Ideas Never Die
So this is the news I came across recently. Typical rant about cryptos being fake money and all that jazz. Seriously, this is what the man said:-
"It's just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed" (source)
He was saying that Bitcoin will closed down by the government due to its rebellious nature. Maybe he's just clueless about the technology, since there's no way to stop this all that easily due to the decentralised nature of cryptocurrency networks. There's no single point of failure, no plug to pull to shut down Bitcoin, Ethereum, Steem, and others. This is open, permissionless innovation.
What if Bitcoin has been the "stable" currency all along since its inception? It doesn't even need to perform exceptionally well, if its competitors, such as national currencies and other traditional assets are slowly becoming "crapcoins". It's all relative. Where else can anyone depend on outside of the system if not on platforms like Bitcoin? It's volatile for sure, but it's one of the only places where your assets are not subject to what some may call predatory inflation and taxation. Who's going to regulate the regulator?
Now onto the tulips.. I'm not sure why I even want to debate this, but let's just say that tulips are perishable and not even remotely close to a form of currency as do cryptocurrencies. In addition, Bitcoin like any other cryptocurrencies are provably scarce and they're engineered to function like money. Bitcoin is the first coming together of idea, money, politics, and technology all wrapped into an automated trust protocol. So the comparison he made is highly anecdotal and not very useful. Bitcoin is no tulip, and not even tech stocks of the 90s. Then to add to his ignorance.. he starts calling Bitcoin a fraud.
Here's the thing: Bitcoin's price can go to zero and it's still not a fraud. Participation is voluntary. The project is open-sourced and its supply regulated by the Bitcoin protocol. Yes, cryptocurrencies are in fact, self-regulated entities. The code ensures predictability and transparency. This should actually be equally viewed as a form of stability. The price of cryptocurrencies might not always reflect that, but it's a fundamental shift away from arbitrary regulations. When centralised systems can be regulated by the whims of governments at any point in time for their own definition of stability, this could actually create mass instability for the rest of us. Most of the times, unknowingly.
Traditional regulation is all about maintaining expected prices just to keep things artificially stable, sometimes longer than it should. Volatility in cryptocurrency is a feature, in my opinion. Unregulated markets better reflect the pains and problems of currencies in real-time, being liquid. So it better be really valuable to deserve a high valuation, and not just because some form of regulation is artificially setting some so-called price stabilisation mechanism on it. It's not definitive and grey, but this discussion can be explored more thoroughly by studying the philosophical differences between Keynesian and Austrian economics - check out this one minute video.
Bitcoin is now still valuable as it is an idea of power decentralisation materialised through clever use of technology. The value is in its perceived breaking away from authoritative monopoly over private property, and it's currently reflected in the market. But who knows what might happen since something better always comes along. Maybe Jamie's government could even end up closing down Bitcoin, whatever that means. Regardless, the powerful ideas that Bitcoin birthed are here to stay. Maybe one day I'll see a headline in 2020 that says:-
"WTF is Steemit and why is it dominating 80% of our top search results?"
regulation too me feels like a dirty word now, like a middleman trying to flog you his stuff because his business neighbour is doing well, i've found governments always want to tax or regulate something they don't understand, if they see money signs and they are not CUT in they wrap it up in 'regulation' - for me it's a belief in the value of what a crypto currency can do, you can put whatever value on it you want for me, i just want the ability to use the process to exchange value.
i'm not a trader i'm not interested in bitcoin being 5k/10k (or more) i'm not in it to make a buck, i'm interested in a better, open, cheaper (eventually) digital currency that works better than what's currently been out there for years. paypal needs to die, it's done, it's team and what they stand for is almost antique in internet years. we NEED an internet micro payments system, one for tipping, small exchanges, quick, cheap, to exchange value across the web, bitcoin (and also litecoin) are those for me right now. having steem come along was a real eye opener that blogging could be monitized as such, i loved that you got paid for involvement, sharing. any of the big boys like fb and reddit could have done but they did'nt. steemit did and it's been running, working. talk is cheap unless you actually demonstrate it working.
my opinion is that the governments of the world work on notion of things running unoptimized, it gives them a place for them to be wasteful and 'lose money' through the cracks, back handers, stupid money spent on stupid services with 'authorized downline companies' friends of friends that they can farm out work too. the idea of open, transparent scares them to death because if their world was exposed you would see a hive of poorly constructed tenders for projects and absolutely unbelievable costings, we have too many 'grey suits' in the positions of power fleecing the system and playing the game. they won't let the new talent in. call it ego, generational, whatever it is, that's what we are fighting against. i worked for a local government as a computer operator for over 8 years and i can tell you, it's a shit storm in there.
bottom line is the idea is out there now and like some of my favorite scenes in V for Vendette, you simply cannot stop an idea, it's obvious that the world has a requirements for a crypto/digital currency, if it's not bitcoin it will be something else, we will alway have an underlayer to any technology that the system, the man or the 'normal's decide to build - on every coin there is another face. .
Yeah inflation kinda makes budgeting lazy and ineffective since people can just print to no end.. well i personally think the two worlds will come to meet in the middle, although I can't visualise how things will be in that sense..
I like your finish to your story and I think Steem is like a volcano waiting to erupt. Just like Bitcoin really came on to many people's radar just recently so Will Steem and Steemit in the very close future. The things that are now being built on top of steem like D tube, Discord etc is creating an eco system which will adopt users from all kinds of social media. Anyways, your post was actually mainly about bitcoin, so sorry for ranting about steem. As for Bitcoin it seems like this statement come from someone that has paid zero time to read up on it, or he is just a spokesman for some entity, which thinks this kind of talk will affect people's opinion on the matter. Those who know Bitcoin and crypto will stay long, atleast that's what I am planning to do ! Nice post Kevin !
Lol JPM found to have bought Bitcoin on the dip after shouting fraud :P if you read the news xD
Hehe yea I didn't know it when I posted this article hehe but now I have seen a lot of posts stating this fact. .. Nothing should surprise you when it comes to the things bankers do I guess...
Steem Price is bound to increase as more Users join it's platform! It's already out there, as we speak there is someone out there considering to join. Just like Airbnb, growth is slow at first but once Steemit goes mainstream! Steem will not make the same moves as Bitcoin except for it being on it's own Space Shuttle on the way to the Moon
"The project is open-sourced and its supply regulated by the Bitcoin protocol. Yes, cryptocurrencies are in fact, self-regulated entities. The code ensures predictability and transparency. ". That why Bitcoin is called a modern smart contract. I have read a little bit about Nick Szabo article (Smart Contract). Bitcoin is beyond from cryptocurrency but inside Bitcoin we will find many aspect, just like Nick Szabo mentioned in his article. Nice :)
Hi Kevin. I've seen you on here since I've joined four month's ago. I've been reading your posts and you've been giving me an education in all things crypto currency. I've been an invester for years, but have stuck to commodities, gold, silver, stocks...traditional stuff. Now I own STEEM! and Bit-Coin!
I consider you a real pro analyst, so I need to ask you.....What do you think the longer term consequences will be now that the Chinese Government is cracking down on the use of bitcoin?
Thanks for doing all that you do on here! -Dan "World Travel Pro!"
Hey thanks for writing in! Hmm not a pro lol I just happen to be slightly more vocal on the matter. I'd say there's nothing that will stop this.. total moon on the long run. The problem is which coin? I personally don't buy and hold more bitcoin. Steem seems most interesting to me atm..
I'm talking about the great future of Bitcoin, and at the same time I have everything invested in other assets, but nothing in Bitcoin. Does that make me an hypocrite?
When I speak about Bitcoin I'm basically speaking having in mind every legitimate project that we have, since they seem to be coupled to Bitcoin's movement. But when they will start to decouple, and take a life of their own, then I think that there is a probability that Bitcoin will loose it's first mover advantage.
Since discovering Steemit, I also came to the conclusion that Steem Power is the best investment you could make in crypto. No Steem, no steem dollars, but Steem Power, Steem Power, and again Steem Power. I won't tell you why I believe that. But I would love to hear your opinion on this subject.
Thank you in advance for your time!
There's a reason why I've been holding for so long. Wrote a lot about Steem Power in the past :D Hmm i personally don't buy and hold BTC anymore, just keeping the ones I've mined with a laptop back then :) now all in other coins, some posts before this have a list of my stash :)
Thank you for the time you took to answer me.
I will definitely go through you posts.
I have a feeling that I'll find in them some of the reasons why I believe Steem Power is the way to go...
Thanks for the insight. Sorry I haven't gotten back to sooner. I met a Korean Girl the other day here in Vang Vieng Laos. We ended up getting lost in a cave together! lol
I would have to disagree with you. You are all pro in the crypto world! and I like how you're vocal. You have something to say! Compared to folks like myself, I'm clueless, I didn't even know there were other coins, until I found steemit 4 month's ago. If knew crypto currencies like I know travel....I'd be a millionaire! lol Have a great day. -Dan "World Travel Pro!"
@kevinwong - So true. Artificial regulation is what the traditional money system all about. Politicians sort of gauge what the public opinion is on certain things at any point of time and decide how to leverage it by manipulating tax regulations and controlled pricing. Regulation of crude oil prices by OPEC countries and regulation of petroleum product pricing by governments in some countries is a classic example
Bitcoin has had over 160 obituaries since it's conceptions as I can see from news reports and it is still going strong! Yes it will be volatile but will always be transparent and decentralized. It is no tulip as you have correctly pointed out.
Thanks for this blog which helps to dispel some of the negative propaganda. Upvoted full.
I like the ending of your blog too. Steemit indeed is slowly becoming a rage. I have been away a bit from Steemit and it was a pleasure to see your blog after a while. I have not had the pleasure to interact with you through comments on blogs like I used to couple of months ago. I request you to see my blogs and provide feedback too whenever you have some free time. Thanks
Regards,
Not saying there's anything wrong with regulation, but the problems comes when it's something as large as a nationwide regulation, which doesn't make much sense to me. I think regulations for smaller jurisdictions, working like "house rules" makes much ebtter sense.
I agree. It is very hard to gauge what a large sized population sample needs and hence it is that much more easier to get waylaid with biased opinions and views. It is also harder to transparently demonstrate cause and effect of regulations.
Fantastic piece @kevinwong. I recently read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. One of the pieces that stuck out to me most in it was the fact that what makes us humans special is our ability to believe in fictions.
So what if Bitcoing is "not a real thing."
Neither is:
The fact that we believe something is valuable, exists, or is a "thing", makes it so. This goes for all types of things in our society, including both fiat and cryptocurrencies. That's why what Jamie said is nonsensical.
Yeap that's a book I've read recently as well , although I watched that ted talk last year I think. Intrinsic value and subjective value have always been debated to no end.. but I'm more to the subjective valuation side, since what's intrinsic is also a subjective thing.. we're just putting some numbers on them.
Well put - thanks for the response Kevin. Digging into your writing and enjoying it quite a bit so far!
I've read everything but this seems more questions than answers (well I know no one can tel for sure). The only thing I found so funny is that when I used to trade earlier, the currency would be different, some up and some down and you could play it. With the latest developments, new to me, feels exciting at all prices, since all major currencies are down almost as much as the percentage, and when they start climbing a bit, they all do it at the same time and almost for the same value. . Looks like you are the one who asks: maybe the cause of such synchronized movements? "Because no one else has not proved successful, no triangles, or Fibonacci has sense and the currency just acts weird and chaotic @kevinwong
Oh that phenomenon is mainly because that most cryptos have their values paired with BTC..
Great opinion piece @kevinwong - I'm not sure whether Dimon is ignorant or clueless to be honest. He is using one of the oldest and best known tools to fight off the threat of positive change, innovation and revolution: Fear. And he succeeded in leaving a dent using that tools....at least temporarily. The markets have dropped yes but what people like Dimon are probably ignorant about is another a conceptually new threat beside change - resilience through interconnectivity and decentralisation. The markets will drop, yes, the people will run away with their money for a while but you cannot scare people off forever. What they are truly ignorant of is that decentralised, self-regulating (or self-organising) systems is the way the universe works. Dimon's old world system and way of thinking is the real natural fraud.
So it looks like he's not both ignorant and clueless, seeing that JPM bought the dip after calling bitcoin a fraud. Well these guys should know what they're talking about..
Yes agree @kevinwong naturally it was all orchestrated. So let me correct what I said before differently: "They are fully conscious that the inevitable new world is decentralised and they are using every dirty trick from the 'old world' to get a slice of it"
I agree with you. Ideas are bulletproof.
Bitcoin as an idea can never be killed. Vilify it. Call it scam. Try to run it down. An idea is birthed and cannot be killed.
I'll love to see steemit dominate the search result. As someone that joined last month, it'll be a thing of joy to see that. Thanks