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Why does this need to be done on Bitcoin? Why are we experiencing this dilution of Bitcoins original usecase?

I don't think the future is a binary outcome. ie total freedom or total slavery.

People will build many forms of digital identity systems, as despite their drawbacks, they do offer benefits.

To the extent that we have to have one (proving age to get into a bar, crossing borders, etc,), would we not rather use one that offers us maximum privacy and control, by making use of advanced cryptography?

Vs being compelled to use the one that centralises all of our data, and hands control over to WEF, et al ?

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Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

You're argument about decentralisation is a sound one, but IS Saylor sound? Are we to take it on faith that this man, who has been banging the drum about Bitcoins usecase as freedom money, but whose projects don't speak to that usecase, who is only around the corner from CIA headquarters (you may say it's coincidental, but these things are cumulative), who is blocking funds to developers and acting as a gatekeeper, has the best interests of Bitcoin in mind?

I would rather question his every move and motive from this point forth, and be embarrassingly wrong about everything than to continue to give this man a free pass because he is memeable and has incorporated himself into the Bitcoin 'brand'.

Meridian 1y ago

I can't prove it, but there was a large anonymouse donation made to support some of the recent legal battles bitcoiners were facing. I had a suspicion that Saylor might have had a hand in that...

That said, it shouldn't really matter.

It's on us not to put people on a pedestal. And it's on Bitcoin to stand resiliant, in the face of those who seek to profit from it, whether their motives are benevolent or otherwise.

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

That is precisely true, but perhaps there may have been attack vectors unforseen up unil now. We are entering a very

delicate phase of Bitcoins trajectory.

Is it not wise to be vigilant?

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Without the details, it could be entirely self motivated.

Bill Gates and the Carnegies are renowned for their 'philanthropy'.

Meridian 1y ago

The lack of clarity around the details is the issue.

If Saylor approached this with purity of heart, he could actually end up gifting humanity something on a parr with Bitcoin itself...

i.e. the most robust, self soverign way of managing identity in a digital context.

It will be interesting to see which path he chooses, and the extent to which he can pull it off...

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

I choose to be resolutely sceptical, and therefore, am in the perfect position to be pleasantly surprised.

Meridian 1y ago

Seems like a reasonable position.

One positive is that it looks like he's pushing his work to GitHub.

If he maintains the open-source nature of the product, at least we'll be able to vet and verify it, for ourselves, much in the same way we do with Bitcoin.

Unlike other centralised, black box approaches to digital identity, if he aims to shaft folks, at least we'll know about it, and the extent to which he's able to do it...

jamw 1y ago

Yep, the concept of decentralised identities has been around for a while now. Also the focus of nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m company TBD and the driving idea behind “Web5”. Our identities are already spread around numerous centralised databases run by third-parties, which when you consider it, is an absolute privacy nightmare and a complete loss of control on an individual level. Our identities are something we should control and we should be able to decide which services we access and prevent them from sharing our data. And equally be able to deny those services access later.

https://developer.tbd.website/projects/web5/

Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Why solve it with Bitcoin?

jamw 1y ago

Mainly because it is the most secure censorship-resistant, open and decentralised blockchain to anchor DIDs too. A “timechain” that records our identity changes in an immutable fashion that will likely outlive any centralised company or newly created blockchain starting from scratch. That all said, the NOSTR model could probably be used too.

jamw 1y ago

BTW, I’m in no way saying it’s the right thing to do.