pull down to refresh
134 sats \ 7 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 20 Oct \ on: CRAZY logical conclusions about the future of Bitcoin bitcoin
You make some good points but with a very hopium bias, imo.
It seems foolhardy to think the extant fiat powers- bankers and governments will simply allow Bitcoin to take over- in fact it seems completely irrational to think they will.
Just because Bitcoin does offer superior monetary integrity to you, me and anyone who adopts it, it does not offer superior qualities to the fiat power brokers- it actually undermines their massive power advantage- and thus they have already moved very slyly in most cases ( in western 'liberal democracies') to obstruct its use as a MoE and to redefine it into a much less threatening use as a speculative SoV commodity. They have succeeded in engineering this strategy via KYC, CEXes and ETFs.
More and more Bitcoin is locked up into ETFs where quite explicitly it is being used as a speculative commodity held in custody by bankers.
As the ratio of institutional custody grows toward 50% the effectiveness of and arguments to justify a ban on private custody increase.
An Order 6102B could be rationalised by government based upon AML FUD and even claiming (correctly) that the USD is under threat.
For this not to happen it would require a mass uprising/revolution demanding we are able to use Bitcoin as a MoE- do you see this happening?
The vast majority of Bitcoin hodlers are already KYCed and most are primarily if not exclusively using BTC as a speculative commodity, not a P2P payments protocol.
Sure you and I can still do P2P payments but they have been effectively blocked from mass use via absurd CGT assessment requirements.
The Fiat Debt Slavery Bankers Cartel holds power over your elected representative and will not surrender their parasitic rentseeking position without a serious fight...that they have already taken the preparatory steps to close down private custody is evidence of this....evidence you are ignoring.
I hope I do not sound like a naysayer- in fact as soon as I learned about Bitcoin I was excited and still am- and hope like you that we can win this struggle to enable a free market in money and provide a competitive choice and alternative to the rentseeking state imposed monopoly that is fiat.
If we still have democracy? and if enough of us want it, it can happen- we have already achieved a lot. I just think the bankers have already gained a dangerous hold upon our governments and it will not be easy and is not inevitable.
I am optimistic.
In the 'west' (most western countries) you can still buy Bitcoin and withdraw it. You can still run a node, including with off-the-shelf nodes in a box (umbrel start9 etc) and open-source software is widely available. Bitcoin can still be bought, yes even from KYC exchanges today albeit especially in Europe while jumping through hoops and KYC bs... but you can still buy it and withdraw it to a hardware wallet.
And the more people that buy it and withdraw it the better and harder it is to ban.
In other words, KYC or not the more people who can get Bitcoin into self-custody, of any amount really, the stronger the Bitcoin movement and generally the harder to stop.
What amazes me is how governments, especially in Southern Europe (like Italy) have let it go this long. Because the logical conclusion is that people slowly start dumping their national currencies for Bitcoin.
Dump the Pound, buy Bitcoin. Dump the Euro, buy Bitcoin. Even dump the Dollar (although it's the best of the Fiat) and Buy Bitcoin. This isn't overnight, but little by little gradually slowly slowly it's logical that Bitcoin excels where most Fiat money fails - as better money that protects purchasing power over a long time period.
Any rational person considering all their investment and savings options would have at least a little Bitcoin - some allocation. This means every working adult with a heartbeat and a job in Western Countries at the minimum should stack at least a few sats and give Bitcoin a serious look-over.
Which just makes it all so obvious.
I just think that at the end of the day governments are not all powerful and people vote with their feet and their pocketbooks. A US presidential candidate and former president spoke at Bitcoin 24 in the US (Nashville) and although he doesn't really understand it... I think it's symbolic. Just look at how far things have come.
reply
KYCed sats are very easily confiscated- most hodlers will surrender when confronted with an offer to buy their sats for current price or become an outlaw and face prosecution.
This is how Order 6102 worked- they did not get all the gold but they got enough and from then on trading p2p was outlawed.
They can and i think are very likely to try the same if they ever perceive their fiat debt slavery market hegemony is under real threat.
The greater the ratio of institutional custody prior to any Order 6102B the more powerful the order is as all institutional sats will comply with the order and probably will be allowed to continue custody of those sats on behalf of the peasants.
They will tell you its needed to fight terror or crime or whatever BS FUD and most sheeple will comply because the alternative is to lose your stack and its utility as a speculative commodity because that is how most hodlers already see Bitcoin.
The war is not over but as long as people like you deny its real the chances of victory for Bitcoin diminish by the day- these fiat debt bankers are not platschool bullys- they are the most powerful ruthless power brokers on the planet.
reply
reply
well i'm not selling my bitcoin. they can offer to give me paper or whatever, and whether ideological or stubborn or privileged... i'm not interested.
let me ask you - btc in private custody is functionally banned in your country and the government offers you paper. would you take it?
reply
Most of my liquid wealth is held in Bitcoin and most of it, unfortunately, is KYCed.
It would be a real dilemma if they offered current market price or better and the alternative is to face prosecution and the fact that thereafter any p2p trading of Bitcoin is banned and again can be prosecuted for...because they know the address of most of my stack...they know if I transfer it 'illegally' under their edict banning private trading/custody. It traps most but the most extreme ideologically driven Bitcoiners....just as it did with gold.
It traps enough to capture and control the free p2p market.
I honestly don't know what I would do- but it would be a very difficult decision and I consider myself far more ideologically driven than the majority of Bitcoiners.
For now I hold because I believe strongly in my right to and the need for some competitive force to be applied to the state imposed fiat monetary monopoly that is de facto debt slavery of citizens.
I can say if they ban private custody I would do what I can to fight it, resist and reverse it- because it would be a dangerous turning point for our already compromised 'liberal free market capitalist democracies'.
Let me ask you something- do you think they (governments and bankers) who derive most of the power and wealth from fiat monetary control and issuance will simply surrender that hegemony without taking every measure possible to protect and preserve it?
Do you think the KYCing, CEXing, and ETFs are just innocent and incidental moves or part of a deliberate and sly strategy to capture and control the protocol while still appearing to embrace new technology and open markets?
Because they all prepare the ground perfectly for a potent and probably effective Order 6102B strategy to capture and control the protocol.
reply
i... don't know.
however in my honest opinion the 1602 order part 2 while serious is greatly exaggerated.
some countries, like the us, protect software code with the 1st amendment and any ban of self-custody would face some massive court cases.
not sure where you're from but in the us at least constitutional protections exist and are stronger than they are in most places. the attempts to ban guns, for better or worse, have completely failed and it makes sense that with Bitcoin it would be the same
reply
I hope you are right although the original Order 6102 was arguably in breach of your precious Constitution and I do not see it stopping them if their USD hegemony is seen as under threat.
The Order would have to come from the US as most 'liberal western democracies' are effectively subservient militarily and monetarily to the USA/USD in case you had not noticed.
Canada, Australia, S.Korea, Japan, Europe, Britain all would comply with Uncle Sams Order as they are all dependents.
That is the vast bulk of the global Bitcoin market...done and dusted.
reply