So, one of the main arguments I encounter when discussing Bitcoin with its promulgators is that it can potentially free the financial system from the cabal of plutocrats that currently run the show, and who have lavished enormous wealth on themselves and their cronies. This argument seems to entirely dismiss the actions of the shady cabal who mined huge numbers of Bitcoins when doing so was trivial (and prior to any public availability), and to a lesser extent the early adopters.
When central bankers throw money like confetti at themselves and their friends whilst most others must struggle to earn small amounts of it this is deemed a moral evil. Yet when the progenitors of Bitcoin and their acolytes do much the same; capture the low hanging fruit and leave everyone else fighting over increasingly complex computational scraps this is hailed as a brave new world of financial freedom.
Should Bitcoin ever achieve the kind of ubiquity its most ardent fans hope for, these people will wield more financial power than any of the Banksters they decry. They will also control such a large amount of the monetary base that they too could end up becoming plutocrats
Far from being a revolution, the future as envisaged by Bitcoin fanboys will be little more than a changing of the cast of villains.
The "shady cabal"? Really? And "their acolytes"? Yeah - we're the new generation of the Illuminati. [That reminds me... I got some lizard blood on my ceremonial robes at the last secret meetup... gotta get to the secret drycleaners.]
Do you even know anything about the history of bitcoin? At all?
Why don't you read the Hal Finney thread. He mined (No link: forgive me - but I'm thinking you can do your own research) block #14 I think? It was all open on the web - for those with vision and desire - after the genesis block was mined. Just because you do not appear to have vision, and your desire appears to extend only to dissing those who posses it, doesn't mean that what you say is true.
If you think the early adopters are getting wealthy sitting on their asses, you're a complete idiot. Bitcoin was only an opportunity - it made just the right people work their asses off: those people with vision and desire. That's part of the brilliance of it.
I am grateful every day for what little I have been able to contribute, what little coin I have accumulated since 2011 when I started, and how remarkably my life has changed for having been able to participate in this.