President Trump is Wrong on Bitcoin

In a tweet posted today President Trump said that Bitcoin is not real money, that it has no intrinsic value, that it is too volatile, and that old trope of "illicit activity" currency.

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity....

President Trump is not very technologically sophisticated when it comes to the technologies driving innovation on the internet. So here, today, I will refute My President point by point.

Point one: Bitcoin is not money.

Money is an abstraction of value that allows the exchange thereof for the purposes of trade. Money as a technology (arguably our oldest) has gone through several major changes in history. I count 5. The barter system, the gold/silver/metal system, paper/promissory notes, the fractional reserve system, and now the blockchain system.

In fact, the principles behind the concept of a decentralized ledger are just a sophisticated version of ancient systems of trade ledgers applied to the digital space. Clearly, this is oversimplifying the technical aspects of Bitcoin and blockchain in general, but it is important to know that what Bitcoin really achieved was to turn digital information into immutable digital property.

This is a foundational transformation in computer science, communication, record-keeping on the internet, and our ability to safely transact in a decentralized fashion while also resisting CENSORSHIP. Censorship has been the central focus of the Social Media Summit. The White House even invited the CEO of Minds.com which is a blockchain based social media network (full disclosure I am a member of Minds) that uses cryptocurrency to help users better engage with their favorite content creators as well as enabling creators further by decentralizing monetization across its platform.

Cryptocurrency is money, Mr. President.


Point two: Bitcoin value is volatile.

Bitcoin volatility has been steadily decreasing over the last ten years it has been in existence.

Bitcoin Volatility Rate Is Slowly Decreasing, Making a Stronger Case for BTC as ‘Real’ Money

Bitcoin volatility is not a good excuse for dismissing it.

Point three: Bitcoin's value is derived from thin air

I will defer to the mining process:

Investopedia

The Second Purpose of Mining
In addition to lining the pockets of miners, mining serves a second and vital purpose: It is the only way to release new cryptocurrency into circulation. In other words, miners are basically "minting" currency. For example, in February of 2019, there were a little over 17.5 million Bitcoin in circulation. Aside from the coins minted via the genesis block (the very first block created by Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto himself), every single one of those Bitcoin came into being because of miners. In the absence of miners, Bitcoin would still exist and be usable, but there would never be any additional Bitcoin. There will come a time when Bitcoin mining ends; per the Bitcoin Protocol, the number of Bitcoin will be capped at 21 million.

That will be in the year 2140 give or take. That mining process requires the expenditure of energy, computing power, time, and comes with "real world" costs. The value of Bitcoin is driven by the same forces that drive gold.

On both counts, Mr. President, you are wrong here as well.

Point four: Bitcoin enables criminals.

The number one currency in the world for illicit transactions is the US Dollar. When the "Silk Road" darkweb network was taken down it had nearly no noticeable effect on Bitcoin transaction volumes. This was long before the hype of 2017.

The real use of Bitcoin is what has been enabled by the Bitcoin community itself, Mr. President. Depending on what wallet software or hardware wallet I use, I can store 12-24 English words in my own mind and be able to recover my funds after escaping a despotic regime. It is money that oppressive governments and government policy can't confiscate from you, it cannot stop transactions, it cannot censor your ability to participate in the economy.

In a world where leftists are seeking to hurt conservatives and conservative groups by blocking access to credit and banking services, it is NO TIME to be minimizing or outright disparaging the very tools we have to fight this censorship:




On this point and all the others, Mr. President, you are wrong. Deeply so.

Related Threads:
Cryptocurrency Adoption on the Rise: Money for the Internet of Things, 5G, & the Machine Economy

The Machine Economy Vs. The UBI: The Machine Economy is Winning

The Machine Economy: An Essay on The Communication of Value in an Automated Economy

I bought Bit coin at $1000, and was nervous it would fall. I also bought lots of Litecoin and Etherum. Im glad I did too.

I have better luck with the stock market..

a reply to: Bluntone22

Bitcoin has outperformed the stock market over the last decade by significant levels.

This isn't about investment though. This is about what Bitcoin and blockchain enables people to do.

Can't buy me a beer.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Wrong

a reply to: projectvxn

Oh that one place that most people dont live near?

I guess I was wrong


Listen bitcoin is a fad; blockchain maybe the future but bitcoin isn't part of that future.

It's a nice place to park some money while people still buy into the fad but it's not the next currency.

If it was you wouldn't need to push it so hard.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Oh that one place that most people dont live near?

I guess I was wrong

Don't move that goal post.

Listen bitcoin is a fad; blockchain maybe the future but bitcoin isn't part of that future.

I highly recommend The Internet of Money by Andreas Antonopolous.

It's a nice place to park some money while people still buy into the fad but it's not the next currency.

What do you base this on?

I have my data, where's yours?

If it was you wouldn't need to push it so hard.

A shill accusation? Neat.

a reply to: projectvxn

CASH Is KING . Always Will Be Unless the Globalist Conquer the World . ANY Electronic Currency can be Covertly Manipulated , but the Bank Notes in your Pocket are Completely Under YOUR Control ........

a reply to: projectvxn
Now, look after the ellipses for the 2nd and 3rd posts.
This is pointed at Facebook and other companies that are going to use "crypto" that isn't really crypto to internally launder funds across borders.

Bitcoin is a fiat, though it is a decentralized fiat with limited supply. Technically it's value is what someone will pay for it, and that is "out of the air", that doesn't mean it has no value or cost just not a fixed one.

a reply to: projectvxn

I base it on the fact that I live in one of the capitals of the world and no one on the street is talking about let alone using bitcoin. That's all the data one needs.

Do some bitcoin enthusiast go out of their way and choose to buy and sell things in a currently inefficient way to make them selves feel cool? Sure and people use to have pet rocks and wear bellbotoms to feel cool too ... some people even made a lot of money off of those fads. But in the end something better came along and people lost interest. But at least with those fads you could easily have found them on the street when they were popular. Not the same as "hey I finally found a place where I could buy a beer with my 0.000000000000000005% of a bit coin."


..... 5 hours later "dame that wasn't that guys 0.000000000000000005% of a bit coin and I gave him a beer not cool"

a reply to: dubiousatworst

Bitcoin is a fiat, though it is a decentralized fiat with limited supply.

No it isn't.

Fiat requires a decree. That's what fiat means.

There is no central issuance of Bitcoin.

a reply to: DanDanDat

I base it on the fact that I live in one of the capitals of the world and no one on the street is talking about let alone using bitcoin. That's all the data one needs.

That's called a personal anecdote.

Take a look at the Related Threads section I added to the op.

originally posted by: Zanti Misfit
a reply to: projectvxn

CASH Is KING . Always Will Be Unless the Globalist Conquer the World . ANY Electronic Currency can be Covertly Manipulated , but the Bank Notes in your Pocket are Completely Under YOUR Control ........

The bitcoins in my possession are entirely under my control. Bitcoin has never been hacked and the network continues to grow.

My Keys, My bitcoin.

Well bank of america recently won a patent for storing cryptocurrency so it might become more mainstream but the banks will get their cut.

There goes the appeal..

a reply to: Bluntone22

Well bank of america recently won a patent for storing cryptocurrency so it might become more mainstream but the banks will get their cut.

There goes the appeal..

The banks can do what they want, but they are late to the game and can't control cryptocurrency. The only crypto they could control would be utility tokens on their own networks.

It is VERY clear that people did not actually read the OP.

No one has actually refuted anything I wrote.

originally posted by: projectvxn
a reply to: DanDanDat

I base it on the fact that I live in one of the capitals of the world and no one on the street is talking about let alone using bitcoin. That's all the data one needs.

That's called a personal anecdote.

Take a look at the Related Threads section I added to the op.

"My mom caught a fish this big" is a personal anecdote.

"I bought a pizza in New York City last night and the place didnt even take credit cards or $50 bills let alone bitcoin (like all the pizza places)" is simply a fact.

My views on Crypto is simply geared towards a matter of diversifying a profile.

a reply to: projectvxn

Really ?