@$37662: Bitcoin Is Changing the Script

If you’re on crypto Twitter you’ll find no shortage of technical analysis, some deep dives on fundamentals and a sprinkling of astrology. There is evidence, after all, that moon cycles correlate with bitcoin price changes.

What you don’t find so much scrutiny of, because they’re less quantifiable, are stories. But often, it’s the stories that drive curiosity and tweak at people’s emotions, initiating both greed and fear.

Whether the stories are true or not is sometimes a secondary point, it’s whether people believe them that is initially important, and besides, if enough people believe them then they can become self-fulfilling and reify into something substantial.

Bitcoin is the master storyteller, or the most compelling protagonist because it has the ability to shift and reshape even as it stays the same, altering its plotline to fit with the pressing concerns of the moment. Bitcoin fixes this and runs the cliché, but what’s remarkable is that whatever the state of the world and its current malady, Bitcoin is so often held up as the best, or only, salve.

Don’t forget that Bitcoin’s genesis block was created with a digital inscription implying that it was a remedy:

“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”

A headline imbued with urgency and desperation from the chaotic interior of a financial crisis engulfing the planet. A headline recording an event that one day, it’s contended, will no longer be able to occur because Bitcoin fixes this.

Did many people believe in Bitcoin in the years following its creation? No, very few. But, at the same time, progressively fewer people believed in the banks either. They would say that out loud about what were seen as crooked financial institutions, but underlying (consciously or not) a loss of belief in banks is a loss of belief in the money the banks have on offer.

In terms of levels of belief, then, banks and Bitcoin were on opposite trajectories, one leaking faith, and the other accumulating it by the block. The story here is critical to bitcoin’s surge, and bitcoin’s surge is critical to the story.

Was the story true? It’s looking that way, but then again, we’re still in truth discovery mode.

Bitcoin has been called, variously, a peer-to-peer payment system, a store of value and an asset class (not to mention a ponzi scheme Ponzi Scheme A Ponzi scheme is a scam that looks to lure investors, ultimately paying profits to earlier investors with funds from more later investors.This form of fraud tricks victims into believing that products are instead generated from product sales or other means. In actuality, most investors are completely oblivious to the actual origin of incoming funds.One of the central attributes of a Ponzi scheme is the necessity of its ongoing nature, which is dependent on a steady flow of new contributions and funds. This can unravel quickly should investors request or demand repayment or lose faith in whatever assets they are supposed to own.While earlier episodes of this scam were carried out historically, the name Ponzi scheme is associated with Charles Ponzi in the 1920s.His original scam was based on the legitimate arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps. This eventually gave way to diverting new investors’ money to make payments to earlier investors and to himself.How to Identify Ponzi Schemes?Like any scam, Ponzi schemes follow a few basic trends that investors should be mindful of. A healthy amount of skepticism in regards to investing should always be present, which should help identify ways that scams look to market themselves.For example, Ponzi schemes almost always require an initial investment and promise above average returns. This also includes purposely vague or arbitrary terminology to help confuse more novice investors. This fraud is riddled with mentions of “high-yield investment programs”, “offshore investment”, or “guaranteed returns”.Any sort of investment opportunity should always be analyzed and researched. In the modern era, many tools are available to identify scams or fraudulent operations.Regulators in most jurisdictions are constantly policing against these forms of market abuse and it is important to check these registers before actually investing in dubious opportunities. A Ponzi scheme is a scam that looks to lure investors, ultimately paying profits to earlier investors with funds from more later investors.This form of fraud tricks victims into believing that products are instead generated from product sales or other means. In actuality, most investors are completely oblivious to the actual origin of incoming funds.One of the central attributes of a Ponzi scheme is the necessity of its ongoing nature, which is dependent on a steady flow of new contributions and funds. This can unravel quickly should investors request or demand repayment or lose faith in whatever assets they are supposed to own.While earlier episodes of this scam were carried out historically, the name Ponzi scheme is associated with Charles Ponzi in the 1920s.His original scam was based on the legitimate arbitrage of international reply coupons for postage stamps. This eventually gave way to diverting new investors’ money to make payments to earlier investors and to himself.How to Identify Ponzi Schemes?Like any scam, Ponzi schemes follow a few basic trends that investors should be mindful of. A healthy amount of skepticism in regards to investing should always be present, which should help identify ways that scams look to market themselves.For example, Ponzi schemes almost always require an initial investment and promise above average returns. This also includes purposely vague or arbitrary terminology to help confuse more novice investors. This fraud is riddled with mentions of “high-yield investment programs”, “offshore investment”, or “guaranteed returns”.Any sort of investment opportunity should always be analyzed and researched. In the modern era, many tools are available to identify scams or fraudulent operations.Regulators in most jurisdictions are constantly policing against these forms of market abuse and it is important to check these registers before actually investing in dubious opportunities. Read this Term, a fringe triviality and an enabler of criminality), depending on when and where you ask.

But, right now, the emphasis has shifted with global events, taking the increasingly epic story arc with it.

In Ottawa, Canada, at the snowy opening of 2022, there is an air of lawlessness around the government as, without bothering to check in at a court along the way, it responds to the truckers’ protest by freezing some citizens’ bank accounts.

Effectively and in practical terms, the Canadian government has declared that the funds within those accounts, and by extension within all accounts, belong not to the account holders, but to the state.

But, as you know, our story has a refrain, piercing through cracks when the lights go out.

Bitcoin Bitcoin Bitcoin is the world’s first digital currency that was created in 2009 by a mysterious entity named Satoshi Nakamoto. As a digital currency or cryptocurrency, Bitcoin operates without a central bank or single administrator. Instead, Bitcoin can be sent via a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking, devoid of intermediaries.Bitcoins are not issued or backed by any governments or banks, and Bitcoin is not considered to be legal tender, although they do have status as an acknowledged transfer of value in some jurisdictions. Rather than composing a physical currency, Bitcoins are pieces of code that can be sent and received across a kind of distributed ledger network called a blockchain. Transactions on the Bitcoin network are confirmed by a network of computers (or nodes) that solve a series of complex equations. This process is called mining. In exchange for mining, the computers receive rewards in the form of new Bitcoins. Mining grows increasingly difficult over time, and the rewards get smaller and smaller. There is a total of 21 million Bitcoins. As of May 2020, there are 18.3 million Bitcoins in circulation. This number changes approximately every 10 minutes when new blocks are mined. Presently, each new block adds 12.5 bitcoins into circulation.Since its inception, Bitcoin has remained the most popular and largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap in the world. Bitcoin’s popularity has contributed significantly to the release of thousands of other cryptocurrencies, called “altcoins.” While the crypto market was originally hegemonic, today’s landscape features countless altcoins.Bitcoin ControversyBitcoin has been extremely controversial since its original launch. Given its mercurial nature, Bitcoin has been criticized for its use in illegal transactions and money laundering.As its impossible to trace, these attributes make Bitcoin the ideal vehicle for illicit behavior. Moreover, critics point to its high electricity consumption for mining, rampant price volatility, and thefts from exchanges. Bitcoin has been seen as a speculative bubble given its lack of oversight. The crypto has weathered multiple collapses and survived over a decade so far. Unlike its launch back in 2009, Bitcoin today is viewed far differently and is much more accepted by merchants and other entities. Bitcoin is the world’s first digital currency that was created in 2009 by a mysterious entity named Satoshi Nakamoto. As a digital currency or cryptocurrency, Bitcoin operates without a central bank or single administrator. Instead, Bitcoin can be sent via a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking, devoid of intermediaries.Bitcoins are not issued or backed by any governments or banks, and Bitcoin is not considered to be legal tender, although they do have status as an acknowledged transfer of value in some jurisdictions. Rather than composing a physical currency, Bitcoins are pieces of code that can be sent and received across a kind of distributed ledger network called a blockchain. Transactions on the Bitcoin network are confirmed by a network of computers (or nodes) that solve a series of complex equations. This process is called mining. In exchange for mining, the computers receive rewards in the form of new Bitcoins. Mining grows increasingly difficult over time, and the rewards get smaller and smaller. There is a total of 21 million Bitcoins. As of May 2020, there are 18.3 million Bitcoins in circulation. This number changes approximately every 10 minutes when new blocks are mined. Presently, each new block adds 12.5 bitcoins into circulation.Since its inception, Bitcoin has remained the most popular and largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap in the world. Bitcoin’s popularity has contributed significantly to the release of thousands of other cryptocurrencies, called “altcoins.” While the crypto market was originally hegemonic, today’s landscape features countless altcoins.Bitcoin ControversyBitcoin has been extremely controversial since its original launch. Given its mercurial nature, Bitcoin has been criticized for its use in illegal transactions and money laundering.As its impossible to trace, these attributes make Bitcoin the ideal vehicle for illicit behavior. Moreover, critics point to its high electricity consumption for mining, rampant price volatility, and thefts from exchanges. Bitcoin has been seen as a speculative bubble given its lack of oversight. The crypto has weathered multiple collapses and survived over a decade so far. Unlike its launch back in 2009, Bitcoin today is viewed far differently and is much more accepted by merchants and other entities. Read this Term fixes this.

Another repair job is required, to another shoddy irresponsible institution. The issue at hand might be different to previous travails, but it’s equally addressable.

And, so when the problem is that your assets are precariously vulnerable to state appropriation, and the government is leveraging your money as a tool by which to censor and exert control, Bitcoin becomes a means by which to protect your capital.

Utilized properly, Bitcoin ensures that your assets cannot be seized and that money becomes censorship-resistant. This is a curious chapter in the story, not least because it’s set in easy-going, liberal Canada, but here we are, careering through twists as the plot drives forward and presents a new motif: buy bitcoin to protect your capital, but please do make sure that you self-custody.

There are further branches to the narrative, and we’re far from out of the woods yet. As many observers have pointed out, those in power who are striving to cut off access to money can make it difficult to convert bitcoin to fiat.

That too, though, just advances the plot, refocusing our attention. When there is great pressure, diversity occurs, new directions are taken, and progress can speed up. In other words, what might cause a Bitcoin circular economy to emerge more rapidly, is the real-time, high-stakes necessity for a Bitcoin circular economy to emerge.

We’re at an unexpected point in the script. It’s jolting when things seemed previously to have had some semblance of consistency, but critically, the audience is increasing in number. In fact, the audience is invading the stage and word is out that a solution, to some long-running problems, going back not just to bank bailouts, but much further, might be at hand.

Does Bitcoin really fix currently unfolding events, on top of everything else? That depends on how many people believe they’re hearing not just a story, but a true story in which they can participate.