Bitcoin ATM maker announces plans to expand to U.S. and beyond

[MineralMan]

43. But, see, Libertarians believe that their systems are

self-regulating. Bitcoin is a libertarian system. That it is being exploited by criminals and others of that ilk is irrelevant. The system will self-regulate. That's a given in libertarian thinking. There's no need for authoritarian regulation, since the system always self-regulates.

Or so the concept goes. Mt. Gox went down because the system wasn't up to the challenges, so the clever folks there bypassed the system to make it more capable. In so doing, they opened an avenue for bitcoin to disappear into a void or to be stolen by some of the equally clever criminals out there. The self-regulation stopped working, because some folks were able to, and did, compromize the system for convenience's sake.

That's not comforting for the simple user of this quasi-monetary system. Such incidents can quickly lead to a failure of confidence, and hence a run on the bank, so to speak. And, unlike government backed currencies, there is no backing for bitcoin. It exists only as data. If the data isn't available, the money doesn't exist.

Libertarians are trusting sorts of folks, except for the ones who are nipping away at the resources. But, hey, the system will self-regulate in the end, and bitcoin will find its true value in the end. That's the system.