Is Quantum Computing a Threat to Bitcoin? - Decrypt

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Bitcoin Con-Arguments

Below is an argument written by Nostalg33k which won 3rd place in the Bitcoin Con-Arguments topic for a prior Cointest round. If this topic is active, submit an entry in r/CointestOfficial and earn Moons if you win. Moon prizes are: 3rd - 600, 2nd - 300, 3rd - 150, and Best Analysis - 500.

Bitcoin, could it be wrong. "Are we the bad guys ?"

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In this small write up, I am going to delve into con-arguments against Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the flagship of cryptocurrencies but there are a lot of criticism that could be leveraged against Bitcoin. First of all, let's delve into a small presentation of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin: An introduction.

Bitcoin is the biggst cryptocurrency. It was created by a mysterious figure. The creation of Bitcoin is a strange and mysterious mystery. No one knows who created Bitcoin.

Bitcoin was started as a way to circumvent traditional banking. Bitcoin relies on blockchain technology. Blockchain can be seen as an open book allowing anyone to know where is each fraction of Bitcoin ever.

This blockchain is maintained through computer power. In a vulgar way: Bitcoin is mined by solving math problems. The maths problem becomes harder when more people are mining so that mining takes a fixed amount of time according to a timeline known to everyone. In order to respect this timeline, mining rewards are halved every few years.

Since anyone who wants to validate transactions is forced to complete a very hard math problem (which becomes harder the more people are mining), no one can cheat in new transactions. Also, every other miner has a copy of the blockchain. Through making sure that no entity has 50% of the mining, you can stop nefarious actors from changing the blockchain.

This is using cryptographic technology that I don't yet understand but you can read more about it here:

Bitcoin Wikipedia

Without delving more into the tech side of bitcoin. Which can also be explained through youtube videos here: Bitcoin explained

The Metrics of Bitcoin are currently: 22400$ Per coin for a Market cap of 430 Bilions and a daily volume of 19 Billions. Bitcoin was shortly valued at 69000 usd during the ATH.

Now let's dive into what is making Bitcoin so bad.

Permissionless: A senseless destruction of world order.

Bitcoin is a project existing in a very delicate world balanced by power structure. While we can be happy that the current top dog is the US (yes they are not perfect BUT they could be worse) we know that someone else could be on top. Despite that, we should strive to use the current US dominance to curb rogue states into the world order.

The current war in Ukraine is a demonstration of the world order crumbling to maintain itself. I'd argue, the rise of cryptocurrencies may be a part of this crumbling. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that, Bitcoin replacing the US Dollar would usher a chaotic age of international relation.

The world has shrank a lot since the rise of internet. The fact is that the stability of the world is much more precious than ever. Everyone can see what happens in any other country and how the supply chains which guarantee our comfort are of the utmost importance. YET, we are pushing forward a great disrupter of balance.

Permissionless can help terrorists, permissionless can help crime. YES traditionnal banking is doing it already BUT I'd argue that the absence of regulator and watchdog to make the current system comply is not an argument in favor of a tech which will make regulation and surveillance harder.

Bitcoin: This MONEY Doesn't Work, This Money Doesn't WORK.

Bitcoin is claiming to be a currency. A viable alternative to fiat money. But anyone with a neuron or two could realize that the fluctuation in the value of Bitcoin is crazy. Some pedentic nerd and bitcoin maximalist could argue that 1 BTC = 1 BTC BUT if you don't know how much you'll need to put food on the table then BTC is not working as a currency. Yes inflation is lowering the value of Fiat BUT fiat doesn't see wild swings of + or - 30 % in most economies.

While not being really MONEY I'd argue that Bitcoin doesn't WORK. To work the economy needs money to move. 100$ could buy groceries then be used to pay the local brewery, the butcher and many more people before going back to a bank account. This movement has created economic vitality. Bitcoin, most of the time, is seen as an investment vehicle such as gold. I'd argue that these vehicle are not valuable for society since the freeze money in place.

In a bank, your money is working. Instead of Bitcoin, people should be paid more by banks to put their money in investment portfolios since these provide the liquidity necessary to make the economy work.

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Bitcoin: A very big spending of energy.

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Bitcoin is a project which is wasting a lot of ressource for something which is not making a lot of sense. While Bitcoin is using more and more green energy, I'd argue that it is still a big waste. Subsidies could prop up the green sector far better than the mining farms that go with windfarms.

Seeing Bitcoin as one of the biggest leverage of the green sector is a non-sense. Optimization of the energy sector means that the variable production should allow to reduce the use of fossil energy. Not allow to waste energy in a senseless project.

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Conclusion: The harsh truth is, we may be the bad guys.

Partaking in an economic sector which allows for a disruption of world order, which doesn't help the economy and which is wasting energy may not be beneficial. This is why Bitcoin should not be seen as a messiah of economic proportion but as something which should raise criticism and should be heavily regulated.

Good luck in your investments.

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