For whatever reason, decentralised cryptocurrencies seem to be a very polarized subject.
As somebody in the financial markets regulatory space, your comment aligns with my own thoughts - there is a middle-ground: a balanced but essentially prudent view of Bitcoin and altcoins that is seldom seen in these threads full of naive ideals and cynical strawmen.
Another aspect of this middle-ground viewpoint: both of these polarized sides seem to be focused exclusively on fully automated Bitcoin-based systems. I find this highly unlikely.
If Bitcoin-based systems do become popular, there is no reason to imagine they won't involve some human (e.g. back office settlement systems with STP rules, payment tests and 4-eye reviews of breaches) and legal elements (e.g. declare your BTC addresses to your government tax office, KYC/AML compliance for exchanges, etc.) to solve certain problems that have been in the news lately.
As somebody in the financial markets regulatory space, your comment aligns with my own thoughts - there is a middle-ground: a balanced but essentially prudent view of Bitcoin and altcoins that is seldom seen in these threads full of naive ideals and cynical strawmen.
Another aspect of this middle-ground viewpoint: both of these polarized sides seem to be focused exclusively on fully automated Bitcoin-based systems. I find this highly unlikely.
If Bitcoin-based systems do become popular, there is no reason to imagine they won't involve some human (e.g. back office settlement systems with STP rules, payment tests and 4-eye reviews of breaches) and legal elements (e.g. declare your BTC addresses to your government tax office, KYC/AML compliance for exchanges, etc.) to solve certain problems that have been in the news lately.