credits Bitcoin Apex Art | Bitcoin-art
The following article is a response to a critic of Bitcoin.
The critic compared Bitcoin to a religion and a cult, stating that Bitcoin will never replace traditional currencies and the state.
“Could you explain to me how a state is able to do monetary policies with a decentralized currency? Suppose we have a pandemic in 2045 and bitcoin is the global currency, as wished by crypto bulls. How will the government temporarily support the economy? Or will there be just hardcore crashes and mass starvation/homelessness because the government has no control over their currency? “
“This would be good psychological research to look for psychological similarities between Jehovah’s Witnesses and people very immersed in the crypto scene. Mythological language about awakening, the final revolution that will free us all, the reaching heaven is ever closer but is here not quite yet, only the ones who can really see and understand will cherish jehovas fruits. Some symbols of thunder, natural spectacles. “
Bitcoin has never been intended to be a currency in the traditional sense.
As Hal finney pointed out
“I believe this will be the ultimate fate of Bitcoin, to be the ‘high-powered money’ that serves as a reserve currency for banks that issue their own digital cash. Most Bitcoin transactions will occur between banks, to settle net transfers. Bitcoin transactions by private individuals will be as rare as… well, as Bitcoin-based purchases are today.”
In this sense, Bitcoin is money
“Money is used in a variety of ways, all related to its future use in some kind of transaction. For example, money is a store of value.”
“The supply of money should be stable so that its value is reliable.”
source Investopedia
The fact that Bitcoin has religious features isn’t something you alone realized; it was recognized ten years ago by the first individuals involved.
This is explained in the book “The Blocksize War.”
“However, Bitcoin does have some characteristics similar to a religion and this does appear to be how many people felt. After all, religions are very successful; perhaps these characteristics contributed somewhat to Bitcoin’s success.”
The Blocksize war
Myths are part of human nature, and religion are the most powerful.
“The first principle of his policy was that the various peoples of his [Cyrus] empire should be left free in their religious worship and beliefs, for he fully understood the first principle of statesmanship-that religion is stronger than the state. Instead of sacking cities and wrecking temples he showed a courteous respect for the deities of the conquered, and contributed to maintain their shrines; even the Babylonians, who had resisted him so long, warmed towards him when they found him preserving their sanctuaries and honoring their pantheon.
Will Durant, Story of Civilization Volume 1.
Actually, Coca-Cola invented Christmas as we know it today.
There are people who believe they will get a pension thirty years from now; this is also a myth. If you look at the chart of nation states debts, something want wrong with our faith in them.
What is buying stock at a 30 P/E if not faith masqueraded by technicality?
At the end of the day, Bitcoin is a distributed and immutable ledger of information.
The code-enforced scarcity in a digital era gives it the characteristics of a good form of hard money, far better than stones or metals.
“Then creating too much money and debt depreciates its value, causing people to get out of holding the debt and money as a storehold of wealth, and moving back into hard assets (like gold) and other currencies.”
Ray Dalio, The Changing World Order
In ancient Rome and many other places, the same dynamics we are experiencing today already happened.
“if we attentively reflect how much swifter is the progress of corruption than its cure, and if we remember that the years abandoned to public disorders exceeded the months allotted to the martial reign of Aurelian,”
“we must confess that a few short intervals of peace were insufficient for the arduous work of reformation. Even his attempt to restore the integrity of the COIN was opposed by a formidable insurrection”
“that the workmen of the mint had adulterated the COIN; and that the emperor restored the public credit, by delivering out good money in exchange for the bad, which the people was commanded to bring into the treasury. “
Edward Gibbon
The thing about Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they refer to the Bible, which, in my opinion, is a great meme. It contains many Western values useful in life, but the interesting part that gives it the opportunity to survive is that it describes the cycle of our society. And people every cycle have thought, “Oh, that is a prophecy that became real.” No, it’s just that some people are smart enough to see a pattern in the signs of a declining civilization.
There are cyclical periods where some embark on the right Ark and others are doomed; that is how history works.
“When the black swarm of Hungarians first hung over Europe, above nine hundred years after the Christian era, they were mistaken by fear and superstition for the Gog and Magog of the Scriptures, the signs and forerunners of the end of the world.”
Edward Gibbon
Interestingly enough, Gog and Magog represent an upcoming threat to civilization, and cyclically, something like that happens.
The book “Fourth Turning” describes this well.
At the end, every religion and every rebellion bring a new paradigm and a new ruling class, but often enhance the base layer of well-being for everyone.
Feel free to comment, share my article with friends and subscribe to my newsletter if you like my content and you want to follow me towards financial freedom.
You will obtain free access to my newsletter:
- Financial education
- A open minded and value oriented mindset
- Business and sector analysis
- A stoic and calm attitude towards the market ups and downs
No noise, only signal and high valuable contents
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Albert Einstein
Free investing course index:
Disclaimer: The information contained on this website is for general information and educational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for legal, commercial and/or financial advice from a licensed professional.
Leave a Reply