bitman on Nostr: If we don’t want to end like the goldbug copetards in a couple of decades, maybe we ...

If we don’t want to end like the goldbug copetards in a couple of decades, maybe we should get better at identifying long term threats and act on them accordingly.

quoting
nevent1q…nquw

Because you can’t be too sure about it. People were pretty sure gold wouldn’t fail as money. It did. People in the 19th century were convinced the age of wars was over and that only prosperity awaited. That didn’t happen. As a currency, Bitcoin can fail in a number of ways, some of which haven’t even been considered. Even today, it’s a stretch to call it one, although in both practical and theoretical terms, it is. But is it used as a currency? Hardly. jimmysong (nprofile…zph9) did a poll not too long ago asking Bitcoiners how they use Bitcoin. 94% answered “savings,” 5% said “means of payment,” and 1% said “something else”. Maybe this changes in the next few years, maybe it gets worse. It depends on which narrative gains more traction: the one about Bitcoin being a digital asset, or the one about it being a cryptocurrency. The odds aren’t in favor of the latter right now and that’s bad, because I have to agree with jack (nprofile…yary) - if Bitcoin remains just a store of value, it fails to stay relevant long-term. It also fails as a project to separate money from the state. Reversing that trend will take serious effort and it’s entirely on us. We need to run nodes, mine at home, educate newcomers, and call out bad actors and scammers, both outside and especially *inside* the space. Just repeating dumb memes like “everything is good for Bitcoin” or “nothing stops this train” while doing nothing to push it as a means of payment won’t get us there. One day we’ll realize we were the frogs being slowly boiled. So yeah, I don’t think Bitcoin is guaranteed to win or solidify as a currency, but the opportunity is there and I’m not sitting on the sidelines. I’m doing my part.