It's only effect upon the world, so far, is to enable crime, and transfer money from the dumb and unlucky. The Pollyanna crap about getting money in to the suffering in "authoritarian regimes" (like the Taliban! Send some Dogecoin to Spin Boldak!) has never happened. No examples were given, notice? Bitcoin transactions leveled off in 2011, and nothing in 11 years except tax dodging and ransoms, other criminal transfers. And endless scams.
You know what HAS created great economic opportunity for the world's beleageured? Simple bank transfers through WhatsApp are changing India. The power to move money so effortlessly, without a physical bank, in a tiny village, is the true Great New Thing. Whether you have to trust some central authority (like you do if you want water, sewage and power) is not a big deal except for libertarian loonies. You know who's never lost my data to hacking? My bank. Yes, I do trust them. So does 99.999% of the population.
The author is trying to sound "balanced", but her fairy tales about Good Deeds to unnamed foreign victims, her use of the industry marketing term "stablecoin" - now a joke since one of them utterly collapsed - reveals that she's trying to keep a skeptical audience from fleeing, while, basically, marketing. The use of the term "crypto investments", when there's no evidence any more that they ARE "investments", by any non-tulip-bulb standards, confirms my suspicions.
Canada is renowned for its excellence in financial management, worldwide. We didn't lose any banks in the Global Financial Crisis, caused by deregulation of Wall St. and City of London - none went bankrupt, none needed any bailouts. (We didn't de-regulate.) We came out of the Crisis in the best financial shape of any in the G7, they reckoned. The same with the pandemic recently, best in the G7. (And name another country that had to donate a finance minister to serial-screwup Britain, after they'd helped cause the crisis, then suffered worst from it via Austerity and triple-dip.)
So let's not screw that up by jumping on the latest fad in scamming the low-information investors. Canada's reputation, long run, will be much more enhanced, in the financial community of investors, by crypto-hostility.
BRAVO!! Crypto is a complete scam job. Nothing more. It has yet to provide value or utility to anyone, beyond those getting rich selling the worthless stuff. Pierre Poilievre exposed his sheer ignorance and lunacy peddling this stuff in his campaign. Crypto poses a risk to society only because they are buying fad get rich quick schemes. You can’t regulate this crap other than to make it illegal.
Thanks for the backpat, but I'd rather be the public health minister that tried to mandate eternal masking to combat flu, than be the guy that made a libertarian love illegal. (It worked so badly with drugs.)
Nope, just keep the spotlight on it, give the white-collar crime guys resources and incentives to fight illegal uses of it, and investment scams; since it has no other uses, that should make it dry up and blow away in the long run. They can't fool everybody forever. Fingers crossed.
No fair enough, your right…perhaps not illegal, just expose how useless it is. I think the government protecting people from the scam of it is appealing but perhaps overreach…like digging into peoples private banking for protesting.
Roy, two quibbles. One, we donated a central bank chief, not a finance minister. Problem is, he is back in Canada; if only he had stayed in Britain! Two, we did have two banks fail in the 1980s. Clearly not in the same realm as the failures worldwide in the financial crisis but fairness demands accuracy.
Now, as to your comment: yup, you got it.
Quite apart from your reasoning (with which I agree), I have my own, which is based on human behavior. We absolutely know - know, I tell you! - that our governments, together with our central banks have difficulty in controlling themselves in terms of not debasing the currency. We know it and cannot control the rascals, except to occasionally throw them out - PP, do your job, at least in terms of the central bank!
With crypto, beyond the scams (and they do seem to be legion, as near as I can tell) there appears to be no central controlling mechanism or institution. That is touted as a feature, something that is good. I very much differ.
There clearly is counterfeiting of our fiat currency. What is to stop counterfeiting of crypto? What I mean is that crypto is based on a series of algorithms, formulae, etc. in the underlying technology. So, my question is, if a smart guy can figure out how to print fiat currency, what is to stop a very much smarter guy from figuring out the technology and allowing "extra" crypto X or Y to be created? I recall reading many times that there is a maximum number of bitcoin that can be created. Yeah? What is to stop, say the NSA, which is full of bright guys and gals, from figuring out how to "help out" with the US deficit? Or someone else for some other "really, really good" reason. Like greed.
We can - at least theoretically - control the rascals who deal with our fiat currency, but the rascals who create crypto? For the most part we don't even know who they are, so no thanks, not interested.
Does that make me a Luddite? To some, I am sure the response is in the affirmative but I am quite content to wait and see if I am right or wrong; I have no desire to test my limited wealth on some series of zeros and ones.
Crypto fans can go on at you about the un-counterfeitability of their math, but they'll get upset when you ask if "patient, hugely-resourced nation-state(s), acting together, could subvert an entire crypto network by gaining control of 51% of the nodes."
It's important to have at least two in the room when you quote that line, as they will fall into violent dispute while you tiptoe away.
Or, point to the "history of bitcoin" entry in wikipedia, noting that it leveled off at 10 million transactions per month in 2016. There are 2.6 million seconds in a month, so that infamous "enough electricity to power a small country" is currently supporting less than 4 transactions per second, globally. (More financial activity in Swift Current, SK.) This will lead them to being talking about other crypto products that use less power, but they will fall into violent dispute over which is best. Again, tiptoe away.
I still don't understand "enough electricity to power a small country" with regards to cc. I didn't finish the article that was going to explain it to me. Blockchain is interesting, crypto not so much.
If I'm not mistaken, to keep the supply of cryptocurrencies limited (but growing), some platforms use data mining -- essentially getting computers to solve really hard math problems in order to earn cyptocurrencies. It's just a way (an energy-intensive way at scale) to come up with a decentralized way of limiting the growth of the money supply to something reasonably stable and predictable.
To Roy's point, I imagine if someone, somewhere figured out how to mine currencies much faster than everyone else, that could quickly destabalize the price and value and there wouldn't necessarily be any central authority to stop it (maybe TOS?). Alas, that is the same problem with the encryption we all use -- both are based on the notion of very hard-to-solve math problems.
Not just creating new coins, but every transaction with them, must be "proved" to be authentic with cryptography that is very compute-expensive. Many, many computers must agree on the transaction, for it to be considered legitimate by voting across a network, that does not trust any one actor.
...some 1449 kilowatt-hours of compute work to complete each bitcoin transaction, i.e. paying somebody for something. That's over $100 at 7 cents per kWh. Also enough to run your house for a week.\\\\\ CORRECTION: 50 days.
I know that sounds insane, but it's the best estimate. The original link I provided to the computer scientist's analysis, also discusses this problem, and provides links to his lectures where he works out the energy costs. It's really pretty staggering.
Two Alberta banks failed in the 80s. Not national banks. I took Roy's comment to mean the 2008 recession where Harper and Flaherty didn't have a chance to make the changes they had planned for the Big 5 (currently the most profitable businesses in Canada, for many years running) which would have most likely damaged the country immensely.
As I understand it, should the unlikely event occur that would make Pierre PM, he still wouldn't be in a position to throw the BoC governor and directors out on the street unless he changed the law? Tiff Macklem didn't cause Canada's inflation. If rising inflation was so easy to avoid, why hasn't some clever economist sorted it out before now? So all of his excitable declarations about doing so are about as useful as his advice on cryptocurrency, which he has shut up about at least.
Cryptocurrency has a very long way to go until it has suitable regulations and gatekeepers on top of things to keep it all kosher. Currently, I think it's a scam too. I admit I can't see the point of it. Money is a concept, an idea that we all agree on the rules. That bit of paper with 20s and pretty pictures on it will get me a very small bag of groceries. The store and I agree on that. Right now that bag is even smaller but that too is part of the concept and the deal. What do I need bitcoin for?
Cryptocurrency apparently is NOT a concept. You can "mine" it but there is only so much to go around. What's that about? You can very easily lose it and your neighbour's kid can set up a cryptocurrency exchange, become fabulously wealthy for 2 weeks then, poof, gone!
We will always have clever criminals who will take advantage in any way they can. Who invented blockchain, which is useful, where crypto isn't? Probably someone who could also be a clever hacker, a white hat.
I know that I am not a Luddite so I'm pretty sure you aren't too.
I will always loathe Harper and Flaherty for (so many things) our pretty, but slippery, PITA folding, rolling cash money.
I get the impression that Ms Rempel-Garner writes down to her audience a bit in this piece. Perhaps she is unfamiliar with the level of discourse to which we have become accustomed on Substack.
I love a piece about a financial asset that first admits it is too complicated for most people to understand (the sign of a truly warped financial asset) and then goes on to never really explain it once. Because why explain it when you are just trying to selling it right? The fact of the matter is that crypto currencies have no basis in anything, they have no intrinsic value outside of the wild fluctuation of market pricing. Contrast this with an equity which is part of a company that actually exists, owns things, employs people and generates revenue. That equity could be trading in the market at whatever price, but the fact is that with some work one can figure out what the company is worth and decide whether the current market price is attractive or grossly overvalued. You cannot do this with bitcoin because the value is nil, void, does not exist and is impossible to assess. One giant scam being hacked by otherwise intelligent people. Michelle was right about one thing, politicians of all stripes didn't jump on this until the "political winds" shifted toward crypto or in other words when the loudest segment of their electoral base started getting scammed and trying to scam others they decided to jump into the scam as well.
Governments tax commerce, so I don't think any crypto-currency will ever be allowed to become a significant medium of exchange.
As for "consumer" protection, there are higher priorities than protecting a small group of renegades. Take, for example, my 10-year-old washing machine that was diagnosed with a faulty circuit board which was no longer available from the manufacturer, and for which the manufacturer would not provide a circuit diagram.
A letter to the Honourable Minister regarding "right to repair" was never acknowledged.
If Ms. Rempel-Garner wants a cause of significance, ....
p.s. It was a replacement $2.00 relay that saved over $1000 of equipment going to the landfill, and another $1500 going to some offshore manufacturer.
Those circuit boards are the only thing that actually breaks on the newer washers. CBC Marketplace did a bit on them not so long ago. It's quite the scam. That yours lasted 10 years is better than most.
As a peace offering, I have now listened to one podcast from a guy that has found a real use for the blockchain system: upcoming, super-complex energy markets:
There's a problem coming up where electric demand and production may be shifted around in a "smart grid" to a degree unheard-of, now. Groups of homes may put their solar panels together and put their total output up on the block for "auction"; corporations may do the same with their recharging vehicle fleets, offering to drop the chargers off the grid (or even supply power to it from 500 delivery vans in the parking lot); factories may put stored heat, or cold, up on the market.
The interviewee is trying to build out that marketplace, and there's a real problem getting any one player to act as the neutral coordinator, when electrical power is this twisted mass of State/Provincial/2-Federal regulations, between US grids and Canadian.
There's a funny bit in the podcast where the guy says he believes that blockchain could provide a neutral posting board, and the host erupts, "But blockchain never turns out to be the best solution!" and they laugh together, as the guy agrees with that, but says this is the one rare case (where all transactions are huge sums of money, worth the transaction cost, and the problem of finding one neutral 'bank' has happened because of layers of history) where it might just be the trick. He notes that he really struggled, tried to find any better suggestion than blockchain, before painfully caving to that decision.
Canadians have been reckoning with the loss of their rights and freedoms, the collusion of Government, Banks, media and Corporations, ( fascism by definition, unless the new elite gods above decided to change that definition as well). Our once trusted Institutions froze citisen's bank accounts and funding, confiscated personal property, and judicially punished those who dared speak out against the dictate of the regime in command. They used decietful and malitious media to spread mistruths and demonize peaceful protesters. These actions against citisen's is what solidified the need for an alternative monitary system that is not controlled by those who would do us harm in order to control our speech and freedoms. We need more alternatives, not more regulations.
I'm not going to address all your assertions here, but I will ask -- if you don't trust corporations ("...the collusion of Government, Banks, media and Corporations ...") who do you think is bringing us cryptocurrencies? These are largely for-profit organizations too. Remember, all emerging tech companies start out as the good guys (when they are small and are providing an alternative to larger firms) until they too are the (often monopolistic) market leader.
There's that broad brush again ML. And sorry crypto has been around a lot longer than Chris Barber and the freedum dudes and it's still not solidified. It has been tracked.
I happen to like broad brushes when it comes to corruption, lies and unconstitutional actions by our Government, their corporate friends, and judges. We need something that removes their control over our everyday lives that can be used to punish those who dont follow their dictate. Just look at what the Chinese regime is doing to their people's bank accounts and now dealing with protests. Look familiar. Not sure anymore just what regime is following the other. Lets just say there is no longer much trust in our Institutions and if Canadian's were smart they would look for other places to invest and keep their money. The banks have invested every where but Canada, perhaps you should ask them why? Far be it from me to tell you where to put yours but I am looking for anywhere out of reach of the regime and their Globalist friends. That really does not leave us with much then does it?
There are lawyers and then there are lawyers. Not everyone graduated at the top of their class. You would be surprised how many style themselves as "Constitutional" lawyers, or they don't, they just use the word all over their web page.
Seems like they are a dime a dozen these days and none of them are actually in court right now though maybe in a few months. I'm sure we we will all hear about it.
There is one on the travel mandates right now. You follow the Corporate media so you would not know that Trudeau’s vaccine mandates were completely political as no Health Expert has ever suggested mandating the Covid Vaccine for travel or any other reason. Now because Trudeau has stopped the vaccine travel mandates, or suspended them for now, he and his media don’t think it’s important for Canadian’s to know that. Look away my my fellow Canadian’s as it’s difficult to acknowledge your Government is corrupt to its core yet people still back them. Doctors and nurses remained silent as did those so called “Experts” the Governments hired. Sad but true.
ML, who said, "The ruling classes of the Western countries, which are supranational and globalist in nature, realized that their policies are increasingly detached from reality, common sense and the truth, and they have started resorting to openly despotic methods."?
That depends if you are talking about the Canada Infrastructure Bank or many of the Big banks. If one invests in pipelines in China with Canadian taxpayers money just when does that profit return to Canada? The Chinese make profits with our money and pay their workers to feed their economy, not ours. Just as Trudeau gave the Steel contract to China to build the BC LNG Terminal with out even offering it to Canadian companies. Why, because he is a globalist. The globalist elite use taxpayers money to build infrastructure around the globe to which it will take decades or more for Canada to see profit if they ever see any at all. So Terry tell me how much of the Infrastructure Banks money has gone into Canadian infrastructure? Blackrock is the biggest investment company in the world because it has almost every countries pensions, Infrastructure money by the billions from across the globe. This is not corporate money or investment. It comes straight from taxpayers and Pension Holders. As a taxpayer have you seen any return in that money? Do you think you will? No. Because they use our money to pay big Corporations to build infrastructure. When it’s built, they charge the taxpayers to use it Terry. So you get to pay for it again while they profit. Are you waking up yet!!!!!
ML, don't believe everything the lobbyists say. Or the haters. Canada trades with countries all over the world. It's not a bad thing. We only have this one globe. You should stop saying globalist as if it were a horrid rash thing. Yes, some steel for Kitimat was manufactured in China. Most contracts, there are several, have gone to Canadian companies and at least one to a BC First Nations. Contracts are bid on, just like everyone else in the world does it. The same with Woodfiber (If I spit in a high inflow wind I could probably hit it). Different countries have different products to produce. No one place does it all. It's not cost effective nor would any one place have the facilities or the manpower that sharing it around gives them. There has been several hundred engineers in Calgary working on BCs LNG plants. Is that fair to engineers in other provinces? Should I insist they all are from BC? Trudeau has not sold out Canada to the Chinese. It just ain't so.
You're not understanding how investments work. You don't understand how money works. You read something and you don't question it, you simply accept.
Blackrock is big. It's the biggest asset manager in the world. Trillions!! Not their money for the most part. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Our taxes and us poor old pensioners do not shoot our hard earned pennies directly to Blackrock to build bridges or are you mad at the IB. Of course there is a return on it all but it's not a 1+1=2 sort of thing. Big Corps are not necessarily good or bad either. They are big because they are good at what they do. Sometimes we learn of scams or sketchy goings on but that's usually some individuals, people, you know, that get greedy and screw up. It's not a plan to take us all over.
Like Hockey Canada is all the talk right now. Is all of Hockey Can bad, evil, no good, miserable? Of course not. But some guys blew it. CEO quit. What will happen next?
I'd be delighted if TMX stopped in its tracks. Pure profit motive is all it is. Poor landlocked Alberta has to rely on pipes and trains. Lots of pipe to the Gulf but that's not enough. The existing pipe to Burnaby is just too damned little tho it hasn't stopped since the 50s. The tar sands have limited appeal unless you are surfacing a road. TMX has nothing in it for Canadians or BC. Guys in Alberta get a few more years of work. Oil companies will that their cut and I'll still pay over $2 for a litre of gas. All of it will be exported to Asia in enormous tankers which means they will have to dredge that corner of Burrard Inlet. The ships hold 3x more dilbit than what currently comes thru the narrows. It's a disaster waiting to happen. The TMX pipe is only a symbol. Of exactly what is still to be determined.
That is not global trade sir, global trade is when one country sells a commodity or a service to another at a set price. Feel free to stop buying cell phones, tv's and appliances as well as everyone of those products is made with petroleum. Remember we no longer need oil and gas in todays Trudeau world. These commodiities should be banned if Trudeau really wants to stop emission. Did he not ban single use plastics? That should include your cellphone, computer, and just about everything in your home. Stopping emissions, is after all, a global problem is it not? The hypocricy goes over all these zealots heads as doe the entire Canada Investment Bank. You should do a little research on this Trudeau money maker. lol
Oh, if only we could take this approach on on all of the pending 'digital/internet' regulation!
A couple of guiding principles to consider (that I think overlaps what the author is saying) ... first, governments should look to ensure transparency in crypto markets, just like they do in other financial markets. The goal should be that investors understand (as much as possible) what they are getting into and that all players have equal access to material information that could impact the value of their investments. My understanding is that current crypo markets do not entirely meet that standard.
Another -- that the safeguards that we put in place within financial markets to prevent criminal activity need to be replicated here, though the means will likely be different. This is a legal and technical challenge, but its something we need to address. It means our legislators need to become a LOT more technically fluent, which absolutely isn't happening with the current, proposed digital legislation!
Lastly, we need to make sure that regulations on traditional financial services don't unintentionally favour cryto offerings. As an example, a lot of the advantages that ride-sharing companies like Lyft or Uber have over taxis is simply that they don't have to comply with the same (heavy) regulations. They aren't really offering something new or innovative; they are creating a legal loophole that offers the same service with way, way less regulations (and corresponding costs). Let's let the best idea win, not favour the shiny new digital offering that is only succeeding because its traditional competitors have to comply with rules and regulations they do not.
Sensible, all of it. Regulating cryptocurrencies, digital/internet, and new and emerging technologies are important and while I don't agree with PP for a heartbeat regarding his gatekeepers and his weird ideas on freedom, there are a lot of areas that are in need of streamlining. And when oversight and transparency are needed, it doesn't exist or no one bothers.
I'm not too worried about C-11. I watched some of the committee meetings and a lot of people made a lot of sense. The committee members seemed more into posturing and asking stupid what-ifs than learning how it all will affect people. In the meantime, the senate can read all about it on their patios or on the shore of their summer lakes. There will be changes. I do wish the CRTC would figure out what they want to be when they grow up.
So anybody who buys into a glorified Ponzi Scheme is going to blame the politicians for not saving them from their own stupidity, instead of taking responsibility for their own poor decision-making and pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, the way we love talking about in Alberta?
Paper currencies have things like government credit backing them, while precious metals are tangible assets that can't be hacked or wiped out by a computer virus or power outage. Meanwhile, a Trailer Park Boys comic featured Ricky literally pissing away over $100,000 in cryptocurrency just by peeing on the energy-hogging computers that calculate the blockchain.
Bitcoins can be completely wiped out by technology failings, they've had multiple market crashes (notice Pierre Poilievre's stopped talking about them?) and the main selling point for crypto enthusiasts is that it's not regulated by governments. If governments start regulating them, that pretty much kills the appeal of bitcoin in the first place.
If you really want to hedge against something like hyperinflation, do what the Pawn Stars do and buy gold and silver instead. They don't lose their value when the energy grid collapses, they can't be electronically stolen, and the demand for them will likely always exist. If it was good enough for Old Man Harrison, it's probably good enough for the rest of us.
Thank you for your constructive approach. It would be simpler if crypto were merely a new asset class, but the possibility of an alternative means of payment creates a dilemma for those who derisk the payment system. Canadians have relatively sophisticated views on their currency as a means of payment and store of value because we were among the first to abandon a fixed exchange rate. I wonder if Gerry Goldstein, ex OSFI and ex Library of Parliament Research Branch, could be at your service?
Simple, thoughtful and informative. Missing, however, is the middle-ground--a combination of government regulation and protection on one hand while respecting the opportunity for others to enjoy the benefits of an unregulated market and its attendant risks.
In the same way that a car may be purchased from a regulated dealer or from an unregulated individual, so should cryptocurrency. As catnip is to felines, so is control to government.
What I want from crypto is what this computer scientist that's been studying it for many years wants from crypto:
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/05/why-this-computer-scientist-says-all-cryptocurrency-should-die-in-a-fire
...that it should "die in a fire".
It's only effect upon the world, so far, is to enable crime, and transfer money from the dumb and unlucky. The Pollyanna crap about getting money in to the suffering in "authoritarian regimes" (like the Taliban! Send some Dogecoin to Spin Boldak!) has never happened. No examples were given, notice? Bitcoin transactions leveled off in 2011, and nothing in 11 years except tax dodging and ransoms, other criminal transfers. And endless scams.
You know what HAS created great economic opportunity for the world's beleageured? Simple bank transfers through WhatsApp are changing India. The power to move money so effortlessly, without a physical bank, in a tiny village, is the true Great New Thing. Whether you have to trust some central authority (like you do if you want water, sewage and power) is not a big deal except for libertarian loonies. You know who's never lost my data to hacking? My bank. Yes, I do trust them. So does 99.999% of the population.
The author is trying to sound "balanced", but her fairy tales about Good Deeds to unnamed foreign victims, her use of the industry marketing term "stablecoin" - now a joke since one of them utterly collapsed - reveals that she's trying to keep a skeptical audience from fleeing, while, basically, marketing. The use of the term "crypto investments", when there's no evidence any more that they ARE "investments", by any non-tulip-bulb standards, confirms my suspicions.
Canada is renowned for its excellence in financial management, worldwide. We didn't lose any banks in the Global Financial Crisis, caused by deregulation of Wall St. and City of London - none went bankrupt, none needed any bailouts. (We didn't de-regulate.) We came out of the Crisis in the best financial shape of any in the G7, they reckoned. The same with the pandemic recently, best in the G7. (And name another country that had to donate a finance minister to serial-screwup Britain, after they'd helped cause the crisis, then suffered worst from it via Austerity and triple-dip.)
So let's not screw that up by jumping on the latest fad in scamming the low-information investors. Canada's reputation, long run, will be much more enhanced, in the financial community of investors, by crypto-hostility.
BRAVO!! Crypto is a complete scam job. Nothing more. It has yet to provide value or utility to anyone, beyond those getting rich selling the worthless stuff. Pierre Poilievre exposed his sheer ignorance and lunacy peddling this stuff in his campaign. Crypto poses a risk to society only because they are buying fad get rich quick schemes. You can’t regulate this crap other than to make it illegal.
Thanks for the backpat, but I'd rather be the public health minister that tried to mandate eternal masking to combat flu, than be the guy that made a libertarian love illegal. (It worked so badly with drugs.)
Nope, just keep the spotlight on it, give the white-collar crime guys resources and incentives to fight illegal uses of it, and investment scams; since it has no other uses, that should make it dry up and blow away in the long run. They can't fool everybody forever. Fingers crossed.
No fair enough, your right…perhaps not illegal, just expose how useless it is. I think the government protecting people from the scam of it is appealing but perhaps overreach…like digging into peoples private banking for protesting.
Roy, you'd have been hillarious prior to the elimination of the gold standard and/or the evolution of the automobile.
Roy, two quibbles. One, we donated a central bank chief, not a finance minister. Problem is, he is back in Canada; if only he had stayed in Britain! Two, we did have two banks fail in the 1980s. Clearly not in the same realm as the failures worldwide in the financial crisis but fairness demands accuracy.
Now, as to your comment: yup, you got it.
Quite apart from your reasoning (with which I agree), I have my own, which is based on human behavior. We absolutely know - know, I tell you! - that our governments, together with our central banks have difficulty in controlling themselves in terms of not debasing the currency. We know it and cannot control the rascals, except to occasionally throw them out - PP, do your job, at least in terms of the central bank!
With crypto, beyond the scams (and they do seem to be legion, as near as I can tell) there appears to be no central controlling mechanism or institution. That is touted as a feature, something that is good. I very much differ.
There clearly is counterfeiting of our fiat currency. What is to stop counterfeiting of crypto? What I mean is that crypto is based on a series of algorithms, formulae, etc. in the underlying technology. So, my question is, if a smart guy can figure out how to print fiat currency, what is to stop a very much smarter guy from figuring out the technology and allowing "extra" crypto X or Y to be created? I recall reading many times that there is a maximum number of bitcoin that can be created. Yeah? What is to stop, say the NSA, which is full of bright guys and gals, from figuring out how to "help out" with the US deficit? Or someone else for some other "really, really good" reason. Like greed.
We can - at least theoretically - control the rascals who deal with our fiat currency, but the rascals who create crypto? For the most part we don't even know who they are, so no thanks, not interested.
Does that make me a Luddite? To some, I am sure the response is in the affirmative but I am quite content to wait and see if I am right or wrong; I have no desire to test my limited wealth on some series of zeros and ones.
Corrections gratefully acknowledged!
Crypto fans can go on at you about the un-counterfeitability of their math, but they'll get upset when you ask if "patient, hugely-resourced nation-state(s), acting together, could subvert an entire crypto network by gaining control of 51% of the nodes."
It's important to have at least two in the room when you quote that line, as they will fall into violent dispute while you tiptoe away.
Or, point to the "history of bitcoin" entry in wikipedia, noting that it leveled off at 10 million transactions per month in 2016. There are 2.6 million seconds in a month, so that infamous "enough electricity to power a small country" is currently supporting less than 4 transactions per second, globally. (More financial activity in Swift Current, SK.) This will lead them to being talking about other crypto products that use less power, but they will fall into violent dispute over which is best. Again, tiptoe away.
I still don't understand "enough electricity to power a small country" with regards to cc. I didn't finish the article that was going to explain it to me. Blockchain is interesting, crypto not so much.
If I'm not mistaken, to keep the supply of cryptocurrencies limited (but growing), some platforms use data mining -- essentially getting computers to solve really hard math problems in order to earn cyptocurrencies. It's just a way (an energy-intensive way at scale) to come up with a decentralized way of limiting the growth of the money supply to something reasonably stable and predictable.
To Roy's point, I imagine if someone, somewhere figured out how to mine currencies much faster than everyone else, that could quickly destabalize the price and value and there wouldn't necessarily be any central authority to stop it (maybe TOS?). Alas, that is the same problem with the encryption we all use -- both are based on the notion of very hard-to-solve math problems.
Thanks. OK, I think. I'm going to do some laundry and think about it some more.
Not just creating new coins, but every transaction with them, must be "proved" to be authentic with cryptography that is very compute-expensive. Many, many computers must agree on the transaction, for it to be considered legitimate by voting across a network, that does not trust any one actor.
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/crypto/bitcoin-mining-how-much-electricity-it-takes-and-why-people-are-worried/
...some 1449 kilowatt-hours of compute work to complete each bitcoin transaction, i.e. paying somebody for something. That's over $100 at 7 cents per kWh. Also enough to run your house for a week.\\\\\ CORRECTION: 50 days.
I know that sounds insane, but it's the best estimate. The original link I provided to the computer scientist's analysis, also discusses this problem, and provides links to his lectures where he works out the energy costs. It's really pretty staggering.
Two Alberta banks failed in the 80s. Not national banks. I took Roy's comment to mean the 2008 recession where Harper and Flaherty didn't have a chance to make the changes they had planned for the Big 5 (currently the most profitable businesses in Canada, for many years running) which would have most likely damaged the country immensely.
As I understand it, should the unlikely event occur that would make Pierre PM, he still wouldn't be in a position to throw the BoC governor and directors out on the street unless he changed the law? Tiff Macklem didn't cause Canada's inflation. If rising inflation was so easy to avoid, why hasn't some clever economist sorted it out before now? So all of his excitable declarations about doing so are about as useful as his advice on cryptocurrency, which he has shut up about at least.
Cryptocurrency has a very long way to go until it has suitable regulations and gatekeepers on top of things to keep it all kosher. Currently, I think it's a scam too. I admit I can't see the point of it. Money is a concept, an idea that we all agree on the rules. That bit of paper with 20s and pretty pictures on it will get me a very small bag of groceries. The store and I agree on that. Right now that bag is even smaller but that too is part of the concept and the deal. What do I need bitcoin for?
Cryptocurrency apparently is NOT a concept. You can "mine" it but there is only so much to go around. What's that about? You can very easily lose it and your neighbour's kid can set up a cryptocurrency exchange, become fabulously wealthy for 2 weeks then, poof, gone!
We will always have clever criminals who will take advantage in any way they can. Who invented blockchain, which is useful, where crypto isn't? Probably someone who could also be a clever hacker, a white hat.
I know that I am not a Luddite so I'm pretty sure you aren't too.
I will always loathe Harper and Flaherty for (so many things) our pretty, but slippery, PITA folding, rolling cash money.
...This will in turn make Canada less competitive for a technology sector that Canada should be a world leader in.
We can't be leaders in every sector. That is just not possible.
So let's concentrate on staying world leaders in two sectors where we have no rivals, namely in woke addled virtue signaling and lachrymose apologies.
Just a suggestion.
"over-regulating will chase away investment in the cryptoasset sector away from Canada"
Sounds good to me.
I get the impression that Ms Rempel-Garner writes down to her audience a bit in this piece. Perhaps she is unfamiliar with the level of discourse to which we have become accustomed on Substack.
I love a piece about a financial asset that first admits it is too complicated for most people to understand (the sign of a truly warped financial asset) and then goes on to never really explain it once. Because why explain it when you are just trying to selling it right? The fact of the matter is that crypto currencies have no basis in anything, they have no intrinsic value outside of the wild fluctuation of market pricing. Contrast this with an equity which is part of a company that actually exists, owns things, employs people and generates revenue. That equity could be trading in the market at whatever price, but the fact is that with some work one can figure out what the company is worth and decide whether the current market price is attractive or grossly overvalued. You cannot do this with bitcoin because the value is nil, void, does not exist and is impossible to assess. One giant scam being hacked by otherwise intelligent people. Michelle was right about one thing, politicians of all stripes didn't jump on this until the "political winds" shifted toward crypto or in other words when the loudest segment of their electoral base started getting scammed and trying to scam others they decided to jump into the scam as well.
Governments tax commerce, so I don't think any crypto-currency will ever be allowed to become a significant medium of exchange.
As for "consumer" protection, there are higher priorities than protecting a small group of renegades. Take, for example, my 10-year-old washing machine that was diagnosed with a faulty circuit board which was no longer available from the manufacturer, and for which the manufacturer would not provide a circuit diagram.
A letter to the Honourable Minister regarding "right to repair" was never acknowledged.
If Ms. Rempel-Garner wants a cause of significance, ....
p.s. It was a replacement $2.00 relay that saved over $1000 of equipment going to the landfill, and another $1500 going to some offshore manufacturer.
Those circuit boards are the only thing that actually breaks on the newer washers. CBC Marketplace did a bit on them not so long ago. It's quite the scam. That yours lasted 10 years is better than most.
SO we are supposed to buy imaginary coin which is only valued by an idea. Forgive me for doubting.
As a peace offering, I have now listened to one podcast from a guy that has found a real use for the blockchain system: upcoming, super-complex energy markets:
https://www.volts.wtf/p/volts-podcast-jesse-morris-on-building
There's a problem coming up where electric demand and production may be shifted around in a "smart grid" to a degree unheard-of, now. Groups of homes may put their solar panels together and put their total output up on the block for "auction"; corporations may do the same with their recharging vehicle fleets, offering to drop the chargers off the grid (or even supply power to it from 500 delivery vans in the parking lot); factories may put stored heat, or cold, up on the market.
The interviewee is trying to build out that marketplace, and there's a real problem getting any one player to act as the neutral coordinator, when electrical power is this twisted mass of State/Provincial/2-Federal regulations, between US grids and Canadian.
There's a funny bit in the podcast where the guy says he believes that blockchain could provide a neutral posting board, and the host erupts, "But blockchain never turns out to be the best solution!" and they laugh together, as the guy agrees with that, but says this is the one rare case (where all transactions are huge sums of money, worth the transaction cost, and the problem of finding one neutral 'bank' has happened because of layers of history) where it might just be the trick. He notes that he really struggled, tried to find any better suggestion than blockchain, before painfully caving to that decision.
Like I said, blockchain is interesting, cryptocurrencies, not so much.
Holding hospital/ public service IT systems for ransom with expectation that payment will be in Bitcoin poses a risk to all of us.
This column at least opens the door to dialogue.
Canadians have been reckoning with the loss of their rights and freedoms, the collusion of Government, Banks, media and Corporations, ( fascism by definition, unless the new elite gods above decided to change that definition as well). Our once trusted Institutions froze citisen's bank accounts and funding, confiscated personal property, and judicially punished those who dared speak out against the dictate of the regime in command. They used decietful and malitious media to spread mistruths and demonize peaceful protesters. These actions against citisen's is what solidified the need for an alternative monitary system that is not controlled by those who would do us harm in order to control our speech and freedoms. We need more alternatives, not more regulations.
I'm not going to address all your assertions here, but I will ask -- if you don't trust corporations ("...the collusion of Government, Banks, media and Corporations ...") who do you think is bringing us cryptocurrencies? These are largely for-profit organizations too. Remember, all emerging tech companies start out as the good guys (when they are small and are providing an alternative to larger firms) until they too are the (often monopolistic) market leader.
There's that broad brush again ML. And sorry crypto has been around a lot longer than Chris Barber and the freedum dudes and it's still not solidified. It has been tracked.
I happen to like broad brushes when it comes to corruption, lies and unconstitutional actions by our Government, their corporate friends, and judges. We need something that removes their control over our everyday lives that can be used to punish those who dont follow their dictate. Just look at what the Chinese regime is doing to their people's bank accounts and now dealing with protests. Look familiar. Not sure anymore just what regime is following the other. Lets just say there is no longer much trust in our Institutions and if Canadian's were smart they would look for other places to invest and keep their money. The banks have invested every where but Canada, perhaps you should ask them why? Far be it from me to tell you where to put yours but I am looking for anywhere out of reach of the regime and their Globalist friends. That really does not leave us with much then does it?
"I happen to like broad brushes when it comes to corruption ... "
Never got that law degree, I guess.
No but many Constitutional lawyers did. Thats why they are in court.
There are lawyers and then there are lawyers. Not everyone graduated at the top of their class. You would be surprised how many style themselves as "Constitutional" lawyers, or they don't, they just use the word all over their web page.
Seems like they are a dime a dozen these days and none of them are actually in court right now though maybe in a few months. I'm sure we we will all hear about it.
There is one on the travel mandates right now. You follow the Corporate media so you would not know that Trudeau’s vaccine mandates were completely political as no Health Expert has ever suggested mandating the Covid Vaccine for travel or any other reason. Now because Trudeau has stopped the vaccine travel mandates, or suspended them for now, he and his media don’t think it’s important for Canadian’s to know that. Look away my my fellow Canadian’s as it’s difficult to acknowledge your Government is corrupt to its core yet people still back them. Doctors and nurses remained silent as did those so called “Experts” the Governments hired. Sad but true.
ML, who said, "The ruling classes of the Western countries, which are supranational and globalist in nature, realized that their policies are increasingly detached from reality, common sense and the truth, and they have started resorting to openly despotic methods."?
Don't cheat, just take your best guess.
That depends if you are talking about the Canada Infrastructure Bank or many of the Big banks. If one invests in pipelines in China with Canadian taxpayers money just when does that profit return to Canada? The Chinese make profits with our money and pay their workers to feed their economy, not ours. Just as Trudeau gave the Steel contract to China to build the BC LNG Terminal with out even offering it to Canadian companies. Why, because he is a globalist. The globalist elite use taxpayers money to build infrastructure around the globe to which it will take decades or more for Canada to see profit if they ever see any at all. So Terry tell me how much of the Infrastructure Banks money has gone into Canadian infrastructure? Blackrock is the biggest investment company in the world because it has almost every countries pensions, Infrastructure money by the billions from across the globe. This is not corporate money or investment. It comes straight from taxpayers and Pension Holders. As a taxpayer have you seen any return in that money? Do you think you will? No. Because they use our money to pay big Corporations to build infrastructure. When it’s built, they charge the taxpayers to use it Terry. So you get to pay for it again while they profit. Are you waking up yet!!!!!
ML, don't believe everything the lobbyists say. Or the haters. Canada trades with countries all over the world. It's not a bad thing. We only have this one globe. You should stop saying globalist as if it were a horrid rash thing. Yes, some steel for Kitimat was manufactured in China. Most contracts, there are several, have gone to Canadian companies and at least one to a BC First Nations. Contracts are bid on, just like everyone else in the world does it. The same with Woodfiber (If I spit in a high inflow wind I could probably hit it). Different countries have different products to produce. No one place does it all. It's not cost effective nor would any one place have the facilities or the manpower that sharing it around gives them. There has been several hundred engineers in Calgary working on BCs LNG plants. Is that fair to engineers in other provinces? Should I insist they all are from BC? Trudeau has not sold out Canada to the Chinese. It just ain't so.
You're not understanding how investments work. You don't understand how money works. You read something and you don't question it, you simply accept.
Blackrock is big. It's the biggest asset manager in the world. Trillions!! Not their money for the most part. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Our taxes and us poor old pensioners do not shoot our hard earned pennies directly to Blackrock to build bridges or are you mad at the IB. Of course there is a return on it all but it's not a 1+1=2 sort of thing. Big Corps are not necessarily good or bad either. They are big because they are good at what they do. Sometimes we learn of scams or sketchy goings on but that's usually some individuals, people, you know, that get greedy and screw up. It's not a plan to take us all over.
Like Hockey Canada is all the talk right now. Is all of Hockey Can bad, evil, no good, miserable? Of course not. But some guys blew it. CEO quit. What will happen next?
I'd be delighted if TMX stopped in its tracks. Pure profit motive is all it is. Poor landlocked Alberta has to rely on pipes and trains. Lots of pipe to the Gulf but that's not enough. The existing pipe to Burnaby is just too damned little tho it hasn't stopped since the 50s. The tar sands have limited appeal unless you are surfacing a road. TMX has nothing in it for Canadians or BC. Guys in Alberta get a few more years of work. Oil companies will that their cut and I'll still pay over $2 for a litre of gas. All of it will be exported to Asia in enormous tankers which means they will have to dredge that corner of Burrard Inlet. The ships hold 3x more dilbit than what currently comes thru the narrows. It's a disaster waiting to happen. The TMX pipe is only a symbol. Of exactly what is still to be determined.
That is not global trade sir, global trade is when one country sells a commodity or a service to another at a set price. Feel free to stop buying cell phones, tv's and appliances as well as everyone of those products is made with petroleum. Remember we no longer need oil and gas in todays Trudeau world. These commodiities should be banned if Trudeau really wants to stop emission. Did he not ban single use plastics? That should include your cellphone, computer, and just about everything in your home. Stopping emissions, is after all, a global problem is it not? The hypocricy goes over all these zealots heads as doe the entire Canada Investment Bank. You should do a little research on this Trudeau money maker. lol
Oh, if only we could take this approach on on all of the pending 'digital/internet' regulation!
A couple of guiding principles to consider (that I think overlaps what the author is saying) ... first, governments should look to ensure transparency in crypto markets, just like they do in other financial markets. The goal should be that investors understand (as much as possible) what they are getting into and that all players have equal access to material information that could impact the value of their investments. My understanding is that current crypo markets do not entirely meet that standard.
Another -- that the safeguards that we put in place within financial markets to prevent criminal activity need to be replicated here, though the means will likely be different. This is a legal and technical challenge, but its something we need to address. It means our legislators need to become a LOT more technically fluent, which absolutely isn't happening with the current, proposed digital legislation!
Lastly, we need to make sure that regulations on traditional financial services don't unintentionally favour cryto offerings. As an example, a lot of the advantages that ride-sharing companies like Lyft or Uber have over taxis is simply that they don't have to comply with the same (heavy) regulations. They aren't really offering something new or innovative; they are creating a legal loophole that offers the same service with way, way less regulations (and corresponding costs). Let's let the best idea win, not favour the shiny new digital offering that is only succeeding because its traditional competitors have to comply with rules and regulations they do not.
Sensible, all of it. Regulating cryptocurrencies, digital/internet, and new and emerging technologies are important and while I don't agree with PP for a heartbeat regarding his gatekeepers and his weird ideas on freedom, there are a lot of areas that are in need of streamlining. And when oversight and transparency are needed, it doesn't exist or no one bothers.
I'm not too worried about C-11. I watched some of the committee meetings and a lot of people made a lot of sense. The committee members seemed more into posturing and asking stupid what-ifs than learning how it all will affect people. In the meantime, the senate can read all about it on their patios or on the shore of their summer lakes. There will be changes. I do wish the CRTC would figure out what they want to be when they grow up.
Michelle takes us for another walk in her 'sensible shoes'... : )
So anybody who buys into a glorified Ponzi Scheme is going to blame the politicians for not saving them from their own stupidity, instead of taking responsibility for their own poor decision-making and pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, the way we love talking about in Alberta?
Paper currencies have things like government credit backing them, while precious metals are tangible assets that can't be hacked or wiped out by a computer virus or power outage. Meanwhile, a Trailer Park Boys comic featured Ricky literally pissing away over $100,000 in cryptocurrency just by peeing on the energy-hogging computers that calculate the blockchain.
Bitcoins can be completely wiped out by technology failings, they've had multiple market crashes (notice Pierre Poilievre's stopped talking about them?) and the main selling point for crypto enthusiasts is that it's not regulated by governments. If governments start regulating them, that pretty much kills the appeal of bitcoin in the first place.
If you really want to hedge against something like hyperinflation, do what the Pawn Stars do and buy gold and silver instead. They don't lose their value when the energy grid collapses, they can't be electronically stolen, and the demand for them will likely always exist. If it was good enough for Old Man Harrison, it's probably good enough for the rest of us.
Thank you for your constructive approach. It would be simpler if crypto were merely a new asset class, but the possibility of an alternative means of payment creates a dilemma for those who derisk the payment system. Canadians have relatively sophisticated views on their currency as a means of payment and store of value because we were among the first to abandon a fixed exchange rate. I wonder if Gerry Goldstein, ex OSFI and ex Library of Parliament Research Branch, could be at your service?
Sure makes living in Tulsa sound good. Why don’t you?
Simple, thoughtful and informative. Missing, however, is the middle-ground--a combination of government regulation and protection on one hand while respecting the opportunity for others to enjoy the benefits of an unregulated market and its attendant risks.
In the same way that a car may be purchased from a regulated dealer or from an unregulated individual, so should cryptocurrency. As catnip is to felines, so is control to government.