1) All kinds of things can be used for criminal ends : computers, cars, aeroplane tickets, screw-drivers etc. etc.As long as they have good uses as well as bad, then they're just tools.2) One of the big problems in the world is that most people don't understand where the money denominated in their national currency actually comes from.The short version in modern economies is this : private banks create it out of thin air every time they make a loan.When you take out a mortgage they don't give you money that someone else deposited there.They just make it up, type it into the computer, and credit you with it.They can do this because governments have idiotically given them the right to do this, with very little oversight (what oversight there was has been reduced greatly in the last 40 years).That means banks make huge amounts of money collecting interest repayments on loans which didn't cost them anything.This has two bad effects 1) this acts as a strong force for concentrating the money in the world in the hands of the financial sector (through all those interest repayments), 2) because money is always created in the form of a loan that requires interest repayments there is always more debt in the economy than money to pay it off.

This has all kinds of weird, socially corrosive effects.(Ifyou think this is all crazy, check out Positive Money, a UK think-tank that investigate this stuff)So, the problems of money in the world aren't just "greed, poverty, corruption, extortion" as personal failings.Some of the problems are systematic, built into the way money is created.One advantage of BitCoin is that the way it's created is completely independent of this system.Yes, it's still unfair, in the sense that only fairly privileged (in terms of wealth and knowledge) people are likely to be able to do their own "mining" (ie.But there's still less of a barrier to entry than starting a private bank.And it's much more transparent.And because money is NOT created in the form of loans (what we sometimes call "debt-money") it means that there are actually more bitcoins in existence than debts denominated in bitcoins (unlike pounds / dollars etc.)3) We now know that other payment systems are compromised in different ways.We know, for example, that the NSA in the US is trying to collect and store pretty much all the information running through a computer anywhare.

And that they claim they have the co-operation of large cloud-services, including Google.If they're sucking up meta-data about who mails who on GMail and what searches you make you think they won't also be looking in your Google Wallet?A year or so ago I made a donation to wikileaks.(An activity I consider to be highly ethical.)Today, I believe that would be fairly hard as the existing credit card providers and paypal have unilaterally chosen to block such payments.BitCoin payments can't be stopped by governments or corporations.ethereum schemeAnd that's something we should welcome.ibm watson bitcoinYou don't have to be a paranoid conspiracy theorists to realize that governments should have some limits on their powers.litecoin blockchain download

4) I agree there is an issue with the spending energy on creating bitcoins.I see why it's integral to the system.And obviously it's tiny compared to the energy spent on other computer related leisure, such as surfing YouTube or playing games, but it would be nice to think that this energy could also be put to some use.I've suggested building electric heaters out of bitcoin mining hardware so at least people could get some benefit from the heat chucked out.5) You're probably driving up the price of energy by a small amount.bitcoin tinhteBut I'd guess it's tiny compared to all the other uses we make of electricity.bitcoin speculation reddit(Like I say, less than Facebook or overfilling the kettle.ethereum graph price)6) Well I'd have to see the actual amount of scarce resources and weigh up the costs / benefits.

Ordinary money isn't energy-free to make transactions either.Gold mining has huge environmental costs.BitCoin got prominence by being clever enough and viable enough for a libertarian-leaning geek community to take it seriously, and spiralled from there.It probably helps that our governments have been acting in an extremely untrustworthy way recently.Do you consider the dollar ethical ?As far a I know the majority of all drugs, weapons and other illicit products are traded in dollars, not bitcoin.Most technology is neutral, it are the people behind it that do good or bad with it.Bitcoin is also neutral, it can be used to fund building schools in Africa without the use of Banks that take a huge fee and it can also be used for buying drugs without leaving to much trail.The idea of bitcoin is absolutely ethical.The fact that bitcoin was used to secure the assets of individuals in Cyprus when their Euros were being confiscated (2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis - Wikipedia) was an ethical and non-violent way to secure wealth when others engaged in absolutely unethical thievery.Bitcoin acts as a secure and anonymous way to transfer funds, and as such it is a tool which can be used on the individual level as a security measure.Otherwise, every official currency on earth is fiat money, meaning it only has value because it is the only thing accepted by some treasury for the payment of debt.

That’s not even strictly ethical, if you wanted to split hairs about it.The seventh most popular issue in our second annual poll of Emerging Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Issues in Science and Technology is "virtual currency" with roughly 7% of the total votes.Below we've provided more information about this topic to serve as a resource to students, educators, journalists, policy makers, and concerned citizens.It's not too late to vote!Bitcoins are currently the most popular form of virtual currency.According to its website, Bitcoin is a low-cost way for people to exchange money online, without the interference of banks or any centralized authority.Bitcoins are produced online and can be purchased by anyone.Online business can accept bitcoins as payment or the coins can be converted into dollars, euros, or other currencies.The value of your bitcoin(s) is stored in a heavily encrypted online wallet, from which you can send and receive the currency.However, at the moment, bitcoin is still considered a high-risk investment as the price/value of the coins is not regulated and can fluctuate wildly over short periods of time.

While the makers of Bitcoin see it as a revolution of the global economy, there are dozens of ethical and policy issues surrounding this new currency, including: how to tax it, money laundering, the purchase of illegal goods, and hacking into bitcoin wallets.The anonymous nature of bitcoin activity makes transactions very difficult to track.Bitcoin is not the only virtual currency out there.There is Litecoin (which promises faster transaction times), Primecoin (which “introduces the first scientific computing proof-of-work to cryptocurrency technology”), and Peercoin (which uses a “proof-of-stake/proof-of-work hybrid system for coin generation”), among others.So what’s the future of a currency that has no worth other than what others are willing to pay for it?Will Bitcoin lead a revolution in currency, or go the way of the Zimbabwean dollar?What is cryptocurrency/How does it work?Is Bitcoin A Safe Bet?A Quick Guide To Cryptocurrency (Forbes) Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin: A Guide to Crypto-Currency Mining (International Business Times) How Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies Work (Sydney Morning Herald) The Economist Explains: How Does Bitcoin Work?

(The Economist) Is It Time to Invest in Bitcoin?(The Wall Street Journal) Virtual Currency Gains Ground in Actual World (NYT) Still Don’t Get Bitcoin?This New Documentary Is for You (Venture Beat) Bubble or No, This Virtual Currency Is a Lot of Coin in Any Realm (NYT) Bitcoin’s Dilemma: Go Mainstream, or Stay Radical?(The Conversation) The Military Thinks Bitcoin Could Pose a Threat to National Security (Washington Post) Washing Virtual Money (The Economist) Feds to Auction $17.4 Million in Bitcoin From Silk Road (CNN Money) Bitcoin Raises Law Enforcement Concerns (CNN) Two Bitcoin Exchangers Plead to Charges Tied to Silk Road (Bloomberg) Of Bitcoins and Ethical Banking (Huffington Post) Newsweek, Bitcoin and the Ethics of 'Doxxing' (Al Jazeera) The Mysterious World of Bitcoin: Does It Have Staying Power?(Wharton School of Business) Doctor, a Bitcoin For Your Two Cents?(Bioethics.net) Some Considerations About Bitcoin For Lawyers (Technethics) Bitcoin Foundation Seeks More Time to Address Virtual Currency Rules (NYT) New York Regulators Propose Regulations for Bitcoin, Other Virtual Currencies (Fox News) IRS: Bitcoins Are Property, Not Currency (Washington Post) Bitcoin Players Knock on Washington Doors (CNN Money) Bitcoin is Barely Regulated — And These Congressmen Want to Keep It That Way (Washington Post) Latest news (Updated October 6, 2014) Bitcoin’s Price Plummeted Over the Weekend (Time Magazine) Bitcoin May Be Banned by Russia Government in 2015 (Paste Magazine) Russia Seeks Fines for Using Virtual Money Like Bitcoins (Bloomberg)