[bassdropvroom]

I still don't understand this mindset of Bitcoin becoming the future of money. It isn't. It never was meant to be, and it never advertised itself as such.

Bitcoin solves the issue of trust. Bitocin itself will never work as a currency that governments can rely.

First reason for that is that governments want control over their money. There has to be a central authority for multiple reasons. Banks need bailing out? As much as I'm against bail-out, sometimes the damage of not bailing them can be far greater than not bailing them out. Need the £85k insurance that your money is safe in any bank?

Governments need control of their own currency. Bitcoin does not provide that.

I see Bitcoin more as a commodity. Something like gold, and just like gold, the supply must be finite. This is something Bitcoin provides.

There is nothing stopping a government from building their own cryptocurrency that they'll have control over, but that gets rid of the main selling point of Bitcoin, that is that you don't have to trust individuals (for the most part anyway).

[ericb]

> It never was meant to be, and it never advertised itself as such.

Totally untrue. Read Satoshi's emails--it was in the title of his first email about Bitcoin, and the first sentence in the whitepaper! The current bitcoin core devs took over from Gavin who also shared the "cash" vision. They booted everyone with plans for making it cash, and censored or blocked everyone in the bitcoin subreddit who said anything about cash or large block sizes.

https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2008-October...

[captn3m0]

From the Bitcoin paper[0]:

Abstract:

>A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution

Conclusion:

>We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust.

[0]: https://www.coinbase.com/bitcoin.pdf

[bassdropvroom]

So that's exactly what I said. Bitcoin solves the issue of trust. I do not have to trust that someone really has the money they say do, because Bitcoin will refuse to allow them to spend such money.

[alwillis]

Bitcoin Obsoletes All Other Money: https://unchained-capital.com/blog/bitcoin-obsoletes-all-oth...

[bassdropvroom]

It really won't. It will make money obsolete if/when governments are okay with not having control of their currency. No sane government will do that, especially not the likes of the UK, US and EU.

[coliveira]

Bitcoin is an interesting technology that was adopted by a bunch of people who spouse a crazy ideology. They believe that all financial problems we have are due to the specific currency used, namely paper-based currency controlled by a central bank. While I don't agree with all decisions made by the American currency creators, it is crazy to think that all financial issues would be solved by moving tomorrow to gold or bitcoins. This belief system is what made bitcoin popular along a certain segment of the population.

[elliekelly]

If bitcoin truly solved the issue of trust there would be no need for all of the various intermediaries who have popped up to insert themselves into the transactions. Also, there wouldn’t be nearly as many scams.

[bassdropvroom]

In reality though, those intermediaries make use of Bitcoin easier. They are not a requirement. I can buy Bitcoin from individuals directly providing I can find one who wants something to trade for it and I have a way of delivering the goods. I can also send my Bitcoins to individuals without any intermediary. All I need is the official Bitcoin application on my computer. No need for any intermediaries.

[stopyellingatme]

Seems to be unpopular but I agree. If Bitcoin “wins” then what will it be denominated in? Will we go to the barter system? I just can’t see it replacing the USD. (Been in crypto since 2012)