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I believe institutional participation strengthens Bitcoin's credibility, instills investor confidence, and paves the way for broader acceptance. I'm interested in everyone's perspective.
Both.
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That's true. Double edge sword. Let's hope the positive outweigh the negatives in the long-run.
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In what way do you think they threaten decentralization?
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They are centralized and powerful. The question wasn't if it's definitely centralizing. The question was if it threatens decentralization. They will seek more control over bitcoin than they deserve and that will "threaten" decentralization.
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The "frontrunning the institutions" thing creates an interesting phenomenon though. We hold almost all the BTC and they own none or little; the earlier you got in, the more you have. And the earlier you got in, the more aligned you are with the Bitcoin ethos, the better you understand it etc. Statistically speaking, of course.
Much BTC is held by cypherpunks, anarchists and other anti-establishment folks. If large institutions put their money in it, it will empower them, but it will empower the current holders even more. If BlackRock or similar put 2% into BTC, it will pump our bags 10x; you get the gist. Their money will become our money multiplied. The more power they try to gain, the more power they will give to us, making us harder to defeat.
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Your reasoning makes sense. I suspect it's a likely outcome.
I just prefer to assume we might be missing something for prepping's sake.
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This is my perspective as well.
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To answer your headline question: neither. Bitcoin doesn't care about institutions. Nodes decentralize Bitcoin. Why would institutions buying Bitcoin have any affect whatsoever on people running nodes?
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This article give an interesting take on the subject #226279
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Thank you for sharing this link. It's a long read with some interesting points.
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Their involvement can bring greater mainstream adoption and legitimacy to the cryptocurrency. However, if too much control or influence becomes concentrated in these institutions, it could potentially undermine the decentralised nature that Bitcoin was built upon.
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I totally agree. From the title of the post, I assumed I would want to push back on something.
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