Owning a bitcoin machine these days means, ironically that you end up with a lot of old fashion cash. Sounds ok except when you go to put it in the bank they want to ask a whole lot of questions, basically assuming that you're a criminal. The general anti-cash movement is growing and it's a bazaar story.
Cash has been villanized as of late as being the currency of criminals, as beeing "dark money". The thing is though this was invented by the government. Are they criminal? Dark money with the president's face on it!
The real reasons for having cash are quite innocent and very relevant in our post-banking crisis world. People need to have a choice of whether to hold on to their hard earned money their selves. We can't force people to put their savings into a bank. It's an organisation that has risks involved, Banks can go bust and your money disappears in the process, actually they loan it out as soon as they get it. Cash gives people a way to avoid this.
People haven't forgotten about fractional banking, Distrust of this unstable debt system is part of the drive for bitcoin in the first place. This is why bitcoiners are paying attention when news breaks on
India banning the 500 and 1000 rupee note. Europe have also taken away their 500 euro note. Printed bills that we have had for decades. Why the sudden change of heart? Maybe the banks need the money. We have a right to take our money out of the bank and that's not a suspicious activity.
The dark economy tax collection argument doesn't stack up. In India these are poor people who are having to use cash, in many cases they won't even have a bank account because the bank doesn't want to give them one. not profitable enough. Also transactions that happen in the banking system are notoriously hard to track. Unless your spending at the casino (government sanctioned money laundering facility) where large transactions are flagged, then Banks couldn't care less and the government need a court order to find out. This is definitely more difficult to track than transaction made publically with bitcoin,
So it seems "innocent until proven guilty" is under threat worldwide. Thankfully I don't think there will be any success. They can take away the 50 pound note too, but they can't stop inflation, they can't force us to trust the banks that screwed us over in 2008 and they can't stop bitcoin.
It's much more intriguing than fiat money. I found my family really appreciated it. Wth the recent increase in value they all thank me two fold. When I try and encourage them to spend it they all say "no I want holding on to mine, It's a good savings account." I am afraid I have seeded a new generation of Christmas bitcoin hodlers. This year they might have to get litecoin instead.
