Originally, I disagreed with Matthew's methods, but somewhat sympathized with the original motivation he presented.
However, as of yesterday, circumstances have clearly changed, given the Pirate default statement.
So Matthew's subsequent doubling down now guarantees that things will end very badly for him.
Either:
1. he loses the bet, and will be forever remembered as the obstinate idiot who doubled down and lost 30KBTC in the face of an explicit confession. No one will ever again respect him, or trust his judgement on any business matters.
2. Pirate pays, he miraculously wins the bet, in which case he will forever be suspected as a crook who had inside information.
3. he welches on the bet through a technicality or pretending it was a joke, in which case he will be forever known as someone whose word cannot be trusted or taken seriously.
Matthew, it's good to have courage and strong beliefs. But when new concrete information is brought to light, a wise man will reassess the validity of those beliefs before digging himself a deeper hole. There is no dishonor in admitting a mistake and engaging reverse. In fact, quite the opposite.
Isn't it beautiful? And all from a community of the "new currency" free from "evil" enemy government oppression!
With a community like ours, who needs enemies!
There are more points to be made, but I'll make them around the 9th. Thanks for your kind words mate.