How to Destroy Bitcoin

https://www.stephendiehl.com/blog/destroy-bitcoin.html

by hudon • 5 years ago

31 31 5 years ago

rfd4sgmk8u3• 5 years ago

Stephen, I'm worried about you buddy. This is an obsession -- but it is one borne of your own ignorance. How someone can be so obsessed with something without actually understanding it is deeply troubling.

"There is no legitimate economy that transacts in bitcoin." Vastly, Deeply incorrect.

You are spouting authoritarian nonsense. Its not too late to open your eyes and see the damage you causing to yourself. Bitcoin, like the honey badger, does not care.

hudon3• 5 years ago

Vastly, Deeply incorrect.

Sorry to be trite, but can you provide any evidence that there are legitimate economies transacting in Bitcoin?

As far as I can tell, Stephen is passionate because he recognizes various problems with Bitcoin: ecological damage, pyramid schemes, gambling, money laundering, ransomware, etc., and he doesn't see any actual economies benefitting from it that could overshadow all the negatives. Your comment seems to be more like gaslighting, trying to make him feel crazy while he's trying to make things right.

asah2• 5 years ago

Let me google that for you:

https://www.google.com/search?q=legitimate+uses+of+cryptocur...

example: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/305859

rfd4sgmk8u3• 5 years ago

There is this: https://www.reuters.com/technology/bitcoin-become-legal-tend...

and many other examples. Stephen is just wrong here, like, 6+ years out of date wrong. His arguments hold no water today.

deregulateMed3• 5 years ago

USD is used for all the problems you mentioned.

But at least Bitcoin didn't go through a 5.4% inflation this year.

I'm sure people in Zimbabwe would rather try their luck with digital gold than trusting another government with another printable currency.

not2b2• 5 years ago

If you want to claim that the article is "vastly, deeply incorrect", you should be able to supply counterexamples.

rchaves2• 5 years ago

Having read Taleb’s Bitcoin Black Paper this guy’s words make total sense, and he puts it really well, very concise, unapologetic writing

cinntaile• 5 years ago

Taleb sure made a U-turn when volatility didn't decrease when the value increased as he would have expected.

99_002• 5 years ago

What do you think about the fact that he made a U-turn?

danuker2• 5 years ago

I have two serious examples of interactions between the "legitimate" market and Bitcoin:

1. The Bitcoin ETF: https://cointelegraph.com/news/debut-canadian-bitcoin-etf-ne... 2. The CME Bitcoin Futures market: https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/cryptocurrencies/bitcoin/bi...

Also, it provides protection against hyperinflation for some, be it legal or not:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47553048

Not everything illegal is immoral. But I agree that there is an absurd amount of energy use and scams in the crypto ecosystem.

Niglodonicus• 5 years ago

Watch out, a horde of unwavering crypto supporters who still believe that it can somehow disrupt banking and change the world are currently converging on this location.

rfd4sgmk8u3• 5 years ago

You don't believe it can? In some places, it already has.

eldfgl• 5 years ago

Decentralized money is censorship resistant, it’s okay with me if someone won’t trade me dollars for it, I’ll pay with Sats.

asah2• 5 years ago

Author isn't wrong, just missing the point which is that regulators and politicians of COURSE know how to crush Bitcoin. The issue is that the "powers that be" WANT crypto to succeed and that's why you're seeing the kind of regulation that legitimizes crypto instead of the kind that destroys it.

Specifically: - the intelligence community loves crypto because it gives them more "digital trail" to monitor people and populations.

- policymakers love the idea of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) because it provides fine grained monetary control. Everybody would love to see a federally backed stablecoin replace USDT etc.

- the taxation authorities like crypto because it's a lot of net new revenue - millions of people are agreeing to tax themselves, and since transactions are all public, it's hard to hide.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2021/04/13/janet-...

errantmind• 5 years ago

No, banning fiat on-ramps will not kill Bitcoin, although it would suppress the price for several years. No, banning exchanges will no longer work as trading would move to DeFi. Give it up already, your arguments are tired.

I don't think you realize how strong the crypto movement is. Your vision is obscured by all the the snake-oil surrounding it. Government intervention will further legitimize it. This is nothing like the prior movements for alternative currency. Many millions of young people have experience buying and trading cryptocurrency now. It isn't going away.

99_002• 5 years ago

I read the first few paragraphs and he doesn't say why Bitcoin needs to be destroyed.

I don't think it needs to be destroyed. It will forever exist in the peripheries because it can not be used to pay government taxes and fees which need to be paid by every adult under threat of force and violence.

curtisblaine• 5 years ago

Bitcoin still has an important, legitimate use case: supporting legal businesses that have been ditched by the Visa and Mastercard circuits. Gab is one of them and, as much as you can hate it, it's still a very legal business that can't do business (if it wasn't supported by Bitcoin) because two private entities decided it can't do business.

tromp• 5 years ago

Tokens which have no corresponding legal entity willing to claim legal liability for development of the product (i.e Dogecoin)

Stephen is implying that there are such entities for Bitcoin development, which I doubt.

How to Destroy Bitcoin

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