A Caveat to Set the Table
I’ll kick things off with a confession: my take on crypto has evolved over the years. Dig deep enough, and you might find old posts of mine that clash with the man I am today. But here I am, feeling obligated to set the record straight, and this blog’s the place to do it.
I’ll be honest—I didn’t get crypto at first. Not the philosophy behind it, not the necessity for it, not the deep ideas that must’ve driven Nakamoto to birth it. All I cared about was making money, escaping debt. Hardly original, I know, but real.
My crypto journey started with a plan: convert every coin to dollars one day, dodge the wild risks of this magical internet money, and cozy up to the safety of fiat. That plan? It went up in smoke. Now I see the world through different eyes.
Why would I want fiat? Why crawl back to the broken system that chained me down, that threatened my freedom? Why would a free man miss his shackles?
I thought we all got this. I thought this was the heartbeat of the crypto crowd. Hell, I learned it from them.
So, I’ve gotta ask:
What are we doing right now?
I see folks who once dreamed of opting out, of rebelling against an oppressive system, now cheering because the government’s finally here, ready to “help.”
A quote from Ronald Reagan pops into my head, and it sets the tone for what I’m trying to say: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
Maybe I’m sounding the alarm too loud, but I don’t see a trace of the ideology we used to share. The same anti-system rebels who spit in the face of control are now waiting for politicians—of all people—to swoop in and save them.
“What could go wrong?” they’d say. My honest reply? Everything.
We might be witnessing a quiet coup, one that’s bound to spark a backlash we won’t like one bit.
The Pendulum
Society’s got this habit of swinging too far one way, then snapping back hard. Extreme ideas breed extreme reactions. In this back-and-forth, this pendulum, everything worth building gets torn down. It’s tough to create anything meaningful when chaos is the only tune playing.
I’m not saying the crypto world was perfect before, but it’s veering off course. Crime, for all intents and purposes, is practically legal now. Some folks think this bull cycle’s busted because of government-endorsed memecoins. But they’re missing the bigger picture—what those coins will unleash down the road.
When the pendulum swings back—when the government, the same one that claimed to love Bitcoin and embrace the innovators, the outside-the-box thinkers, the influencers, and yeah, even the scammers—does a 180, what then?
The End of an Era
Before you keep reading, I’ll level with you: I don’t know exactly how this plays out. Nobody does. But I think it’s naive not to consider where this could go, given what’s unfolding.
Picture this: the government adopts a stablecoin—let’s say Tether becomes the token. If that happens, they’ve effectively killed Bitcoin. Yeah, it’s that extreme. Let me paint the picture.
In my crypto-apocalypse, the government would have everyone registered to use crypto. Every sale, every purchase, logged in a database tied to your name for them to snoop through. We’d live in a world of legal and illegal wallets. Only authorized on/off ramps would be allowed, and peer-to-peer transactions? Straight-up illegal.
This government, claiming it’s just restoring order, would strip away our right to self-determination and privacy. They’d own the printers, so to speak. They could manipulate Bitcoin however they wanted—minting more stablecoins whenever they felt like it, no backing required, because they’re the government, and they don’t need silly things like accountability.
Through market manipulation and seized assets, they’d become the biggest whale, the top BTC holder in the world. And then, to put it bluntly: Bitcoin would be castrated.
The saddest part? People would cheer. They’d call this castration “legitimization” and crack open beers to toast their shiny new shackles.
So no, I’m not thrilled the government “is here to help.” And I don’t think anyone else should be either.
MenO
Special shoutout to Starkerz
I do want to give @starkerz credit for this late night rant. I think my conversation with him truly solidified these thoughts enough to be written down.
I don't regard government as inherently bad, or crypto as inherently good. Our societies would collapse without some form of government and in many cases we have good people involved who want to do good. We also have people trying to corrupt the system to their advantage, so have to protect what we want to have.
Crypto has changed and is often considered just an investment rather than a form of freedom. It ought to be like gold that can be freely traded and exchanged, but the reality may be different.
Things are never totally simple and compromise is often required. I think crypto can have a place, but some will never accept it as legitimate. I'm along for the ride.
Crypto was/is a tool for self determination. Its not good or bad in the same sense that carpenter's tools are not good or bad, they are tools.
Giving away your tools, and allowing someone else to determine the house you will live, because only they can use the tools to build your house, is how the whole thing distorts.
I believe in voluntary governments. People should be able to organize, have true democracy. We have none of that. We have mafias who take turns plunging the resources and giving the people the impression that they care.
Some are sneaky about it. Some are blatant assholes about it.
Democracy is a flawed system as it can put corrupt people into power, but it's what we have. Politicians are just people and they will be flawed. I think the US system has swung to an extreme position and we have to see if it can recover. Others are at risk of going that way. I tend to regard extremes of anything to be bad be it politics, religion or whatever. People just want to live their lives.
It's generally all corrupt people who wind up there. 99% easily. Surfs paid 20% to the kings. Here in America I pay 15% to New York State and another 30% to federal government. We live in a totally corrupt system with. Media who shills the line. The rare times we do get someone not corrupt they destroy them.
I'd disagree with a lot of that. Do you know anyone in politics? Most of them are not getting rich from it. Taxes are a fact of life and we have to hope they are well spent.
That said, the current US regime is profoundly corrupt and incompetent IMHO. The Republicans let it happen.
great, another Hiver with TDS.
Yeah it’s just the current one that stands out as corrupt. It wasn’t a totally corrupt system until Trump 🤣 ok pal
We’ve chatted in past and you are generally smart and very common sense. But I have to have this reaction to an insane reply. It’s beyond lazy and ludicrous to present it as but but current admin is totally totally corrupt. It’s just silly to pretend it’s more corrupt now. It’s always been corrupt.
Oh tRump is the deranged one, possibly with dementia, but he has the party and a lot of business under his thumb. Don't pretend he has a plan apart from getting rich.
I think it's lazy to say it's always been totally corrupt. As I said, it's all just people and they are not all the same, any more than you and I are.
Have a !BEER.
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The authorities will surely do the best they can to have an upper hand in these valuable assets that the cryptocurrencies represent. Under the previous administration, many investors of the crypto tokens complained about the harassment. It was not supposed to be the case. As you can read in the news, another group of investors is happy that the current administration want to help. I am confused. Personally, I don't really care because BTC will do his own thing whether the authorities like it or not.
Peace
its the toad boiling slowly again... a slow ideological coup of sorts.
I agree.
Thanks!
I don’t see how a Stable coin destroys bitcoin though? It just reps dollar and is fiat rep. But much you say is on point! Cheers!
speculation at this point. But imagine if they can print all the stable tokens they want, thus moving BTC price up and down as they please, to accumulate more of it, and manipulate it even more. They are not going to slap themselves in the wrist for printing tokens out of thin air.
All on/off ramps are through that token.
Oh, you want BTC? Exchange your dollars for FedCoinUSD at the bank, and then buy BTC.
Oh, you want to shop online and get better discounts? pay your taxes? Exchange your dollars for FedCoinUSD and do it, easy peasy at the bank.
Everyone's money is this "government approved" stable shit coin. They use that, to manipulate the whole market. Choke out inconvenient projects. Keep a close eye on what we do. It's all for our own protection after all.
I really connected with this article because of your being so honest about how your views on cryptocurrency have changed. This is like a warning us about the potential risks of government involvement in crypto, like losing our freedom and privacy. I am beginning to think twice about what's happening in the crypto space.
Meanwhile how is Meniski doing?
You just reminded me I've not fed him new articles in more than a week. I'll do that today. He needs to keep up with the times.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s nice do feed him well and tell him he’s gat a fan already 💪
It’s supposed to be free, not locked up in their system but there's nothing surprising about it, it was a matter of if you can't stop it, control it to your advantage and that's exactly what they are trying to do
This direction is disturbing, but there's something to keep in mind: forks are a thing 🥳 I have a feeling that crypto is here to stay, whether politicians like it or not.
I agree, we are here after all. Steem is comatose and on a ventilator at this point. However, there are some that say we should have fought harder to keep the name.
I can understand wanting to keep the original name for sentimental reasons, but after being involved with so many forums I've come to realize that the name is just a name. What really matters is the community, the people who care, not a domain or logo.
I tend to land in your camp on this one. But its good to know what others say.
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