[natenthe]

This is gaslighting. The internet was designed by CERN to be a network that scientific literature could be sent to and from other scientists. Then the internet became much, much more, and became the most transformational technology of the last century.

Bitcoin may have been designed solely as a currency, per Satoshi's whitepaper, but it has evolved into something much more (and will continue to evolve in the future). Bitcoin is digital gold. That is how it is being used and deployed by top funds and investment managers, as well as average citizens and retail investors. Bitcoin has been the TOP returning investment in the last decade. It will continue to exceed expectations because of the security of the blockchain, the inherit deflationary nature of bitcoin and the hardcoded scarcity, and as a hedge against serious inflationary concerns and geopolitical uncertainty / volatility that will continue in the future.

To say that because it had a 25% correction and is volatile while it is still in its early stages, is like saying that internet stocks (i.e. Amazon) in the year 2000 could never become mega large-cap companies and top-tier investments. Bitcoin may not be suitable to solely be relied on as a currency, but neither may the USD in a few decades from now. Bitcoin will always be able to be used nearly instantaneously at any point in the world. Bitcoin is going nowhere, is akin to digital gold, and could be potentially used a currency with the right use case. Bitcoin will be the top store of value cryptocurrency in an ecosystem of defi and blockchain networks that will be used for everything in society (i.e. wrapped btc in ethereum smart contracts), and so much more.

[xxpor]

>Then the internet became much, much more, and became the most transformational technology of the last century.

I realize this is OT, but it'd be a fascinating debate, especially if you define the timeline as 1900-2000. The internal combustion engine, MOSFETs, nuclear tech, radio and information theory, the Haber process, PCR, the list goes on. All massive impacts.

[natenthe]

Yes certainly OT. I hesitated before writing that line, but regardless, the internet is one the most transformational technologies humanity has ever created. I would characterize the last century as the last hundred years, i.e. 1920-2020. This still has nothing to do with the debate at hand.

[weregiraffe]

>Bitcoin is digital gold.

No. Gold doesn't consume a small country worth of energy just to exist.

[natenthe]

You are comparing apples to oranges. Bitcoin cuts out middlemen, like banks. The finance industry and banks are much larger energy consumers than the Bitcoin network. Comparing a world with Bitcoin versus a world without Bitcoin is an invalid comparison. If you'd like to compare energy consumption, do an analysis of companies that incorporate Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin versus business models that use traditional banks (and look at the energy consumption of those financial transactions).