Noncoiner smart friend is struggling with Bitcoin. Fighting it hard. Hyper focused on making sure “someone”is accountable. My text responses:

“Got it. You are locked in on accountability. That is good.”

“Ok. It is 1750 USA. You are looking to sell 3 horses. Buyer shows up with stack of Escudos gold coin. You do not trust Columbia. You don’t trust the dude, but you do trust the gold: it is easily verified as real: by touch, feel, weight. You also trust the when you go to spend it it will hold its value. It’s hard money. Hard to increase supply, hard to counterfeit, easy to verify as real.”

“Gold’s properties are all physical. Fixed by nature. Bitcoin properties are fixed by math (large numbers and cryptography) + energy (computational proof). If there is say a 10% chance that Bitcoin replicates Gold’s properties in digital form. If it’s just as hard or harder to counterfeit, easier to verify, impossible to inflate, then you may want to have access to some in case it works out . Or at least take a close look at how it works. How can it have emergent accountability?”

“Personal responsibility: if you lost your gold coins you are f-ked, if you lose access to your private keys in Bitcoin, also f-ked”