The huge run-up in price poses a subtle but very significant threat to Bitcoin. As price went from 9 to 90 two things happened: a lot of media coverage which has attracted a lot of newb users on one hand, and some divestment of old blood looking to buy that new car/house/girlfriend on the other.
This fundamentally alters the landscape: the new people mean well but mostly don't understand Bitcoin - much like the Endless September folks didn't understand the Internet. They don't know the history, they have at best a tenuous grasp on finance, they don't have at the ready the skills required for Bitcoin survival. They're lambs to the slaughter pretty much.
Along with them we've seen a flood of scum - like
this,
this,
this and like probably thousands more, simply looking to fleece the noobs. Much like flies follow any herd of ruminants, scammers will follow the retail user anywhere. They've followed them here, they're getting ready to set up shop and they're going to try and take over the show.
Bitcoin is open and decentralized. This means you can't wait for the state to keep them in check.There's no state in Bitcoin. The only authority is you, and Bitcoin's safety depends upon you exercising that authority. If you see a scam which is obvious but you don't say anything, there's going to be someone who
doesn't realize it's a scam, and imagines his interaction with a scammer is what Bitcoin actually is. What may seem obvious to you is not obvious at all to Random Joe Onebitcoin. Heck, the fact that Bitcoin exists to begin with wasn't obvious to R. J. six weeks ago.
See something, say something. You don't have to prove a scam's a scam, you don't have to find the scammer's hut and bitchslap him or her. You just have to put the obvious into words.
If scammers take over Bitcoin there's no future. It doesn't take much effort to safeguard its future, because it's really easy to puncture the sort of fake "consensus" scammers depend on. Just say something.
