The Security Budget issue and how the Bitcoin community approaches it is a mystery to me.
When I started with Bitcoin, whenever I didn't understand something, there was always some logical explanation. I just had to re-read the whitepaper, study the code, understand the Austrian school of economics, etc. Bitcoin taught me that "code is law" and predictability is its greatest strength.
But then I came across this Security Budget problem. Bitcoin's security costs billions annually, paid through block subsidy. The code says this subsidy goes to zero. The plan is fees will replace it. But after 15 years, fees cover only 0.5-1% of the security budget.
I went looking for the explanation. I re-read the whitepaper - nothing. I studied the economics - the math doesn't work. I asked the community - and encountered something I'd never seen before: pure cognitive dissonance and zero logical answers.
"You're spreading FUD."
"Security budget doesn't exist."
"Miners aren't CREATING coins, they're RELEASING them."
"That's not a problem at all."
This was the first really serious cognitive dissonance I encountered in the Bitcoin community. It forced me to think: do I want to stay in a community where identity matters more than truth?
