From: Razer <ray...@riseup.net> >The Economist >The promise of the blockchain >The trust machine >The technology behind bitcoin could transform how the economy works
>Oct 31st 2015 | From the print edition >BITCOIN has a bad reputation. The decentralised digital cryptocurrency, >powered by a vast computer network, is notorious for the wild >fluctuations in its value, the zeal of its supporters and its degenerate >uses, such as extortion, buying drugs and hiring hitmen in the online >bazaars of the “dark net”. If anything, I would say that the problem is the LACK of "hiring hitmen in the online bazaars of the 'dark net'". Silk Road apparently worked quite well in regards to allowing people a mechanism to sell illegal drugs. If even a single hitman had been hired, by a single customer, and proceeded to kill even a single target, things would look very different on all subsequent days. If Sanjuro's "Assassination Market" taught us anything, it is that the public is quite ready for a fully-functioning AP-type system, whether it be based on Tor, Ethereum, Augur, or any other such mechanism. Jim Bell
