So I'm not backing down from that statement, because although it doesn't apply to everyone, it applies to many. We can talk honestly about this btw. No virtue signal necessary. Here are my three CBDC points, and I want to make them from a practical utility standpoint, not a moral or civil liberties perspective:
——— Uncertainty, which is created by the restrictions, geofencing, purchase voids, and possibly expirations of a CBDC, puts a carapace in the money. Meaning the ability of a CBDC to be a store of value is impaired and hollowed out. Velocity [of the money] will also need to be controlled dynamically if central banks are going to be effective with their policy. So all this puts it in direct competition with the better store of value, the harder money, which over time gets harder. Bitcoin suddenly has a perfect market fit.
——— ——— Then there's the inbuilt surveillance of CBDC's, which is different than the hardness/certainty argument mentioned above. And that problem manifests for a CBDC like this: the surveillance overlay makes CBDC's incompatible with several global structures if society is cashless (paperless). One of those incompatibilities are offshore tax havens, which become incompatible when the on and off ramps get surveilled statistically and directly. The Panama and Paradise Papers for example tell a story of many trillions of dollars, much of which will necessarily need neutral decentralized money. Again bitcoin emerges with a perfect market fit.
——— ——— ——— The last point is that CBDCs are naturally antagonistic with one another globally, and politicians will naturally want more power, wresting power away from central banks in how algorithms, personal information, issuance, etc, get decided within this new system ripe for abuse. Ultimately this should lead to airdrop degeneracy within elections. Airdrops to this group or to that cause. It all means directional problems with trust, velocity issues, currency pair volatility, inflation, and just uncertainty at large, so international trade will necessarily need neutral money that enforces rules. Perfect market fit.
Conclusion So maybe we can say that bitcoin has never been confronted before. A CBDC is the first confrontation, and counterintuitively, where it will monetize the most, out of necessity. The many posts I read on the subject of CBDC's smack of fear, the kind less to do with surveillance and more to do with the subtext: losing your stack's value. Just my observation. Hope this post helps shake loose those sharp pebbles for anyone with them moving around their shoes. Confrontation=Monetization
∞/21M
I'm puzzled. You make excellent arguments as to why bitcoin has nothing to fear from CBDCs. In fact, your predictions may speed adoption of bitcoin. Then you claim bitcoiners fear CBDCs. I think this might be a straw man you're propping up here. It's not fear. I'ts the fundamental philosophy that opposes the authoritarian state. Bitcoin wins with or without CBDCs. You'll find that old time bitcoiners are not obsessed with price, "number go up"ism. They genuinely care about the plight of the powerless and the betterment of society. You discover bitcoin hoping to get rich, and end up hoping to change the world.
reply
I had the same problem reading this.
The argument amounted to: CBDCs are good for bitcoin - even if they're morally reprehensible. Instead, the title says bitcoiners believe CBDCs are bad for bitcoin and pretend to have ethical concerns. Basically calling us disingenuous without any evidence for that point.
Weird. Either deliberate or unintentional clickbait.
reply
Do you think most bitcoiners do care tho? It's a fair title in that many bitcoiners have TikTok and use Twitter which are kinda spyware apps where u sell your privacy for cheap digital social inclusion.
reply
There's some LARPing for sure. I don't think twitter evil = CBDC evil, so I wouldn't use that as a LARP detector. I think you can participate on Twitter and be opposed to its business model. In my book at least, you can be an anarchist (in theory) and pay taxes. Most people choose the lesser subjective evil/hell, not the objective one.
The most egregious kind of LARPing I see on Twitter is preaching to the base for engagement farming - not so much defending the price.
reply
And I'm inclined to agree with you siggy, as I count myself amongst those you mentioned. I don't however trust any bitcoiners, even the ones I respect. I do trust human nature and incentive structures. I guess I was arguing it from that point, assuming the worst, then suggesting CBDC's are fukt less because of their inherent evils, and more because of incentive structures, greed, and human nature that bitcoin will bring over it
reply
That's the beauty of bitcoin. You don't have to trust anyone.
reply
hot damn did we have a mind meld.
reply
thats the beauty of bitcoin. you dont have to trust bitcoiners.
reply
Fuck off with your click bait propaganda bullshit.
reply
I thought it was the best post on CBDC's that I've read. Points nobody ever brought up
reply
Did you even read it? And please point to the propaganda. All the same, have yourself 20 sats and chill. ⚡️
reply
They are not antagonistic but complimentary since they allow national currencies to be decoupled from any real asset.
reply
Great article @notgeld. Excellent.
reply
Great job creating a discussion topic!
reply
As you say, CBDCs will only strengthen the case for BTC.
Nice clickbait title, lol
reply
I laugh at CDBCs. And I double laugh that they probably have to be put on the ethereum chain. They are just a rationing/spying mechanism for a banking system in it's final confrontation with economics and justice.
reply
Honestly CBDCs are already here with how little cash is used and how Visa, Mastercard and Stripe understand what everyone purchases.
Privacy in exchange for 2% cashback.
If merchants realized the benefits of having instant settlement with Lightning / Bitcoin offering a 2% discount (or even 1.5% discount) with Bitcoin settlement.
This is literally how bitcoin creates deflation and prices everything in it while generating medium of exchange use cases.
reply
To argue back, Visa, Mastercard, etc, are payment networks. Discrete payment networks, not money. They may have surveillance mechanisms, but below that layer of digital abstraction (of the USD value) is an anonymous layer in physical cash. Assuming this goes away and we're in a cashless society, it spells doom for gold, and all privacy. Enter: BTC
The Lightning transaction fee discount makes sense in theory, it can work like that, but will be contingent upon the cost of Layer 1 fees. If opening/closing channels on L1 via HTLC becomes cost prohibitive, it's possible fees on L2 could close the discount, especially during busy times like holidays etc. It's a compelling real-world utility argument though, and a good one. It could also mitigate chargeback costs, even if chargebacks maintained their current volume. And the LN could perhaps allow for a radical new advertising scheme via sats (with dynamic messaging included).
reply
LMAO, get a load of this guy.
reply
Is this a clickbait or an oxymoron, I just don't get?
reply
CBDCs are not a threat to us. They're a threat to our fellow humans.
We know bitcoin wins.
We also care about people who aren't good at math and haven't figured that out yet.
reply
deleted by author
reply