Happy Independence Day Steemit Family!
I first became aware of cryptocurrency and the blockchain a few years ago, and started paying a little more attention to it last year. This year, I decided to dive in head first a few months ago. Since then, I've learned a lot about how free we are, and how free we are not.
I love the decentralized nature of much of the cryptocurrency flowing on the blockchain (I realize that not all of it is decentralized). I noticed a few things when beginning to invest:
The U.S. Government doesn't treat cryptocurrency like a currency, and you have to pay capital gains taxes. That IRS rule is contrary to the intent behind bitcoin. I don't want to have to worry about tax every time I want to buy a pack of gum with bitcoin.
U.S. based cryptocurrency exchanges ask for an excessive amount of personal information in order to trade, and they are doing so to ensure that they don't run afoul of U.S. rules and regulations as the U.S. government rushes to collect data on cryptocurrency users under the guise of preventing money laundering or other associated illegal activity.
There are ongoing attempts to pass legislation in the U.S. to further regulate cryptocurrency. I do understand why the arguments for regulation are made (economic stability, consumer and national protection, etc.), however, the whole point of bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, is to be a self regulated system that is borderless and doesn't require centralized regulation.
I could say a lot more about each of the items above and I could also add a lot more items to the list above, however I will stop the list here. Investing in cryptocurrency definitely brings to the front of one's mind how free many people are NOT under U.S. laws (also, many laws of other nations and some international laws are also restrictive but are created and enforced by centralized bodies).
While the idea of sovereignty is not new to me, investing in cryptocurrency has definitely made it more clear than ever that not only cryptocurrency, but also many other technologies on the blockchain are needed in order to break the shackles of national and international centralized control of the masses, provide new, huge economic opportunities to disenfranchised people across the planet, and allow an explosion of shared ideas and overall creativity. Governments and large corporations which are either beholden to governments or which governments are beholden to, centralized banking systems, and other globalized control mechanisms are being disrupted by the advent of blockchain technology, and the cryptocurrency that runs on that technology.
I'm excited about what the future holds for all of us.
Happy Independence Day, Steemit Users!