Nostr Web Client

Linking a thread where I had a similar conversation with nostr:npub1nf9vm6uhs4j7yaysmjn9eqlf7et5t6hvrkdqgpd995vcc9yfjyas0pxa3x

https://primal.net/e/note1f73x842633u75l3sf7mee4r96jqp84nk9g8pmg9a69w2chf6k5kq0uxsel

I think I’ve reached a similar conclusion as Fr. Nick Blaha. Opting for bitcoin because of its nature as sound money for people of all nations and creeds, regardless of future price action in dollar terms, is the most moral option available. I think the key distinction to make is the principle of double effect which I mention in that thread above.

MichaelJ 1y ago

Thanks for linking that! It provides some helpful points.

I think my current position is that, at the very least, I need to know enough about Bitcoin to be able to receive and transact in it. If it is truly a currency, then doing things to earn Bitcoin will ultimately be more important than buying and holding stacks of it against some possible future.

Which takes us into the next point, that for Bitcoin to avoid becoming just another speculative asset, people need to start treating it like money. Nostr and Lightning are pretty cool because they are starting to create a market for people who want to actually treat Bitcoin like money. But people gotta buy fully into that project.

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

Omekau 1y ago

Totally agree with that last sentence in your first paragraph. The end should be the pushing out of all weaker currencies (USD as the last bastion) from the quotidian transactional economy. If the intent is instead to acquire bitcoin for the end of a larger amount of USD (or other currency), then that’s speculative and should be avoided given its inherent uncharitableness (wasn’t sure if that was a word lol).

Yes hopefully! And there needs to be a culture that promotes broader distribution of bitcoin, not to just drive up buyers for the sake of “number go up”, but for the good of our neighbor that they may benefit from sound money that can’t be debased.

I wonder if an argument can be made that Bitcoin is in line with the virtue of poverty. Poverty, not in the mistaken sense of being in a state of miserable want, but in not desiring the superfluous and in cheerfully accepting shortage or discomfort, as St. Josemaría Escrivá puts it. With bitcoin’s USD price fluctuation, it can certainly be a bit nerve wracking to depend on that for long term savings but that is the short term cost of relying on a money that can’t be weaponized for certain political agendas (especially those that are anti-Catholic) all while throwing you a bone of x% return on investment.

MichaelJ 1y ago

Don't over-spiritualize Bitcoin. As a money, it would be neither inherently prone to poverty of spirit nor inherently prone to avarice. It's just morally neutral like any other money.

The essence of spiritual poverty, as I have come to understand it, is detachment. So eschewing some amount of monetary gain for the sake of promoting a more just society is compatible with the spirit of poverty.

We have to view money (including Bitcoin) as a resource we must steward rather than as something we own and can dispose of at will.

Omekau 1y ago

Good point, it all depends on how it’s used. What I intended to convey was the notion you expressed of eschewing monetary gain for the promotion of a more just society. I think bitcoin is more conducive to that precisely because its monetary power cannot be siphoned away by the State which I think it’s fair to say is inherently unjust. But of course, there can and will be people who seek solely to profit off of the volatility by accumulating from weak hands and selling to greedy hands.