But no, this isn't the real reason bitcoiners tend to wish for the end days. It's just easier. A dollar collapse spares us from the actual hard work of educating people, answering dumb questions about blockchain, building L2s, and scaling bitcoin. If the world ends tomorrow, it allows us to feel superior without doing anything.
Oh wow, is this my alt?
Nah, I'm kidding. Seriously though, watching other people come to the same natural conclusions (and writing articles about them) is a heck of a thing to watch.
And we're part of the problem. As long as we're taking out promissory notes in dollars, we're creating demand for the world's reserve currency. My liabilities are someone else's asset to balance against their liabilities. So it goes.
You can rationalize it however you want: fiat loans with bitcoin collateral, speculative attack, get on zero, asymmetric trade, etc. But what you resist, persists.
ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE NOT MY ALT??? lmao
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160 sats \ 3 replies \ @0fje0 20 Jun
Nah, I'm kidding. Seriously though, watching other people come to the same natural conclusions (and writing articles about them) is a heck of a thing to watch.
Totally agree. It beautifully put into words many of the sentiments I've had for quite a while. I have zero data to substantiate this, but I won't be surprised if more 'silent' bitcoiners also feel the same.
Kudos to @jtwoodhouse for writing it up. Well worth the read.
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Thank you, my friend. There's definitely a contingent of silent bitcoiners who feel this way. It gets harder to maintain the hysteria.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @0fje0 20 Jun
You're welcome. Prior to today, I don't recall seeing any of your previous pieces. I really like your writing style.
This from an earlier piece, for example, gave me a good chuckle:
Indoor swimming pool of athiest tears
Priceless. (Despite of the typo. Or maybe that was intentional?)
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I appreciate it! I post on here when I have something to say.
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I'm positively surprised, too.
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Excellent comment đź‘Ť... I'm new to this but I am convinced that if we continue stacking and learning daily... we will achieve it đź’Ş
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Doomerism is a brainfart
Like a cumpulsive thing people cupulsively do. Especially insecure people or people with anxiety - but other people as well.
I wonder which biological pressure made it evolutionarily helpul for humans to have this glitch or these tendencies?
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Good article but this is incorrect.
If only. It turns out there was one small problem with this story: the agreement didn’t exist. It was fake news.
It did exist. The part that people have been wrong about is the collapse of the dollar. I have never heard anyone dispute the existence, even those that refute the impact. The gold bugs have been claiming the dollar will collapse for longer than bitcoin has existed.
The argument against the collapse of the dollar due to oil not being traded in dollars is that treasuries are what has a larger impact on the strength of the dollar. That said, people say this is a significant sign of the long term weakening of to dollar.
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If the agreement existed, where can I read it? I'm genuinely curious. I would think it should be the type of thing covered in a FOIA request if nothing else.
In good faith, I'm not going to jump to assessing the impact of an expired agreement if I can't read it in the first place.
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That's fair. Every agreement is not available online. I've read about but I don't recall the details. I'll see what I can dig up. I wonder if it was a verbal agreement. I just doubt it is fake news. I suspect the real issue is exaggeration.
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This might be interesting to read
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Thank you for tracking this down! I will give it a read.
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Seems the agreement people refer to was made in secret. Hasn't been acknowledged publicly or officially from what I have read. mises.org and other sources have mentioned that the agreement has long been ignored and they linked to this article. One of the few establishment outlets that actually acknowledge its existence.
I would call this petrodollar agreement a conspiracy theory in its purist form. Most likely one that is true based on what we have witnessed since the 70s. I think it is far more likely some under the table agreement was reached than not.
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I'm probably a bit older than you and I've noticed a thing that is interesting. Its the idea that if something can't be searched or found online it doesn't exist. In this case I don't doubt the agreement. What I do doubt is that many know about the details. Like an expiration. I'd like to see proof of that. But your broader point about credit and debt is right on.
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Of course Doom is not a strategy, it's FPS.
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You got me there lmao
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Good one hahaha
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While Saudi Arabia's decision to accept payment for oil in currencies other than the US dollar may not have a significant immediate impact, it could have long-term consequences. The country holds substantial dollar reserves and is unlikely to make drastic changes that could jeopardize their value. Therefore, the transition to a more diversified currency system for oil sales is expected to be gradual.
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Well said. We make progress by constructive human action, not by passively waiting out some doom clock which will probably never toll.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @nout 20 Jun
My strategy is to play Doom when I'm old...
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Optimism is kryptonite to the banker war machine
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @clr 20 Jun
There are many reasons to use bitcoin that aren’t dependent on the end of Western civilization.
Yes, true. But Western civilization already ended in March 2020.
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Damn, that’s pretty heartbreaking
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Doom definitely isn't a strategy, but I think with ever healthy dose of optimism there should be a healthy dose of what is going on - and sometimes that what is going on is doomer.
I will say, too many youtubers and people on X are always so negative and it drives me away from those platforms. Life is too short to be negative.
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Bitcoin doesn't need to rely on doomsday scenarios to succeed. The cryptocurrency has inherent merits that make it valuable without requiring the collapse of Western civilization[1].
Some key points:
  1. Bitcoin is already a fairer financial system, with features like a fixed supply cap and peer-to-peer transactions working effectively now.
  2. Focusing on apocalyptic narratives is counterproductive and may actually hinder adoption. Critical thinking is more important than fearmongering.
  3. Attaching Bitcoin to weak doomsday arguments is embarrassing and distracts from its positive potential.
  4. There are many reasons to use Bitcoin that don't depend on economic catastrophe, such as its decentralized nature and self-custody options.
  5. The Bitcoin ecosystem in 2024 has become overly reliant on pessimistic "doomer" narratives at the expense of highlighting Bitcoin's actual technological innovations.
The author argues that Bitcoin advocates should focus more on the cryptocurrency's inherent strengths and ongoing development (like ecash and BitVM) rather than apocalyptic scenarios. Ultimately, Bitcoin's success will come from its own merits, not from the failure of other systems[1].
Sources [1] Doom is not a strategy https://www.jtwoodhouse.com/doom-is-not-a-strategy/ [2] Bitcoin is America: Why mind control won't stop the revolution https://www.jtwoodhouse.com/bitcoin-is-america-mind-control-wont-stop-the-revolution/ [3] stacker news https://stacker.news [4] Bad Emacs defaults - Hacker News https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37843908 [5] Bitcoin - The Currency of the Internet - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/hot/ [6] Doom is not a strategy \ stacker news ~bitcoin #580394
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Repeat it as many times as you can and you will feel the joy of music to ears.
'Bitcoin is my strategy.'
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Loved this.
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