Below are a few falsities about Bitcoin and its communities. Suggestions are welcome.
1. A majority of Bitcoin transaction volume is composed of mining pool payouts and gambling transactions.Status:
MythBlockchain.info provides an
estimated transaction volume. In the past 30 days, 8772900
BTC were transacted. Let's take a look at gambling and mining pool payouts, and see how they stack up:
- Mining pool payouts. An upper bound of this is the amount mined in total, as no more can be payed out. An average 30-day period would see 109500 BTC mined (including transaction fees), and so the amount of transaction volume for mining pool payouts is at most 1.3%. So much for that idea.
- Gambling. While there's no question that gambling is a large part of the Bitcoin economy, the idea that it's the only part is grossly mistaken. Most gambling is centralized by one company, SatoshiDICE. SatoshiDICE processes approximately 330000 BTC every month. If we assume it is only half of gambling volume, that's still only 700000 XBTC gambled every 30 days. How much of transaction volume is gambling? Less than 8%.
2. Bitcoin is used only by criminals.Status:
MythThis is an easy one to debunk. Silk Road processes $22 million annually, according to a recent study. Bitcoin's blockchain, which doesn't even include Silk Road activity and other off-blockchain transactions, is over $1000 million annually. This is a fraction of total transactional volume, which is likely billions of dollars annually.
By comparison, US GDP is around $15000 billion, of which at least $30 billion is drug trade.
There is little evidence that guns, child pornography, or any other illegal goods are sold with significant volume.
Bitcoin is not suitable for widespread criminal use because of how difficult it is to keep it anonymous, and in fact the drug market is stagnating. Far fewer criminals use Bitcoin than many would believe.
3. Bitcoin supporters hate fiat currency and the Federal Reserve.Status:
MythWhilst it is true that Bitcoiners tend to reject the Keynesian school of economics, the world's dominant school has no reason to fear Bitcoin. Bitcoin does not eliminate the Federal Reserve; rather, it contemplates it. Many Bitcoin supporters see Bitcoin not a challenge to central banks, but rather a novel way of sending currency the central banks issue. Companies like Bitpay advocate for holding zero Bitcoin, and instead using it as a system to instantly send money from one hemisphere to another.
The beauty of Bitcoin is that it can be used how one wishes. Many Bitcoin supporters identify with pro-Fed political factions, such as the Republicans. In fact, Bitcoiners represent a wide political spectrum; there are socialists, liberals, greens, libertarians, conservatives, and just about any other party represented. See
this study to better reflect upon the diverse political beliefs of Bitcoiners.
In conclusion, Bitcoin is apolitical. It is fantastical to assume that all Bitcoin users identify with Ron Paul or other anti-fiat factions.
4. ASIC miners will cause blockchain size to increase.Status:
MythASIC miners do not affect the rate of blocks beyond a one-time catch-up effect. Bitcoin is designed so that the rate of blocks always converges to 10 minutes per block. Although it is true that ASIC miners will increase this block rate, this increase will in short order be caught up to by the blockrate adjustment algorithm. The blocks mined during this adjustment period will be the only faster-than-normal blocks ASIC miners create.
On average, Bitcoin's blockrate will actually be faster than 10 minutes per block, thanks to Moore's law. The law states that hardware will increase in power steadily (exponential growth). So long as this law holds, the Bitcoin network's difficulty adjustment will always lag behind the betterment of technology. Thus the temporary blockrate increase caused by ASIC miners is not an unusual instance, and stronger increases have happened before thanks to GPU technology and software improvements.
5. One must mine to own significant quantities of bitcoins.Status:
MythMining is not any more productive than any other Bitcoin-related industry. Indeed, most small-scale miners will find themselves squeezed by high operating costs, unexpected equipment depreciation, and an uncertain future. In contrast, other industries can often fare well. Starting an exchange, stock exchange, payment processor, or middle-man can be a very profitable endeavour.
Miners make up around 1% of the network's gross profits, and often have large operating expenses. Services often earn more and cost less, but usually carry an unfortunate risk of hacking. If one feels disillusioned by both, one can simply work a regular job and convert a portion of the wages to Bitcoin. Mining certainly isn't needed to be Bitcoin-rich.