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Bitcoin was never primarily intended to be a fiat denominated speculative commodity plaything. It was intended to be a censorship resistant P2P payments protocol alternative to the fiat monopoly that is imposed by governments and bankers. Are some are forgetting the original purpose of Bitcoin amid the greed and euphoria of the current bull run?
bitcoin is not one thing satoshi designed bitcoin with a fixed supply and four year halving cycle. speculation was always part of the deal, 'It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on'
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Bitcoin was never primarily intended to be a fiat denominated speculative commodity plaything.
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so at what 'price' of Bitcoin is it correct and most logical to spend it?
was that 1$ per Bitcoin? Was Bitcoin at the correct 'value' back then? was it really only worth a dollar? So it's only worth 87k today? And it was only worth 30k last year? What exactly changed in those time periods?
How about if 2 people used it? 5 people? 10 people? 20 people? so if only 20 people are using Bitcoin (as opposed to 20 million) the price "per Bitcoin" is going to be the same? 20 vs 20 million?
No of course not. The more people that hold, use, and accumulate Bitcoin the higher the price of Bitcoin 'per unit'. Therefore it makes sense... that were the entire world to use Bitcoin (which I believe they will eventually) the price would be very high... probably in the millions.
If I thought an asset were worth millions based on its inherent qualities and growth potential would I sell it for 20$? How about 50? or 100? or even 1000?!
No way. I would continue to HODL it until it reasonably appreciates until I think it's valued fairly as a reflection of its inherent qualities in the marketplace. If I had a great piece of art, a great piece of music, a great "invention" of some sort... why would I sell it for less than I think it's truly worth?
Well... this write-up is in part an attempt to understand what the 'addressable market' should be of Bitcoin and how Bitcoin should be priced once the informational asymmetry in the marketplace decreases. Once people understand 'what Bitcoin is'.
Once the entire world is using Bitcoin (probably for commodities trading as the 'high-powered money') the price will be much higher and that's not greed that's smart.
I'm all for spending Bitcoin and using lightning... but let's not kid ourselves. Spending Bitcoin at these prices is logically charitable and probably grossly undermarket based on its inherent qualities.
The post is designed to examine that and compare Bitcoin with other assets that hold value.
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Bitcoins primary value and innovation is in providing an alternative to the state imposed fiat monopoly which is a monopoly over MoE. There are plenty of speculative commodities all with their armies of touts talking up their potential value. But to provide an alternative to the state imposed monopoly over MoE is Bitcoins fundamental underlying value - to mistake its value as a speculative commodity is to fall into the most obvious trap of those who want it captured and controlled and NOT used as a MoE. Bitcoin has been consistently and very vigorously obstructed from being used as a MoE. In many countries its use as a payments protocol is outright banned. In the liberal western democracies CG taxes act to effectively make use as a MoE such a burden that very few businesses or consumers have adopted it for MoE. As long as Bitcoin is contained within a safe narrative of it being a speculative commodity it has been captured and controlled- without many even realising it.
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I would agree with you.
But I also believe that Bitcoin should be much 'bigger', 'well adopted' and people much better educated on 'what Bitcoin is' before any of that can happen.
I haven't found a single other person who even knows what lightning is. Not one. Zero. And I ask the Uber driver every day if I can tip them in lightning and they just look confused.
And read the comments from most major newspapers (at least in the United States) there is only a scant mention of Bitcoin except to conflate it with crypto and think it's a scam.
It's not that people 'don't want to use Bitcoin'. They simply don't know what it is yet, and they have never even heard of lightning.
Has Bitcoin been obstructed? Yes maybe but I think education around what Bitcoin is needs to improve drastically for anything to change. Education is absolutely key and it's what, in my opinion, people need for Bitcoin to be used MoE.
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Yes and now could be the time for use as a MoE to take off- LN is now quite user friendly but the whole media focus has become around fiat denominated price. I only recently really started to use LN again after trying a few years ago and struggling with the whole thing as Im not a tech minded person- but its now possible for a non tech like me to simply open a LN wallet and use it. Stacker News also motivated me to get LN wallet set up. It just requires a push to get people moving toward using Bitcoin as a MoE. And it does require, as you say for people to be made aware of it, and for the regulatory obstacles (CG) to be removed. That may be possible with the new US government, and if it can happen in the US then much wider MoE use could follow globally.
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I love using Lightning. And for that reason I also love using Stacker News.
But I don't think the 'price discovery' of Bitcoin has really happened yet. It's still on-going.
When people figure out 'what Bitcoin is' and price discovery takes place then and only then will people be able to use Bitcoin MoE on a widespread basis.
Until then I think it's unclear to people what Bitcoin even is.
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Unless Bitcoin is used for MoE it will become a purely speculative commodity plaything. It will not be an alternative payment protocol to the fiat monopoly. This is largely the case already. Bitcoin will have failed in its primary objective and ultimately have zero sustainable value...because it will be controlled by fiat market makers. Bankers. Control the narrative and you control the market.
P2P censorship resistant payments protocol - should be encrypted into every sat!
But they have slyly worked around it. How much Bitcoin is not now KYCed? How much of the total market has already been acquired or held by institutional custodians where it cannot be used as a P2P MoE? ETF funds fine print explicitly states the fund managers shall decide which fork, if any, they shall accept. It does not preclude them from initiating one either! Think about it...and these ETF operators are the bankers whose power and wealth is based upon their fiat monopoly.
If they can maintain the delusion that it is a speculative commodity then it will have been captured and controlled and it will never pose a threat to their fiat MoE monopoly.
its open source code. neither you nor I can stop people doing whatever they want with it
if you get value from transacting with it more power to you
its such a unique innovation through i dont think we can say what it 'primarily' is
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Nonsense. Yes it is open source code but it is clearly designed with certain intent and objectives. Those objectives are clearly stated in the white paper- you should read it. It states very directly the intent is to provision censorship resistant P2P payments protocol. Sure that intent can be slyly and determinedly diverted and obstructed via tax impositions and bankers refusing to service businesses who accept Bitcoin as a MoE and by establishing ETFs and KYC and by only providing banking to a small select number of CEXes thereby preventing growth of DEXes. Do not be so naive to think the legacy fiat debt slavery bankers cartel is not working constantly to slyly undermine Bitcoins challenge to their state backed fiat monetary payments hegemony.
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lol as if havent read the whitepaper
you come across as pretty focused on things only being able to exist in one state. hope that works out for you
good luck brother ✌
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Your assertions indicate you haven't comprehended it. You dismiss the issues I raise without addressing them, let alone refuting them. Good luck with that approach to dealing with reality.
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deleted by author
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Are some are forgetting the original purpose of Bitcoin amid the greed and euphoria of the current bull run?
Yes. That's part of the reason nobody gets orangepilled anymore nowadays 🙇🏻‍♀️
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I fundamentally disagree with this. See my earlier response listed here: #765766
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