Are you people here who are passionate about Bitcoin in it to free themselves from the centralised system or just another means to invest?
Discussion
I ask because one group will make sacrifices and the other doesn't give a fuck as long as they profit.
Just curious what your engineering degree was in? Wondering the other day if any EE or amateur circuit benders were in this joint?
That is a good question for today’s bitcoiners. I got in, in 2012 thinking in terms of pascal’s conjecture WRT religion. If something doesn’t cost any thing ( or very little) and has potential for huge returns the you should participate. E.G. it cost nothing to believe in god and live a morally straight life, and the reward is a chance at life for eternity.
In 2012 bitcoin was about $35 when o bought on eBay and had huge potential, I speculated it would match the global mattress money supply (about 0.5 T usd at the time), low cost and huge return potential, similar to pascal’s conjecture.
Unfortunately, my $350 investment was stored on MtGox. The first lesson on “not your keys not your coins.” I never invested more because I was sure the gov would outlaw it.
Today things are diff. And with the #zap ability of the lightning network, and things like #nostr I view it as an expression of freedom.
No different than everyone should, exercise each of these freedoms:
0. Own bitcoin at three levels
A. lighting,
B. warm self custody,
C. deep cold storage.
1. Have 6-12 months food on hand (common where I grew up)
2. Own or access to a rural cabin
3. Garden (hard for me I live in a forest)
4. Own at least a few once’s of gold and silver
5. Own a gun and know how to hunt. ( rifle and shotgun )
6. Fishing rod with plenty of tackle. (Fly and cast-real) and know how to fish
7. Know how to fly a plane. ( I suspect that will be outlawed in the future, but currently a freedom we can enjoy in the US)
I
It is somewhat an act of defiance.. for now. It’s growth will only make the government stick its arm up the arse.
What governments don’t understand is that bitcoin can never replace the world of fiat currency.
The reason is because you can’t borrow bitcoin denominated in bitcoin.
If people like Jerome Powell and Janey Yellen truest understood that, they would ignore bitcoin as a threat to the USD.
Gedankenexperiment:
Economists don’t understand negative interest rates.
So let’s say #BTC has an interest rate of say -4.0%.
What that means is that if I borrow 100 #BTC from you today, then I will have to pay you back only 96 #BTC next year.
But from my perspective that wouldn’t make sense, I would just hold it for another year and pay you back 92.16 #BTC . Driving that to its logical conclusion I hold for 50 years and only owe you 1BTC
Understanding negative interest is mind boggling for most economists.
Now this is why capital gains tax is unjust. Your capital asset (house, farm, etc) never became worth more, the dollar just weakened. But needless to say the GOV even wants a portion of your weaker dollar.
Government doesn't have to understand. It always wants to control.