RE: Just a fad: Buy the product or own the factory
The problem is that the internet was created by governments and thus remains under their control. Bitcoin was not and therefore is not and that means the governments are scared of it, "If they don't have control of an internet currency then what else could they lose control over?".
It's this lack of vision that has led the world to the brink of economic collapse. The USD, which is what the international market is based on, is basically worthless and so any threat to that will create chaos in their minds.
Think about the first Gulf War. Everyone said it was because Saddam Hussein was being a bad man when in fact it was because Iraq was the only Arab country America could go after in order to stop the Arabs from selling oil on the market in Euros which at the time was about 2:1 meaning they could have made twice as much money but would have destroyed the American economy in the process.
Governments will never adopt cryptocurrencies and be wary of any government supported ones.
It all puts them in a bit of a conundrum as they can't shut down the internet as it is far too valuable, yet keeping it up allows for behavior that is outside of their reach. What I assume they will do is use coercion through authority to scare people away from it, until they have an adequate solution for leveraging it for their own purpose. While this is all well and good for the superpowers, what is going to be interesting is when small nations hop on board (like New Zealand) to see if they can benefit from early adoption.
Yes, and you might know that Gaddafi was putting together gold backed oil in Africa, before his death.
I am not planning on going near any government crypto.
Speaking as a New Zealander it’s all possible they’d do it too. NZ has a reputation as being a world leader in many things. An Invercargill farmer flew six to nine months BEFORE the Wright Brothers. Two Otago University students on Lord Rutherford’s dime split the atom for the first time.
There’s already some rumblings about a cryptocurrency being used here but we’ll see.
If I had known you were a kiwi, I would have simplified the speech ;D
I hear NZ is also often used for testing purposes before mainstream release.
I read an article a few months ago that NZ has passed the law that some portion of earnings can ve paid in bitcoin and bitcoin similar currencies.