tl;drBitcoin and crypto are simple online scams in the form of the systems for creating the illusion of assets(money). The illusion is created by misusing the concept of quantity and name. Quantity and name are representations of assets, written on invoices, orders, accounts, deposits, banknots,... when assets such as debt, equity, commodity, real estate... are transferred between people. By writing down numbers and names, the crypto systems create the illusion of assets(money). In that way, they deceive people and trick them out of their real assets.
Video version:
https://youtu.be/5k2n3dfK-zILong version:
Bitcoin is the name that pops up a lot in the last ten years. You see it on social media, television, newspapers, magazines, books. Your friends talk about it. Colleagues, politicians, businessmen and celebrities as well. People refer to this name as the money of the internet, digital asset, or gold 2.0. Some view it as a revolution. Others, as freedom.
But here's the news. It's all just an illusion. A mere narrative. Disinformation and misinformation. There's no digital asset, no money no revolution and no freedom. All there is, is a simple online scam. A scam in the form of a system for creating the illusion of digital asset. The system is designed for one purpose and one purpose only. To trick people out of their money. We will now explain how the scam operates. But first some insight.
Whenever an asset is transferred between people, this is represented by quantity and name. These are recorded on invoices, orders, accounts, certificates, banknotes and so on. However, in many cases, people don't even see the asset that is being transferred. They just see quantity and name. For example, if you buy 100 shares of Tesla, you will see only the number 100 and the name TSLA written on brokerage account. Moreover, in some cases, people don't even know that the asset exists. The perfect example of this is fiat money. When you ask an average person what is fiat money they will answer what they see. So, they will answer: "fiat money is numbers on banknotes or deposit accounts."
But in reality, fiat money is a debt-based asset. Numbers, on the other hand, just represent asset quantity. Meaning, when people hold banknotes or deposits, the borrowers owe them economic benefits in the form of goods, services and labor. The holders invested these benefits in banknotes or deposits, that were put in circulation with loans. And that is why, borrowers are forced (via mortgages and other liens) to trade goods, services or labor with the holders, to be able to repay the loans. In that way, borrowers settle the debt to the holders. But given that in the markets, people don't know which sellers are borrowers, they are not even aware that debt was settled to them. They are also not aware, that after such settlement banknotes or deposits went out of circulation. Due to this ignorance, people have misconceptions about fiat money.
With that in mind, now imagine a scammer. They don't own any asset. Which is why they want to get their hands on other people's assets. This scammer knows what we just described. They know that in the transactions, people often don't see the assets that are being transferred, but just numbers and names. So the scammer comes up with an idea. They will set up a system for creating the illusion of asset. The system will write down numbers and in that way people will be deceived that there's an actual quantity behind them. To complete the deception, the name is also needed. So, the scammer does the following. First they produce a name: "Bitcoin". Then, a number: "21 million". With the name, the scammer will create the illusion of asset's existence. And with the number, the illusion of asset's quantity. Then they set up a system with a database. The system will record the units of their imagined quantity next to the virtual addresses of people. Due to anonymity, no one would know how many addresses are associated with the scammer. Prior to seting up the system the scammer wrote a paper. In that paper they declared that whenever a number will be attributed to an address, that means that the address holder received bitcoins in the attributed quantity. Now the scammer has both ingredients needed to create the illusion of asset: quantity and name. Finally, in order to amplify the illusion, the scammer builds into the system a cryptographic protection of numbers. Because obviously, "the asset" needs to be protected. And now, the illusion is complete. All the scammer has to do now is wait for people naive enough to fall for his scam and start trading their real assets for the illusory (nonexistent) one.
Now, you would think, this scam is too obvious. No one will fall for it. Well, you would be wrong. The system that we described is of course not imagined. It is real. The scammer is called Satoshi Nakamoto. And there is a whole army of naive and gullible people that fell for his scam. Not only that, some were even giving up $70,000 worth of real assets, for one unit of Satoshi's nonexistent one. Others believe that Satoshi's system could be the start of a bigger revolution than the Internet itself. Books and articles are written about this revolution. Passionate believers organize conferences and events to talk about the system, or to celebrate it as if it is a gift from the sky. People even say that it might be the only thing that can save humanity. It is literally unbelievable, that a simple online scam was elevated nearly to the level of deity.
When other scammers saw how naive people are, and how easy is to trick them out of their money, they also started producing systems for creating the illusion of asset. The illusions, produced by these systems are known by the name "cryptocurrencies". And are now popping up all over the place like mushrooms after rain.
Traditional scams, which created the illusion of lucrative businesses or revolutionary products to trick people out of their money, are obsolete. So the scammers came up with new and sophisticated ones, which create the illusion of revolutionary money or digital assets. It is mind boggling how easy people fall for them. But hey, in was not in vain when Albert Einstein said: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe."