I’ve been thinking about this narrative for a bit. Seeing minds like Beautyon echo this sentiment makes me think I may be onto something.
Bitcoin is information, no more. Seeing it as money opens it up for more regulations as well as potentially inhibits people from seeing what else it could be used for. I’m sure it’s too late to change the narrative for the regulators, but I wonder what uses will be found in the future that aren’t directly tied to the money narrative.
15 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryptocoin 2 Sep 2022
What is your definition of "money"?
The Merriam Webster dictionary has this:
1: something generally accepted as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, or a means of payment: such as
- a: officially coined or stamped metal currency
- b: MONEY OF ACCOUNT
- c: PAPER MONEY
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/money
BeautyOn makes the claim that bitcoin isn't money so as to have it not be regulated as money. e.g., If bitcoin is not money, then money laundering laws would not be applicable.
Nice try ... but the law in various jurisdictions doesn't use such a narrow definition of money.
In the U.S., however, ... you can argue that bitcoin is also speech (since it is original data created by you, or by software under your control). And thus, bitcoin use is protected as free speech.
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25 sats \ 0 replies \ @manbytescamera OP 2 Sep 2022
I agree that Beautyon seems to be using the framing as a counter to regulation. I was being provocative with my title, Bitcoin isn’t just money would have been more accurate. I also like the Bitcoin is Just money framing as well.
I suppose I’ve been thinking about it in the sense that it limits our ability to see what other potentials it has.
Interestingly, bitcoin doesn’t fit into the three examples there since it’s an accounting system, or maybe it’s “b” although I never liked self referential definitions. When will Merriam-Webster update its definition to fit bitcoin. 😄
I know that our framing (in life generally) prevents us from seeing other things, I’m trying to imagine what I’m missing by thinking of Bitcoin as Just money.
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25 sats \ 2 replies \ @KingZing 2 Sep 2022
I don't like this narrative, bitcoin isn't just information, or else what is truly unique about it? Hash rate? People mined it early on without expecting a return, same way we have zero fee LN node operators.
What is money is a fuzzy subject, credit is a form of money, coupons are a form of money, if those can be money then why bitcoin isn't money. This narrative shouldn't be that bitcoin isn't money, but that it is more than that.
Of course, that narrative would evolve if bitcoin does move beyond where it is now, maybe when LN gets more applications and has far more adoption, then we'd see bitcoin being more than just money.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @badabing 2 Sep 2022
It's clearly an accounting system. For me it's money. Beautyon's rationale seems a (maybe naive) attempt to counter regulation.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @manbytescamera OP 2 Sep 2022
I agree that Beautyon seems to be using the framing as a counter to regulation. I was being provocative with my title, Bitcoin isn’t just money would have been more accurate. I also like the Bitcoin is Just money framing as well.
I suppose I’ve been thinking about it in the sense that it limits our ability to see what other potentials it has.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @devver 2 Sep 2022
Bitcoin doesn't fulfill all properties of money
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Properties
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10 sats \ 3 replies \ @TheBTCManual 2 Sep 2022
Money or rather the term is just an easy reference point for people, all information is money and all money is information is it not? I mean I could trade a tutorial to do something and you could give me your moms recipe and we traded information, but both of us found value in it, both of us can use that information to drive economic activity in our own right, we are both better off because of the transaction
I say keep saying bitcoin is money, because it's an adversarial stance, we want bitcoin to be attacked, if bitcoin can fail due to a narrative or regulation, then whats the point? Then we're larping about its anti-fragility
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110 sats \ 2 replies \ @manbytescamera OP 2 Sep 2022
Totally agree, see my other responses in this thread. I heard a story once that Native Americans couldn’t see the huge ships of the Europeans even though they were anchored just off shore because they had no frame of reference. The ships were so foreign to them that they were effectively invisible. I wonder if Bitcoin is that ship for us. Of course Satoshi intended for it to be better money, but what if it’s something even more profound and I just don’t see it because of my framing.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 2 Sep 2022
That's a super interesting fact, I did not know that, gives me something to think about and I do think it's true, modern humans aren't really discovery types, we've become so referential and close-minded, the technology we've created makes many think this is the be all and end all and new ideas are just meant to be adaptive of adding tech on an old thing making it faster or somthing
Now bitcoin comes along and you see all the narratives, its digital gold, its this, its that, these are all attempts to try and apply a reference to it, but every attempt means you disregard some element of bitcoin so it doesn't do it justice
I can totally see why people can't see bitcoin even though we think it's obvious, it's just so overwhelming when you realise EVERYTHING we do is based on a broken system of measurement, I still break my brain about it daily
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @manbytescamera OP 2 Sep 2022
YES, this is how i'm trying to think about it. Not sure it is a fact, but its a nice story. It is true, bitcoin is the equivelant of those ships, most people don't even think about money let alone possibilities of magic internet money. Now, i wonder what i'm not seeing. Amazing times!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @02174b3c39_lntxbot 26 Sep 2022
Already happened.
"Four years ago, we started a journey to help develop and advance decentralized identity, an emerging form of identity technology that empowers individuals and creates new business capabilities. Our goal is to put individuals, organizations, and other entities at the center of the apps, services, and digital exchanges that increasingly play a pivotal role in our lives. Among all the technical development required to deliver decentralized identity, none is more important than Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs)."
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/identity-standards-blog/ion-we-have-liftoff/ba-p/1441555
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @tomlaies 2 Sep 2022
Bitcoin is money and it is ONLY money. Everything else is shitcoinery.
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