Bitcoin is to be a peer to peer digital cash, a kind of credit insurance against the state, independent of intermediaries, impossible or at least unlikely to corrupt, impossible to inflate, and immune to attack even from within. It is supposed to shun intermediaries and offer a more secure, peer-to-peer network that is safer than a bank (in many regards). And in many ways most would agree it has been incredibly successful.
However... in my view it is also being shoe-horned, captured, and controlled by the state in extremely unhealthy ways. The vast majority of on and off-ramps are fully KYC, Coinjoins can 'taint' coins in such a way that exchanges potentially won't 'accept' them, and the general level of education of the public about bitcoin, or even about money in general, is quite low. Media stories left and right only scratch the surface of what bitcoin is, what it's supposed to be or frankly about how it works. CNBC reports the price, the NYPost covers 'bitcoin atm scammers' (as if ATMs themselves are bad?) and all over the news bitcoin 'crashes' when the price dips to... 58k a coin.
For clarity:
Where was the price a year ago? Crickets from the media.
How does bitcoin actually work, and what is it trying to solve? (Again crickets from the media).
And finally, to the extent that scams 'utilize' bitcoin, as opposed to gift cards, bank wires, emails, phishing schemes text messages... is bitcoin actually a scam?
Still large parts of educated/1st world populations know nothing about bitcoin or its potential to change the world and think that it is a scam. It's a total failure of risk management. The narrative about bitcoin, in my opinion, and its treatment by governments is co-opting its peer-to-peer and medium of exchange qualities in order to soften its impact, generally confuse the public, and constrain the impact bitcoin is having on world economies. In other words, allowing governments to continue deficit spending and hide the costs of inflation while being fiscally irresponsible.
The bitcoin I and many others would like to see involves medium of exchange, anonymous cash payments all over the world, better education as to how and why bitcoin is 'better money', and a higher educational level or 'risk management' skill-set when it comes to investing or saving money:
For example, it is logical that:
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the vast majority of 'crypto' is completely worthless.
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Memecoins are little more than gambling and involve zero self-sovereignty and sound-money principles and
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Non-proof of work coins and 'tokens' are overwhelmingly worthless. Let's just leave it at that.
And yet Coinbase still sells bitcoin right next to memecoins and glorified unregistered securites... that people leave on exchanges. That people 'trade' without any on-chain footprint whatsoever. That customers typically never self-custody (how do you self-custody a memecoin?) and that use USDT for settling trades.
- And USDT isn't even even 'crypto it's a centralized company-token allowed to exist by the US government with centralized servers that keep track of dollar-tokens that people buy with failing 3rd-world currency. That 'the company' makes billions off of 'risk-free' interest when they buy US bonds and treasuries... Paul Ryan is writing about it in the WSJ. Isn't this a governmental conflict of interest - ?
In other words, with regards to Bitcoin...
Where is the peer to peer exchange? Where is the commerce (legal or otherwise) using Bitcoin? Where are the coffee shops, the stores, the vendors that accept BTC directly? When you ask your uber driver 'hey do you take lightning' as a tip, what do they say? Or do they look like a deer in the headlights? Except for Stacker News and Nostr (both amazing but relatively small) where is the adoption of lightning? And what would government say should bitcoin, eventually, take on a greater role as a 'medium of exchange'?
Bitcoin's overwhelming treatment by the state and by governments (if they don't outright disdain it like the EU Central Bank) is of a compartmentalized, shoe-horned, controlled, toy-like speculative digital commodity. That you pay taxes on when used to purchase a cup of coffee. That isn't a 'medium of exchange'. That isn't private, that is thoroughly surveilled by exchanges, lest you try to sell bitcoin that has been coinjoined for privacy or is otherwise "tainted"... it's treated like a contained, speculative object for the exchanges and governments to make money with... or that 'the state' ultimately controls.
It's like you're damned if you do and damned if you don't: spend bitcoin without coinjoining? Dox your entire stack to a merchant. Coinjoin some to have forward privacy? Well maybe the exchange won't accept the remaining utxo because it's 'tainted' (even though coinjoins are THE BEST single privacy tool/probably still necessary for using bitcoin privately). Payjoins? Lightning channels? Atomic swaps? TOR-based utxo swaps? All useful for forward-looking privacy but all requiring education and reasonable sophistication to use - which most exchanges, although there are rare exceptions, do not really encourage.
And finally - you've purchased a cup of coffee where you live, in lightning. How do you calculate your 'capital gains' taxes for that cup? Are there even apps that allow you to do this, without being associated with ****coins or doxing your entire stack to some sketchy company? And how does the merchant handle the Bitcoin legally, when they then sell it and the price has gone up - or down - who knows? Can congress tell you I think probably not.
Bitcoin is a wonderful asset and I feel privileged to be around at this time with so many who care about it... but it's important to be honest about the current State of the State and the current situation and treatment of bitcoin by exchanges and regulators. At some point Bitcoin, in my opinion, will have to take the training wheels off and be money 'by and for the people', not just a toy for exchanges which is how it's being treated right now.
Sometimes I see posts on Reddit about exchange "withdrawal fees" (aka Binance) of being 70$ plus... leading to customers lamenting as to 'how expensive' Bitcoin is. 70$. They have no idea. And I just shake my head it's impossible to educate everyone and it's not a great situation. When does the revolution begin.
Thank you