> We thought the net would break the monopoly of top-down, corporate media. But as business interests took over it has become primarily a delivery system for streaming television to consumers, and consumer data to advertisers.
Weird thing to say about an era where traditional publishers and news networks have been entirely disrupted by random folks posting on twitter/facebook.
> At its core, bitcoin is just an extension of the old PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy encryption protocol.
I've never seen the word "just" do so much work. Bitcoin, notably, solved the Double Spending problem[0] seventeen years after PGP was created.
> In essence, bitcoin is money built and maintained by nerds, based on the premise that good nerds will outnumber the bad nerds.
This is patently false. The _entire_ point of bitcoin is that miners and node operators acting in _their own self-interest_ will secure the protocol, not "good nerds". You can argue if the system fails this will be the case, but not that this is the premise.
Then there's this sentence, which is just nonsense:
> All money was borrowed from the central treasury, at a rate of interest set by the king.
Grampa Simpson: "Oh, everything's stolen nowadays. Why, the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached!"
* Bitcoin and Ethereum are grandfathered into not requiring KYC and AML. They are the rare currency with zero friction.
* All new currencies require KYC and AML. This is happening right now
* Other currencies can have some positives (backed by revenue generating assets, etc.). But they can be confiscated by governments
* Bitcoin always has a place, as the zero friction, no-KYC currency.
EXAMPLE: I did a wire transfer from the USA to India. Since it was sent in Indian rupees, the receiving bank kept rejecting it. They claimed it didn't pass AML. The real reason is that they wanted to take huge fees for the USD to Rupees conversion on their receiving side. So they kept rejecting it, until it is sent in US Dollars and they can scalp me on the conversion rate. I had 8 weeks of failed transfers.
That AML hostage taking can happen across all currencies BUT Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In the future, people in China are taking their money out in bitcoin. People across Africa, South America, also often move it into Bitcoin. They can cross justidictions with nobody to stop them. There is a place to cut around the hostage stakers at the AML level.
I have their Borderless account and hold balances in several currencies at once, with access using a debit card, wires, ACH (US), SWIFT (EU) etc. Highly recommend!
> At its core, bitcoin is just an extension of the old PGP, or Pretty Good Privacy encryption protocol.
People with land and/or skills could create new economies by trading directly with each other with what they produce and opt out altogether..
In a way it is the final defence of a people against control and oppression or insane hyperinflation, but is more dificult to do if you are stuck in a city or additcted to modern technology.
I refuse to believe it. Because if that were true bitcoin would surely vanish into thin air.
I would like to see these same discussions after understanding the Ethereum ecosystem which solves most of the problems listed in articles like these. There's a stable form of value in DAI, high velocity and cheap money transfers, and decentralized financial protocols that replace traditional gatekeepers like banks and payment processors.
A long but interesting article by David Hoffman really sums it up in the best way possible and is worth a read: https://thedefiant.substack.com/p/ether-is-the-best-model-fo...
