[Cryptography] Dispelling some myths about Bitcoin, from a Bitcoin fan

[Bear]

On Sun, 2014-06-15 at 11:40 -0400, lmgoodman at hushmail.com wrote:

> Myth #6: Decentralized crypto-ledgers are just a technology and have
> nothing to do with politics.

> Fact: Crypto-ledgers are primarily designed to withstand attacks by
> governments, that is their *only* advantage of a decentralized
> crypto-ledger over a centralized or polycentric one.

> If you think government is a fundamentally nefarious institution and
> that decentralized crypto-ledgers could be a powerful tool in
> liberating the economy from their grip, then welcome to the club. But
> if you think (as a famous VC does - or at least claims to) that they
> are a fantastic invention that is much bigger than envisioned by their
> cooky, fringe, libertarian makers, then... Actually I don't even want
> to convince you otherwise, yay distributed crypto-ledgers!

I think you're missing a point about distributed crypto-ledgers.  
Because they are designed to be safe against attacks by governments, 
they provide a way for *governments* to agree on facts recorded in a 
blockchain, without fear that the facts as recorded at the time 
have since been distorted, hidden, or misrepresented by other parties
including other governments, or that third parties, including third-
party governments, might believe or credibly pretend to believe 
that they have been.

I don't know yet how that plays out in practice, but I do know 
that it's a first.  A blockchain protocol is truly capable of being
an impartial witness, even on the international playing field 
between governments, where the most routine plays are to gag, 
compel, assassinate, impersonate, censor, license, or otherwise 
control the "impartial" witnesses.  I think that's bound to mean
something new, and probably something good, for the future of
international relations.

				Bear