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Bitcoin Politics

Texas Governor Candidate Plans To Make Texas the 'Citadel For Bitcoin' 284

Texas governor candidate Don Huffines said he is "committed to making Texas the citadel for bitcoin and has released a plan detailing the effort. "As a leader in innovation, Texas needs to lead the nation in Bitcoin & cryptocurrency adoption," it reads. "Not only by acknowledging, supporting, and promoting the industry, but by also using our natural resources and the power of our state to legitimize Bitcoin as a store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account."

Huffines says the state must stop the federal government from "discriminating against Bitcoin holders" and "trying to shut down or limit freedom-loving Texans investing in Bitcoin." Not only does the plan call for a declaration making bitcoin a legal tender but it calls for establishing the Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Policy Commission, "which will be tasked with identifying the utility of currencies that can be recognized as accepted Texas currency."

Do you agree with what Huffines proposes or do you think he's simply pandering for votes by capitalizing on the red-hot crypto craze?
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Texas Governor Candidate Plans To Make Texas the 'Citadel For Bitcoin'

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  • Texas (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @07:06AM (#62214595) Homepage

    I'm guessing he's ignoring the environmental costs, the transaction fees and the fact that it doesn't work as a currency because it can only do about 5 transactions per second in the entire world.

    Apart from that his plan is very Texan and full of Bald Eagles.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    • Re: Texas (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by e3m4n ( 947977 )
      Because digital transactions of digital currency on an isolated power grid that has demonstrated the ability to lose power for weeks at a time makes sense. Not to mention the volatility of its value, which can experience daily transients in value. The more unstable a place becomes, the more relevant hard physical currency becomes.
      • Re: Texas (Score:4, Informative)

        by dfghjk ( 711126 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @10:45AM (#62215011)

        Texas power grid is hardly the most important concern, but to be clear it has not "demonstrated the ability to lose power for weeks at a time". The Texas grid lost power for days ONE time, and not in metropolitan areas. Furthermore, it was not the grid but the politics that caused it.

        It is amazing how hard posters on /. will wave their personal red flags.

        • Re: Texas (Score:4, Insightful)

          by e3m4n ( 947977 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @10:58AM (#62215053)
          Not a metropolitan area??? Im so glad the 4.5 million people left without power, heat, and water are considered so insignificant they dont rate "metropolitan" in your book. Nor the 248-750 deaths directly and indirectly attributed to it. Not to mention the $191Billion in property damage. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org]

          As far as your claim of "ONE time" it hasnt even been a year yet. Go 5 more years without another incident before you write that one off as a fluke. For all we know this is a new normal. You have not proven another ice storm will not repeat the same cascade of events. Ice storms knock out power everywhere they occur. This particular one created an amplification due to a house of cards design.
        • The entire grid nearly collapsed. Texas sued for this right.
          https://www.texastribune.org/2... [texastribune.org]

    • But Freedom. Because Freedom! and FREEDOM! (but only for the wealthy)
      The poor and underprivileged will need to pull their boot straps up, keep their head down, keep a big happy smile, be grateful for what you have even if is the best you can afford and still is down wind of pollutants and the water is contaminated with heavy metals. and do what the boss says and don't try to shake things up, because you will be interfering with your bosses FREEDDOMM!

      And your boss really does want the freedom that a 3rd hom

    • Re:Texas (Score:4, Interesting)

      by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @10:18AM (#62214917)
      He's ignoring everything except a campaign donations he's expecting from crypto miners.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      He probably also ignores that the Texas power-grid is crap.

  • Before I form a solid opinion, a question: just how viable is it, right now or in the near future, to conduct a 51% attack on the core BTC chain?

    • by vadim_t ( 324782 )

      Extremely non-viable, in that it'd cost a huge amount of money, and would need to be sustained, and would ultimately not earn enough money to pay for it.

      A 51% attack means you're winner on average. You can't just do that once, you have to keep going and keep on out-competing everyone else. It would be an incentive for other parties with an interest in bitcoin to try to outcompete the attacker, bringing additional capacity in, which would mean the attack would need to ramp up beyond the current 51%.

      But if it

      • What I was thinking of is a finer-grained manipulation of the chain, such as manipulating transfers maliciously by redirecting or changing amounts, or capturing payment information (much like credit card payments data, I guess). Not quite destroying but subverting it to your needs.

        That aside, I agree that right now it's a game of global hot potato - I like that metaphor. But I do see merit in the underlying technology.

        I think Erste has converted its internal accounting to use Ripple XRP, and they reported a

        • 51% attack allows you to double-spend your coins. You cannot alter the amounts or redirect the transactions of other people, because those are signed. To do that you would need to break the hash or the signature algorithm in addition to doing a 51% attack.

    • Why need a 51% attack when it's proven time and time again that it's so easy to steal people's real money via cryptocurrency?

      Classic case of nerds forgetting the $5 wrench attack.
      • Because what I'm thinking of is not simply hacking an exchange or wallet and siphoning off the funds, but the ability to completely subvert the payment system of an entire state, to the point of redirecting legitimate payments or manipulating transferred amounts. That's not quite like the $5 wrench attack.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          But why go to the trouble of "subvert the payment system of an entire state" when being able to steal loads of money - real, and crypto - through much easier means is available and unenforceable (without breaking the stated/stateless purpose of cryptocurrency)?

          If you can steal loads of money from loads of people almost at will, that does more damage to a state's credibility to maintain a system than any 51% attack would.

          That's the $5 wrench attack.
          • Why do you keep talking about money when replying about destabilizing states

            I know why

            You are a one trick pony. You will be regurgitating the same dogma-based crapola next year.

            You are wrong once again, while trying so desperately to turn accurate information into your dishonesty support group. The information will never support your dogma.
            • Why don't you like me banging on about the same thing?

              Because you have literally no argument, and more importantly, no evidence against it.

              You haven't before and you haven't now. What you're doing now is trying to make it seem like I have the burden of coming up with new arguments. This is a distraction tactic. Trying to distract people from seeing your Emperor's New Clothes. You have nothing.
    • Before I form a solid opinion, a question: just how viable is it, right now or in the near future, to conduct a 51% attack on the core BTC chain?

      Google for images of "bitcoin mine" then get back to us.

      (popcorn)

    • Re:Security (Score:4, Interesting)

      by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:12AM (#62214779)
      If your objective is to destroy part of a country's monetary system & you're a hostile nation state, yes, it's perfectly viable. So far, no countries have a significant part of their economies transacted through blockchain assets. If any country does, it'd be interesting to see what happens from afar but more than likely horrific for the people in that country.
      • That was my gut feeling as well, except I was thinking of just subverting the system by redirecting or falsifying transactions.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Before I form a solid opinion, a question: just how viable is it, right now or in the near future, to conduct a 51% attack on the core BTC chain?

      Unclear. There is a strong concentration in BTC on a small number of entities. It is quite possible that they can already do a 51% attack at any time, but chose not to as the morons keep flowing in. As BTC is not regulated, nobody besides the potential attackers really knows.

  • by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @07:26AM (#62214609)
    He wants to protect Texan's rights to make stupid decisions and no doubt later will demand a Federal bailout when things go south; becasue, you know, freedom means no consequences.
  • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @07:33AM (#62214621)

    Owing to the fragility of Texas' power grid, if you rely on an external source to keep you alive such as a ventilator, better get your backup generator now. If you thought the hundreds of deaths from last February's power outage was bad, just wait until power sucking bitcoin miners come onboard.

    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Who do you think owns ventilators that keep people alive? Hospitals? Do you think hospitals do not have backup generators? Are you an idiot?

    • Bitcoin mining is nearing its end, as there are only about 2 million left to mine (though I am unsure actually how current that number is, it can only get smaller over time). Once they have all been mined, one significant incentive to participate in the system will vanish. It will be interesting to see what happens to the value of bitcoin at that point. My guess is it will tank, but really that is just a guess.

  • by Alain Williams ( 2972 ) <addw@phcomp.co.uk> on Friday January 28, 2022 @07:34AM (#62214623) Homepage

    So does that mean that I will have to accept bitcoin as payment ... this is usually what is meant by "Legal tender" ?

    • Re:Legal tender (Score:5, Informative)

      by ctilsie242 ( 4841247 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @07:48AM (#62214647)

      There is a difference between what one accepts as currency, versus "legal tender for all debts, public and private". The reason for the "legal tender for all debts, public and private" dates back to companies who only paid in scrip, and only would allow debts to be paid back in their scrip. Even if someone was able to get rich by other means, they had to find a way to convert their currency to company scrip to pay back what was owed. With the "legal tender for all debts, public and private" in place, this gets rid of that whole racket completely.

      Bitcoin is too old to be a good currency for everyday transactions. The Lightning Network helps, but people don't want a condom purchase to be forever on the blockchain for all to see. What is needed is a "Bitcoin 2.0" which combines the best of CPU/GPU mining, anonymity like Monero, low exchange fees, a blockchain that can be pared down so transactions can drop off of it, without fear of being double-spent, and the ability to do microtransactions with relatively small amounts of energy used. If something comes along that can beat PayPal, it might just be what is needed for a true cryptocurrency.

      • Re:Legal tender (Score:5, Insightful)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:19AM (#62214687) Homepage Journal

        Mining needs to go away. As well as being an environmental disaster, it favours those who get in early and those who have capital to buy mining equipment. It also incentivises corruption, e.g. subsidised energy costs to make mining more profitable.

        If you make transaction fees lower then the inventive to provide computing power to validate them goes away, and the time taken for transactions to process goes up.

        • by necro81 ( 917438 )

          Mining needs to go away. As well as being an environmental disaster, it favours those who get in early and those who have capital to buy mining equipment. It also incentivises corruption, e.g. subsidised energy costs to make mining more profitable.

          Seems like a perfect fit for Texas, then.

        • > If you make transaction fees lower then the inventive to provide computing power to validate them goes away, and the time taken for transactions to process goes up.

          Could (in this new world of coin we're discussing) transaction fees be based on time? Longer transactions cost more, short ones less. Potentially, micropayments don't need the entire blockchain to agree before they're allowed, so could have smaller fees. Big transactions need more agreement, so cost more (or some such).

          Either way, Bitcoin ha

          • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            The way it works at the moment is the higher the transaction fee the faster the payment is processed.

            Ideally transactions should be free, or extremely low cost, but because crypto currencies only work because there is a significant cost associated with validating them.

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          Yes, and if mining went away then all interest in such currencies would also go away. That's exactly what is needed.

          If you can convert scalable expenses into profit, then you get wealthy without doing anything. That is the entire formula for Bitcoin, it is the mining that is the scalable expense and the Bitcoin value that represents the profit. Bitcoin itself is zero-sum, there is no tangible asset produced only the perceived value of a mined "coin". Without mining, cryptocurrencies are nothing.

      • by Ubi_NL ( 313657 )

        hat is needed is a "Bitcoin 2.0" which combines the best of CPU/GPU mining, anonymity like Monero, low exchange fees, a blockchain that can be pared down so transactions can drop off of it, without fear of being double-spent, and the ability to do microtransactions with relatively small amounts of energy used.

        sounds like cash to me. Whats wrong with cash?

      • If something comes along that can beat PayPal, it might just be what is needed for a true cryptocurrency.

        A true cryptocurrency that could "beat PayPal" and challenge the traditional banking industry would be one issued and backed 1:1 against fiat, by the federal government. Granted, you wouldn't be able to mine it or play your greater fool imaginary stock trading games anymore, but those of us who still get paid in fiat (as in, pretty much everyone), the killer app is being able to send/receive money without having to buy/sell it on some sketchy exchange first. It's why we don't use Euros or Pounds Stirling

        • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

          Funny how rare it is to find true perspective in this discussion. It's not as though mankind needs to invent currency again, and I love how the standard to consider is PayPal, a true sleeze of a company that exists purely because it could skirt banking regulations. A classic goal of Bitcoin believers.

    • I think it's El Salvador that's trying this and it's not going as well as the president hoped. Even the World bank seems to be suggesting they stop it.

  • Texas seems like an ideal match for bitcoin. Not just for consuming, but for "producing" too, with their resilient power grid! Go bitcoin! (freedom to launder our money) Down with vaccines! (freedom for our own bodies) Down with abortions! (eh.. on second thought screw our bodies, let's go with freedom for our foetuses)

  • Earlier this week the w.p. posted an article about crypto liising 1.35 trillion dollars in a week. Details .. details ..
    not mentioning that texas can't keep it's grid up during winter and now they want to add more load on it ..

    bravo bravo .. how bright ..

    • by Junta ( 36770 )

      Based on my experience, some crypto fanatic will come yelling that somehow it's not reasonable to look at BTC over the last 3 months, or that the USD is worse because while it didn't lose as much, at least the government didn't cause BTC, or, the absolutely batshit one, that the BTC is perfectly stable it's the USD that is volatile.

      Or alternatively it's only unstable because some unreasonable people are speculating and we should ignore them and focus on the 'inherent value', whatever that is supposed to be,

  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:02AM (#62214671)
    But you're free to engage in a fake currency whose killer app is to facilitate illegal activity.
  • I've been hearing tell of that fella having sex with miners!
  • Of course he is (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mousit ( 646085 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:31AM (#62214715)

    Do you agree with what Huffines proposes or do you think he's simply pandering for votes by capitalizing on the red-hot crypto craze?

    Of course he's pandering. This is the same asshole that has billboards plastered all along my drive home, with lines like "Stop giving ILLEGALS your money!" and "Eliminate property taxes!" with all of them done in black background, with white base text and red emphasis, while he looms behind it all. It's classic scaremongering design, and it's pure pander towards a blindingly obvious demographic. I'm not surprised he's glommed on to this shit too.

    The only reason he even has a remotely viable chance is because of extensive gerrymandering, the same kind that has Austin "represented" in state congress entirely by GOP members. Texas is far more purple than many realize, but it sure as hell isn't represented thanks to such corruption.

    Fuck Huffines and everything about him.

    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      I don't see how gerrymandering would help him in a state governor's race. What am I missing? Maybe the new restrictions to disenfranchise some segments of the pop.?

      • by Mousit ( 646085 )
        Poorly said on my part, yeah. Or more like incomplete; my thoughts got ahead of my typing.

        Yes, restrictions and the like. I was thinking gerrymandering resulting in an extremely one-sided state congress, which has been doing everything it can to further tilt the playing field through changes in election laws and rules (and of course, lots more gerrymandering [texastribune.org]). This has been a work in progress for many years; it's not new. What's new is the rapidly accelerated pace and shear boldness [texastribune.org] of the most recent
      • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

        Then you don't understand what gerrymandering is.

    • OH, it's the "Eliminate property taxes!", guy? I didn't make that connection. To anyone paying attention (and that has no partisan slant attached), those are nothing more than paper thin pandering. Oh, eliminate property taxes you say?! Geez, it's so brilliant, how is it nobody EVER even thought of that before? Could it be because maybe we need tax revenue to fund the state government? NAW. Must be corruption.
  • Poor timing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by memory_register ( 6248354 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:40AM (#62214727)
    Considering that Bitcoin has lost half its value recently and many are questioning the long term viability of Proof of Work coins.
  • by VeryFluffyBunny ( 5037285 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:03AM (#62214757)

    ...and comments about bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, etc. on Slashdot & the community simply aren't stepping up to fill the void. Please, do your bit (no pun intended) & use algorithms to generate more articles & comments. Here's a handy Markov chain generator to help you: http://babel-generator.herokua... [herokuapp.com]

    Decentralised on an agriculturalist will always be a part of mankind. Currency is the most fundamental postulate of mankind; some to agronomists and others to embarkation. an abundance of deconcentrate lies in the area of semiotics along with the field of theory of knowledge. Due to the fact that cryptology countenances increasing salvers, human life should attenuate currency immediately.

    As I have learned in my reality class, human society will always intensify decentralise. While the same orbital may produce two different neurons of the study of philosophy, the plasma counteracts a gamma ray. Gravity catalyzes pendulums with authorizations to react. Simulation by community is not the only thing an orbital spins; it also emits brains on the dictator at cryptanalytics. Since speculations are provoked by decentralize, superfluously but superfluously commanding amygdalas relent equally for currency. The more plethora inaugurates allocutions which explain the exposition, the sooner a convulsion can perilously be grout.

    A performance of inducement, often to reprobates, might preclude cryptanalysis. As a result of disseminating concessions, currency which should atrociously be the quarrel with the axiom can be more ingeniously excommunicated. Additionally, as I have learned in my semiotics class, human life will always pilfer cryptanalytics. In my experience, none of the propagandists at my casuistry convulse and depreciate the interlopers involved. In any case, knowing that zenith advances or is irreverent yet somehow eternal, most of the contradictions of our personal assassin by the confluence we abandon acquiesce and append or pledge prisons. Our personal account on the demolisher we sanction depletes capstone. a specious decentralise may be the accession for our personal retort to the authentication we dictate as well. Masochism preaches intercessions, not an egotistically unsophisticated disruption. In my literature class, some of the reprovers to my orator presume edification but divulge ateliers at many of the domains. Cryptography which will decently be the allegation changes a dearth of currency.

    A adjuration, typically of dislocation, may be fetishistic but not assented at cryptography. If fetid inquiries yield, those in question which diverge whine to the same extent for cryptography. Additionally, the salver on sanctions, normally by irascibility, can probe decentralize. In my experience, just about all of the precincts with our personal celebration of the arrangement we edify subjugate quibble. The inspection that shrieks might, nonetheless, be startlingly and gaudily precarious. In my semantics class, none of the orations to my dictum belittle scenarios. Subsequently, admiration is expressly or efficaciously circumspect or contravenes oratory on our personal reprimand at the aggregation we mesmerize. a pallid promulgation will peripatetically be intensification of the demolisher, not the analysis. My appetite should be a rightfully tranquil denigration. The more reprobates quibble but postulate rancor, the less authorizations which sequester appetites and solicit virtual utterances by propinquity provoke the exposition.

    Decentralised has not, and undoubtedly never will be compassionate yet somehow judicious. Still yet, armed with the knowledge that a denouncement may be militiaman, all of the sophists with our personal agriculturalist for the amygdala we annotate renege. Because sophists for agronomists are delineated on decentralised, the audaciously or confrontationally scintillating cryptography can be more indispensably affirmed. Cryptanalysis to the report has not, and doubtless never will be discrepant in the extent to which we stipulate most of the assassins. Deconcentrate is egotistic because of its substantiated dictators.

  • Who is Don Huffines? (Score:5, Informative)

    by TheCowSaysMoo ( 4915561 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:06AM (#62214769)

    Jan 11 Republican PRIMARY Poll [newsweek.com]:
    1. Allen West: 38.4%
    2. Greg Abbott: 32.5% (incumbent)
    3. Ricky Lynn Perry: 12.1%
    4. Don Huffines: 5.0%

    He has about as much support as the percentage of people who have "No Opinion" on the "way Congress is handling its job." [gallup.com]

  • Texas governor candidate Don Huffines said he is "committed to making Texas the citadel for bitcoin and has released a plan detailing the effort.

    Wouldn't it make more sense to open casinos everywhere in Texas instead? Just fill them full of roulette wheels, which pretty much approximates the entire cryptocurrency ecosystem. Some players win, some players lose, and the state of Texas takes its cut instead of miners taking their fees.

    It would be a lot more energy efficient, and frankly a lot more honest.

    • Texan here. I know you're memeing, but I'd love to see casinos open here. It'll never happen, because the owners of casinos across the state line in Oklahoma make too much money - a good deal of which, I'm sure, gets funneled into Texas via some "think of the children!" anti-gambling PAC to keep the legislature from realizing how much money they could make by changing our antiquated gambling laws.
  • Wisconsin (Score:5, Insightful)

    by coop247 ( 974899 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:20AM (#62214791)
    Remember when a GOP governor said they were going to become the biggest producers of flat panel TV's? Billions in tax money wasted so that some insiders got paid and the people were left with a road to nowhere and an empty office building.

    With Bitcoin you wont even get the road.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Or that Trump was going to "build the wall" and his supporters contributed to a charity to fund it? Why even look for a more obscure example, the GOP grifts continually in plain sight.

  • Do you agree with what Huffines proposes or do you think he's simply pandering for votes by capitalizing on the red-hot crypto craze?

    I think Slashdot should just, finally, offer a filter for cryptocurrency stories. But of couse we all know that won't happen, since this is just another form of Slashvertisement.

  • Bibles, bullets and Bitcoins. TEXAS!
  • by MobyDisk ( 75490 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:53AM (#62214855) Homepage

    Section 10 of the US constitution explicitly reserves this right to the federal government. Obviously, it doesn't mention cryptocurrency but the intention of the author's was to prevent splintered currencies.

    • by GlennC ( 96879 )

      Some "Conservatives" seem to think that the Constitution is only "Freedom of Speech" and the Second Amendment.

      Stupid people gonna stupid.

  • Didn't people get crazy high electric bills during peak demand when they had that really bad storm a while ago? This seems like the worst possible kind of volatility for bitcoin miners... gets too cold or too hot one day and your utilities suddenly add a couple extra 0s to your bill.

  • by ffejie ( 779512 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @10:16AM (#62214915)
    Why bother worry about a 3rd or 4th place finisher in the primary? This guy won't win in March, and he definitely wouldn't win in November. Any "plans" he publishes are the same as a random blogger who has political opinions. This isn't a real plan, with no real details, for an essentially not real candidate.
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna ( 970587 ) on Friday January 28, 2022 @10:27AM (#62214947) Journal
    Most people who value privacy, anonymity, who need anonymity etc do not have enough wealth to get into crypto.

    Crooks, tax dodgers, drug runners, bent politicians are the ones salivating at a chance to make an end run around federal banking regulations. They imagine crypto to be totally untraceable anonymous currency. They are wrong in many fronts.

    Only the connection between their real identity and their crypto wallet is anonymous. And all it takes is one transaction with someone else who can identify you and and the wallet to rat on you, ALL your transactions are public. When you use crypto to pay for some real world goods or services, there is potential for you to be identified. With enough data they will find you.

    If it really truly anonymous, by mixing enough wallets together and enough transactions through these wallets to make it truly anonymous, then it is just as safe as stuffing mattress with cash. One compromise of your system, robbed at gun point to transfer money, boom, it is gone and no one can find it for you. And law enforcement is not going to be thrilled to help you find the thieves.

    The crooks want lots and lots of legitimate wallets to send their money laundering operation going. They would even pay lots of premium for money laundering. Moves like Texas or that country helps the crooks/tax dodgers and they are the ones influencing and lobbying for expanding crypto into masses.

  • Now that I find quite ironic.
  • Oh yes...

    "Planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters" (jwz [twitter.com])

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