallow competition with their services. Governments that…
Highly Irregular
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4
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1 answer

Is there a central repository that states a country's latest policy on bitcoin?

The legal status of bitcoin changes from country to country, to include a wide range of policies from acceptance to outright banning it.
user2716556
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What is the story behind US senators wanting to "crack down on Bitcoin" in mid-2011?

There have been two US senators, Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin, wanting to "crack down on Bitcoin" in mid-2011. How did the story start, progress and did it reach any conclusion?
ThePiachu
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3
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2 answers

Strategies against Bitcoin

With the recent increase in articles about the threat of Bitcoin vs central banks, government and other authorities over the money supply, I am wondering how well authorities are prepared and actively dealing with the situation. Yes, most are…
mahler
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Why can't the block size upgrade be trialed on testnet with an organised "stress test"

A stress test was run on mainnet to see the effect of exponential demand in Tx volume. Why can't a testnet "stress test" be organised to look at the implications of the 20Mb block size (and other variables?) I can't understand how there's so much…
Wizard Of Ozzie
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3
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How will the new Internet Neutrality Act affect Bitcoin?

How do you think the neutrality act that is being talked about as I write this post will affect the Bitcoin community. Not only in transactions, but mining, how will it affect Bitcoin economically with users and miners alike all on the same network?…
2
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1 answer

Banning Bitcoin through packet filtering

There's been a lot of talk about governments banning Bitcoin. In theoretical terms, this is possible but, how could a government effectively ban bitcoin through technological means? Are there packet filtering techniques which a government could…
Sebastien
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Commodity vs. Currency

Some countries view Bitcoin as a commodity, some see it as a currency (and some ban it, but that's another story). I read a few articles, but in layman's terms, what are the main differences about a commodity and a currency?
Basj
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Police raid home of bitcoin 'founder'

Recently, WIRED released an article about an alleged creator of Bitcoin being raided by the police. Briefly, the article mention the following: Police raid home of bitcoin 'founder' Craig Steven Wright 09 December 15 Police have raided the home of…
Mark Messa
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2 answers

The correct term for Bitcoin currency

I have been reading about Bitcoin and the history of it. But I was not able to find a term that actually describes Bitcoin. I am looking for a term that is not only for Bitcoin but any digital currency like Bitcoin. The closest term I could find…
0
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What are the political and environmental implications of growing Bitcoin electricity consumption?

I have found lots of articles talking about how bitcoin works, and quite a few that analyze the growing industry around it. Relatively little though speaks to the potential political implications of Bitcoin's growing electricity consumption. It…
0
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1 answer

Could Bitcoin work as a world currency?

We've seen the issues taking place with the Eurozone, notably that countries who share monetary union seem to ultimately need to share economic union, which tends to lead to political union. Is there a plausible scenario whereby Bitcoin (or similar)…
Jez
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