Are cryptocurrencies a threat to government control over the economy?

[Jeremy]

The topic of cryptocurrencies is a contentious one. On the one hand, proponents argue that they represent a way for people to take back control of the economy from government. They claim that cryptocurrencies are a threat to government control over the economy.
What is your take on this?
Do you think cryptocurrencies are a threat to government's control over the economy?

 

[Alex_BM]

To some level, yes. I think that cryptocurrencies are a threat to government control over the economy. Let's look at what cryptocurrencies are: they're digital representations of value (like money), only they're not controlled or regulated by any state entity. So if you have bitcoins, for example, you own them—but nobody else does. You can't turn them into cash or use them as collateral for loans.

This means that governments don't have any control over how much money is in circulation, or who has access to it. And that means that governments can't use monetary policy to affect the economy. For one thing, governments can't print more money when there's inflation because they don't have access to bitcoin! If there were an influx of bitcoins on the market and lots of people were buying them up, then the price would go up—but the government wouldn't be able to print more bitcoins to make up for it.
So instead they'd have to raise taxes or cut spending instead—which would probably hurt their economy even more than inflation would have been hurting it otherwise! This happened with Zimbabwe's dollar when it collapsed in 2008.

 

[Maryline54]

The topic of cryptocurrencies is a contentious one. On the one hand, proponents argue that they represent a way for people to take back control of the economy from government. They claim that cryptocurrencies are a threat to government control over the economy.
What is your take on this?
Do you think cryptocurrencies are a threat to government's control over the economy?

Personally, i think cryptocurrencies are a threat to the government's control over the economy. This is because they allow people to trade without having to rely on a central bank or any other financial institution. You can buy bitcoins with cash, and then use them to buy goods and services from other people who accept them as payment for their products or services.

Because of this, governments can't just print more money when they need it. They have to rely on banks or other institutions to loan them money instead. This means that if there isn't enough available credit in the system, then governments can't just create more money out of thin air (which is what they usually do).

 

[Katarina]

Yeah they're definitely a risk to some extend but overall I think if the governments really wanted definitely systems to benefit they would at least push for some research to be done in the field so that any kind of irregularities or misconduct can be ironed out of the system.