Monday Open Thread

9 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. Ask and you shal receive: KW was asking recently what CryptoCurrency was good for.

   One of the (many) odd things about cryptocurrency is that it has somehow managed to maintain an image as something futuristic when it’s actually ancient in tech years: Bitcoin, the original cryptocurrency, which still accounts for more than half of the total crypto market cap, is 15 years old. Over this entire period, monetary economists and banking veterans have asked, what’s this for? What legitimate use cases are there for cryptocurrency that can’t be served more easily without the blockchain rigamarole?

   I’ve been in many meetings where this question has been raised, and have never heard a coherent answer. In fact, crypto has made essentially no inroads on conventional money’s role as a means of payment — which is why crypto guys are so angry about being debanked: you can’t do business without an account at one of those banks Bitcoin was supposed to replace. Even the crypto industry’s own employees won’t accept payment in crypto, which is why the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, where they deposited funds for payroll, was an existential crisis demanding, yes, a government bailout.

   …

   One answer you sometimes hear, especially from financial executives who want to say something positive about crypto, is that Bitcoin in particular may be turning into the digital equivalent of gold. After all, gold doesn’t really function as money — try buying a car with gold bars — and its industrial and dental uses, while real, don’t remotely justify its value. It’s just an asset that people consider valuable because others consider it valuable, and it has maintained that status even though gold coins went out of use as a means of payment generations ago.

   But there’s a third possible explanation of crypto’s rise. Maybe asking “what are the legitimate use cases for this stuff” is the wrong question. What about the illegitimate uses, ranging from tax evasion to blackmail to money laundering? Maybe crypto isn’t digital gold, but digital Benjamins — the $100 bills that play a huge role in illegal activity around the world.

   The old adage says that crime doesn’t pay, but of course it does in many cases. And it needs a means of payment, preferably one that isn’t too easily tracked by law enforcement. Traditionally, and to a large extent even today, that has mostly meant large-denomination banknotes.

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   1. "Prometheus is Unbound" as Brad DeLong says.

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   2. Thanks for the elucidation, parkhill. It confirms my instinct that "crypto" is mostly a means for the moneyed interests to seize and maintain economic control. Gold can't really be manipulated. It's a metal. Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, is ripe for manipulation.

      The huge environmental costs of these crypto mining data centers are another reason to be warty.

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2. The Aurora Sentinal has Mark Hillman describing the plight of the Colorado Republicans

   This ain’t your father’s Colorado

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3. The Bulwark has an article worth thinking about:

   Open-Government Nonprofits Are Dying Off Just When They’re Needed Most

   According to OpenSecrets, outside spending on federal elections hit $4.5 billion for the 2024 federal elections, with $1 billion from dark money groups like nonprofits that do not disclose their donors. At the peak fifteen years ago, open government nonprofits were collectively funded at $10–30 million. I suspect current funding of this work combined is at a tenth that level, and falling.

   As this trend continues, in short order there will no longer be a network of organizations doing open government work and few organizations with the ability to do any serious work. The collective knowledge and expertise painstakingly built up since the passage of the Freedom of Information Act in the 1960s will evaporate, and what remains will be partisan-aligned organizations that use arguments around transparency as a political cudgel instead of as a vital tool for democracy building.

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4. Healthier Colorado has released polling info for the 2026 Dem Governor's primary. Too soon? Tough.

   In order, Joe Neguse 20%, Jena Griswold 16%, Ken Salazar 11%, Phil Weiser 8%.

   I was a tad surprised anyone was talking about Salazar at all because it seems to me like his time is past, but I checked and he's only 69 years old.

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   1. Any of those except Salazar would be fine with me. Expect Pols to come down hard against Griswold. They're already telegraphing that.

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      1. Griswold is dead in the water, unless she can produce a Nixon style comback like he did in 1968. Password-Gate took care of her. Since I doubt a decent Republican candidate would surface, I would go with Salazar and Weiser in that order. I like Neguse, but he's got a big future in Congress if he stays.

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         1. Weiser would be my top choice. And I'm with you, CHB, I want Joe to stay in the House where he's doing good work. 

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