We love Bitcoin. Both as a proof-of-concept and as a monetary system – we love Bitcoin!
Bitcoin created the crypto space. Which is part of what makes Bitcoin maximalism so hard to understand. There has never been – in the history of humans – a case where the first version of a technology fully exploited its potential.
It seems impossible that Bitcoin will become the long-lasting digital money standard.
There are loads of analogies to use – and here is one that likely isn’t original.
Behold a video of what Benz claims was the first car and a link to back it up!
And just for fun – here is last year’s Le Mans.
Carl Benz’s cute little put-put car was great. But no one would claim that he maximized the technology from day one. There are some other questionable things about where Bitcoin came from. And regardless of its origins – there are now some major questions about Bitcoin price manipulation.
Get ready Bitcoin maximalists – this isn’t going to be pretty.
It Became A Trap
Bitcoin went from niche payment technology to the top of Wall St. in around 15 years. The central planners (don’t fool yourself – they exist in the West) finally see Bitcoin for what it is – an existential threat to centralized monetary power.
Anyone out there wondering why a BTE ETF would be allowed to hit the markets?
Simple – the BTC system is being co-opted by the system it threatens. The reason is simple – there is no better way to deal with an existential threat than by bringing it into your fold. The threat becomes a tool to maintain power – and it looks like it’s working.
Here is the ever brilliant Whitney Webb with all the hairy details:
Bitcoin maximalists don’t appear to understand that the first phase of the revolution is over. They lost. Wall St. won and it did so with a minimum of effort. People love fiat money (and centralized power). Game over.
While Bitcoin can still be used as money – most people don’t. If they understand cryptos at all, Bitcoin is seen as a long-term investment. Not to be sold, used, or otherwise divested. Money, by its nature, moves all the time.
Wagging The Tail
Cryptos are a tiny market. A $2 trillion market cap is nothing for a sector today. To put that figure in perspective, the US government deficit is running at about $2 trillion per year (and it could explode higher).
The Western banking cartel seems to be using a ‘nip it in the bud’ strategy to deal with cryptos. Instead of wiping cryptos out of Western nations by making them illegal (looking your way China) it is using them as a blow-off valve for the massive amounts of liquidity its creating.
The strategy likely means sky-high crypto prices in the years to come – but it also means inflation at levels only seen in places like Argentina, Venezuela and Turkey in recent times.
Regardless of whether you agree on this point – it is impossible to contest the fact that Western monetary powers now have a direct liquidity connection to the BTC market via the ETFs, and pricing power via the futures markets.
Did we mention that the US government owns loads of Bitcoin?
It’s a fact!
The idea that Bitcoin will somehow replace Western fiat currency (the only kind anyone wants) is dead. At best it will be an asset – and maybe a way for the West to remonetize the largest pile of debt in world history.
Show Us The Birth Certificate
Bitcoin maximalists have pinned a lot of hope and ideology on a technology with shadowy origins. Bitcoin came out of nowhere with amazing cryptography and an impressive mission statement in its whitepaper.
Maybe it was bait. Maybe it was designed to do what it did. Maybe Bitcoin was a trap from the get-go.
Satoshi Nakamoto could be the slickest person ever. Or the name could be the public face of a powerful Western intel group.
Let’s be real about the power the Five Eyes has. Almost every digital communication is monitored – and the AI we see on display is likely a child’s toy compared to what the Five Eyes is running for data collection and analysis.
Assuming Satoshi Nakamoto is a person – they are still not known publicly – we posit the ‘powers that be’ want it that way. No idea why that would be…
The Power of Bitcoin Proliferation
Take a look at El Salvador!
President Bukele put Bitcoin first – and put a huge number of dangerous people in prison. Never mind human rights – the streets are clean. But he may be doing the work of the Western planners – and not know it (or maybe he does).
What matters is the cover story. Bitcoin was embraced as the national currency of El Salvador as an affront to the US dollar and Western financial system. The Bitcoin whitepaper strikes again.
Max Kaiser – the eternal critic of everything Central Bank related – is down in El Salvador too. A company he is backing will mine Bitcoin with a volcano!
Bukele is creating a city in the shape of a Bitcoin!
OMG!!! OMG!!! OMG!!!
BITCOIN IS SO SO SO AMAZING!
If Bitcoin is a Trojan Horse – it’s working. At least in El Salvador.
The Bright Side Of Bitcoin Today
Bitcoin is still the best proof-of-concept for decentralized currency. It works, it is global, and people like it. Even if Western intel is behind Bitcoin’s creation, the idea of decentralization is alive and well – and can’t be co-opted forever.
We can totally understand why Bitcoin maximalists have a hard time seeing the current situation – and that their worldview is terminally broken. Sorry y’all – the bad guys took this round. It may have been by design.
If Bitcoin was created as a Trojan Horse – the planners knew it would never be adopted quickly at-scale. People are kinda dumb at a group level. There are also masses who only trust centralized authority – no matter how much the system hurts them.
We are in an amazing situation. Bitcoin hit the big time, and now it is places to rise in popularity as an investment.
What matters is that some wise ones understand that the goals of decentralization do create value – and new ways for us to organize at a global scale. Bitcoin broke the ice – and made that understanding possible.
Are we Bitcoin maximalists?
That would be telling…
The post Op-Ed: The Bitcoin Maximalist Conundrum appeared first on Blockonomi.
