Topic: Is bitcoin slowly dying? - page 3. (Read 648 times)

I think that the biggest threats to bitcoin are not the central banks but the governments. Nowadays central banks are under governments' full control and do whatever the governments tell them. Even the CBDCs are introduced and are likely to be enforced by the governments and not the central banks. The original demand for CBDCs came from the governments who were afraid they would lose control over the population. so the governments demanded from the central banks to come with a something that would help them counter the spread of BTC as a way to make payment. Then the central banks came up with the idea of CBDCs which are pretty much the old bank (electronic) money under the disguise of crypto/decentralized money (and in fact they are neither of these).

So the governments want to keep the old fiat system that allows them to keep the people under full government control. Regarding BTC and other crypto money, the governments want to keep them as fully-transparent commodities that will be traded on exchanges for those who want to invest or play on the market. The recent regulations (AML5, AML6, MiCA, etc.) do everything possible to put crypto under strict government control, essentially defeating the purpose of the crypto as a payment method.

I can relate a bit to your feelings, however, I'm still more optimistic. The "get rich quick" sentiment is nothing new by the way; the novelty is the major institutional involvement.

Bitcoin has a quite complex system of checks and balances. If a single big player like Saylor tried to change something fundamentally, e.g. proposing a protocol upgrade and executing pressure on Bitcoin Core developers, then it is still likely that many other actors would reject that upgrade if it is directed against decentralization. An actor wanting to change something has not only to convince the Bitcoin Core devs, but also miners and minor holders. He can of course code his own client, but the 2016/2017 blocksize war showed that this approach is very likely to fail.

Still I think the community should stay alert, because that equilibrium is not impossible to change. The cypherpunk values should always be reminded and held up, also by social media influencers. I think this is still the case, judging also by the positive feedback the "OGs" (Greg Maxwell etc.) get when they appear here in the forum.

My biggest worry would be a Bitcoin dominated by Central Banks which try to influence development. I have nothing against Bitcoin being used as a part of a small strategic reserve of different nations, but if the dominance of these actors is too high, then a distortion of the check and balances system is possible. Again, if the community stays alert probably even Central Banks can't change Bitcoin's character, but if the community's character changes, then the pressure to remain in line with cypherpunk ideals could weaken eventually.

BTC was not created for any particular type of people, i see you mentioning Africa more than once there, BTC was not created for Africans or just the poor, BTC is freedom and anybody is free to use BTC. Do you want to stop someone from using BTC, because you feel they don't deserve to use it? You forget that BTC is censorship resistant; so you can't do that.

BTC is not dying, there is no need bringing up this kind of topic as so many people have already done so before. Use BTC in the way you want to, and let the next person do the same. If you are 'worried' about BTC, contribute to the network in your own way, i.e. by running a full node and use p2p services.

Yep - then again, what - could - be potentially done to do so from a common Bitcoiner?
Nothing.
Because BTC is intended for everybody willing to learn about it or believe in it. Better if both.

No one could ignore the elephant in the room, with its current price, of course it is drawing those entities' attention also, it is tempting for sure. It has been concerning somehow as for personal holders who own only a friction of Bitcoin, but upon consideration on how free market works, there is no stopping them also, it is the nature of free market and capitalism, whether we like it or not, we have to accept this fact

Truly, I agree with you.
BTC can't stay in the shape in the minds of people that it was a year ago or a decade ago - it slightly follows the path of adoption in the world, and there are still obstacles to fight and look through to see it victorious.
It is still the most decentralized coin out there, and it still follows its core principles. Let it stay that way.

Bitcoin's decentralized blockchain means no one can really decide on where it goes. Sure, these big institutions like BlackRock and Michael Saylor might shake things up a bit, but places like Africa and Pakistan are still showing us how useful Bitcoin can be for folks without banking options.
Instead of losing faith, we should support projects and communities that focus on Bitcoin original mission which is decentralization and freedom of global finance system. The potential of the technology to enable privacy and inclusivity is quite strong, especially in the underserved regions. Bitcoin original purpose are not dying, it's just evolving with Bitcoin into its growing role in the increasingly complex global financial system.

Good to know that you have been into Bitcoin since 2013.

I do not know how the poorest will benefit as he will not have money in 2024 to buy Bitcoin. I do agree with your previous statement and I feel Bitcoin is still the one which will liberate us from financial institution but not the government.

Why only Africa or Pakistan why not think about countries in other continents where Bitcoin can change the lives of many people living in bad conditions? In the US itself, there are so many homeless and there are many who cannot afford to pay their bills even after working two shifts or even three. Do not conclude that Bitcoin can help or is meant for those citizens from particular countries or continents that are filled with corrupt leaders.


Everyone now wants a piece of Bitcoin and I guess this is what is called hype which will lead Bitcoin to a new ATH. We have already observed year after year Bitcoin reaching new higher price points, it is happening because new guys or organizations are now going for it. We cannot stop them as we do not have that kind of money but eventually, it will help in Bitcoin's adoption.

No one would be able to take the flow of BTC himself and change the sentiment on a whim - it's always multiple mechanical and other factors (in people's heads) that play out and change how the market behaves overall and BTC with it.
Nobody controls the flow of the minds - yet they can do what is in their power to lure those who use high leverage to get themselves liquidated 

The only thing I see that isn't going away any time soon or even forever is manipulation of price, especially from those who have thousands of Bitcoin in hold, but still this won't last for long, no form of Bitcoin manipulation lasted long, so relax yourself, Bitcoin isn't dying.

Just because someone or one organisation have enough money to buy Bitcoin doesn't mean they can now control it, Bitcoin still remain a decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin is for everyone.

Adoption-wise, we need big companies and the support of centralised power, they knew it is unstoppable that's why they are rushing it.

This is the natural flow of adoption, we cannot please everyone to buy bitcoin store it, and use it in the future so here comes the huge ones playing around the crypto. As they see it is being accepted in most countries, they will try to own as much as they want driving price and adoption. But essentially, OP is quite right, if most of bitcoins are owned by these big ballers then sure bitcoin is not a game changer anymore which will then we can go back to traditional one leaving them a useless digital currency to play with themselves lol

It's just that the fact that BTC is there got into the heads of entities that never considered it beforehand - now they take notes and see what's in store.
As time goes on, the situation would become even more crowded with such groups, in my opinion.

This is the peak of capitalism, beside the good side that Bitcoin is a free source, which means it meant for everyone publicly, everyone can own/buy it, and there is also a bad side for personal holder like us against a group of holders. Capitalism at its finest, it's us against everyone basically. Our money against everyone's money.

Spike in fee is not okay at all. Did you see when the fee got to 2000 sat/vbyte? Even getting to 500 sat/vbyte is not okay at all. It would be good if the fee is not going more than 10 sat/vbyte.

Also there is nothing to be worried about the institutional investors. If theyt do not get involved, that means bitcoin may not be significant as it is now. Institutions are after something that has promising future.

Spikes in fees are okay-ish too - only if you use BTC for so many transactions it - may - cause some trouble, but they are mostly due to Runes and the likes of it, or due to the bull run itself.
Other than that, I agree with you.

Since you’re already a bitcoin maximalist I think I don’t need to tell you that bitcoin is for everyone, personally the new investors like the big institutions we now have are definitely a problem in terms of some areas but to me bitcoin can be treated as anything you would want it to be. Been an assets for investment as this institutions treat it or a currency just like those who use it for payment method treats. Also in terms of decentralization the network is still far ok as long as there is no censorship of transactions the only problem will be network fee which isn’t high all the time. For privacy bitcoin was never anonymous but rather pseudonymous which means you treat it either anonymously or not. So for now bitcoin is still ok for a regular user

Simply put - BTC can't go further adoption-wise without these big fellas, smaller institutions, and some govs making something with it.
It's natural and they wouldn't be able to harm it in a big way or for a long time, as long as there is no team-up with the exact cause of doing something bad towards BTC or crypto, in my opinion.

I'm into crypto since 2013.
Since the beginning I've always seen cryptos as an instrument of liberation from government slavery and the tiranny of central banks and an empowering tool for the poorest.
Yes I'm glad BTC has become more valuable with time but I'm in firstly because I always intended it as an instrument to build a better world.
Above green candles I'm more glad when I see an interview with a poor guy from africa using btc for micropayment or a pakistani woman using it to free herself from a system that would otherwise repress her.
During all of these years I've been always skeptical about the different random guys shouting and putting themselves as great defender of btc from Peter McCormack, to bitcoinboy, from Tone Ways to any possible other person which acts as influencer.
When there was the blocksize war I put myself in the middle between Roger Ver and Jimmy Song but with time I've built a maximalist portfolio mainly with btc.
I also "hodl" eth and xmr.
Now that btc has gone mainstream it looks to be the time to newer big players and cryptos have become only as a way to make money from BlackRock to Microstrategy.
It looks everyone is forgiving where we are coming from. Not to mention people like trump who once called btc a scam.
The old ideals and the utopia for a better future are becoming only a rich scheme.
I've recently watched an interview with this new big idol Michael Saylor saying that 300k fee per transaction is ok and I'm losing my faith in btc.
I fear we are going into a direction where one day (if not even now) we'll be hostage of these big players overtaking the community ideals despite any decentralization.
These people are here to make money. They care zero about africans or privacy and they can dictate where the network has to go.
These people are not with us.
They are against us.
We are not the same.
What do you think about?