The introduction of Bitcoin unleashed an opportunity across the entire planet that we has never seen before. For the first time, humanity was introduced with the idea that anyone could create money. This was something unheard of before this. In fact, the creation of money, historically, was in the hands of governments and Kings.
Satoshi developed Bitcoin as a result of the economy collapse in the late 2000s. His vision was to get away from the banker-run system with its boom and bust cycles. Obviously, this system was not working for the majority of the people. Each bust simply transfers more of the wealth into the hands of the select few.
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Monetary freedom from governments, most of which end up corrupt, meant that the global population would be able to enjoy a payment system outside their reach. It would be one which the market would determine what took place. By capping the number of tokens, Satoshi believed that we would be able to eliminate the money printing machine. This would allow the currency to hold its value, something that would favor the population.
Fast forward to today. How does Satoshi's vision appear?
We can see the pursuit of freedom took a back seat. The world of cryptocurrency, somewhere along the way, took a major turn. No longer is it about a payment system that is decentralized and cannot be stopped. Instead, we started to focus upon McMansions and Lambos. The crypto-sphere became a giant casino.
The early Bitcoin adopters were believers. They were hodlers because they bought into the vision. It wasn't about the wealth creation as much as the ability to operate outside the scope of any government. This rang true with them. They believed a new monetary system was being developed and advocated for it.
Essentially, it was a movement. They were not motivated by money but, rather, changing the world. Certainly, those who accomplish this tend to get well rewarded, just like many of the early Internet pioneers. However, there clearly was something else driving them other than the financial gain.
Do we see that same thing today? In part, it is still there yet it is overwhelmed by the promises of wealth. "Mooning" is a constant topic, especially during the bull runs. Here, building and development seem to take a back seat to simply creating a new for of printing presses.
Money is just a tool. As we are rapidly learning, it is made up. The recent run in DOGE has many baffled. The reality is that people can put value into whatever they desire. At the same time, a medium of exchange is what people agree it is. Having a use case is secondary if a group of people agree to accept it.
This is what started with Bitcoin. Framed as the "people's money", the idea was to give people the control over the monetary system. It was a flawed concept from the beginning since the way Bitcoin was structured made it extremely deflationary. Thus, the future as a global medium of exchange was not going to work.
Sadly, this is exactly what happened. Bitcoin is no longer the people's money. Today, it is quickly becoming the property of Wall Street, large corporations and, eventually, governments. The limited number means that, on an open market, those with the resources can control it.
A few years ago people were itching for Bitcoin to be found by these type of entities. There were people posting about how "we need Wall Street to buy Bitcoin". These people were driven simply by the mooning of the price. Hence, to them, it was about how much their bags were worth and not the freeing of humanity.
Giving the token over to Wall Street is not going to free people. This will not help to alleviate wealth and income inequality. It will simply give them another asset class to own and control, leaving the rest of us out.
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Fortunately, the same ability that started with Satoshi still resides today. Anyone can create a currency. Hence, we still can pursue the ideals that he set forth, just with different currencies.
In short, his vision is still possible, just not with Bitcoin. Instead, we can look to the totality of the entire crypto industry for this.
However, it will not come to fruition if our sole concern is squeezing as much money as we can out of this system. In the end, people are treating cryptocurrency like stocks. They want to buy low and sell high. Since so many are suffering financially, it is a step that many have to go through. However, filling our bags should be more than just the number tied to them. That is how Wall Street operates, using money as a scorecard.
Instead, we need to understand that it is CryptoFreedom we are dealing with. Each time we enhance our holdings, it is one step closer to financial freedom for our families. This is a positive. If we can do this millions of times over, we will start to change lives.
That is not the only aspect to this. Development is not about the money but, rather, the tools it gives people to pursue different aspect of their lives. With the march towards tyranny happening as surveillance increases at every level, we need an option to get people out from under the thumb of government and major corporations.
Crypto can provide that. By developing the platforms and applications that people can utilize, we start to change the entire system. This is where people's resources, the ones that came from filling the bags, comes into play. Presently, we see the funding of the expansion of this industry coming from the Venture Capitalists. Ironic that an industry that can create its own money has to depend upon the traditional firms to expand.
Of course, the problem with this is they end up taking the bulk of the gains. Once again, we turned a system that is inclusionary into exclusionary.
Many do not care. As long as they can enjoy the mooning and Lambos, that is all that matters. The talk, even at the platform level, is not how do we grow things to bring more people freedom. Instead, it is how do we get the token price higher. To most, the only thing that matters is the money.
All change starts with the change in one's mind. As long as people are approaching this entire spectrum like they do the present system, it will likely be lost. The reason for this is we are not going to beat the establishment at their own game. If it is only about the money, then they will simply take over. They are well experienced at winning that game.
On the other hand, if we realize that this about giving people the tools to change their lives, then we are onto something. We can start, individual by individual, starting them on the path to freedom. Each person we get out of a job, allow to circumvent the banking system, or get their transactions outside the reach of government, the better off we all are.
By freeing billions of people, we will end up leashing the most powerful economic force the world ever has seen. Hundreds of trillions of dollars in value will end up being generated by inclusion of all these people. However, if we are just focused upon the casino and whether the token prices went up or not, we will end up playing into the hands of those who are presently in control.
And it is easy to see, they are not concerned about freedom in the least.
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I'm looking forward to the moment when 90% of bitcoin is in the hands of Wall St; and all the common folk just shift out to hundreds of other currencies. The people leave, the value leaves with them; and it can happen quick.
Well Wallstreet tends to have almost infinite money. I don't know what to say about it but I guess it would probably be a manipulated market where they completely control the prices and I wonder if they will change anything on the underlying structure of BTC.
I guess it will depend on whether or not the high stake holders in BTC have diamond hands or not.
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When anyone can use any chain, money will be a popularity contest; and unpopular ones will just go out of fashion.
Well you will not have to wait too long I dont think.
Give it another couple years and you will have your wish.
People will realize that having a token that cannot be inflated does not bode well for the decentralization.
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This at the heart of what makes me sad about the whole cryptosphere... the way the entire concept of cryptoCURRENCIES was hijacked by the good old Wall Street "greed is good!" paradigm, so now we're essentially just doing the same thing all over, except with new names. Ultimately, those who are preaching "freedom and privacy" are just as guilty because at the core of their cries is the freedom and privacy to be anonymous and escape taxes on their last bull-run gains.
I still hold a small hope for venues like Hive, LeoFinance and others as possible ways for people to engage in some kind of activity and receive a moderate compensation for it, as a path towards some degree of freedom. But we sure have a very long way to go!
I also hold out a small hope for the versions of private-enterprise blockchain-based "basic income" projects that keep circulating. Maybe they'll get that formula right, sometime.
In the meantime, I try to just keep watching, and going with the flow.
=^..^=
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This.
Exactly.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Well done!
I feel like bitcoin will be replaced at some point. The reason being it's very centralized in terms of the amount held by a few people. I'm not sure if you will ever get away from that though. Just like here on Hive it's centralized or even Leo to the top 100 or so that got in early and invested heavily. This always creates figureheads or a majority that hold the most. Unlike some other platforms though Hive and Leo we have the ability as those higher stake holders to spread that wealth via upvotes. Hive however at least to me seems FAR more centralized and I believe the token tribes hold the key instead. Above all everyone should be taking action as much as possible. You owe it to yourselves.
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Even if BTC is topped in the future, I do think it will still probably be the most stable crypto. I don't think BTC will get hit by a 51% attack at all but who knows since the halving keeps decreasing the new BTC minted.
I do think 2nd layer tokens are much better spread out and HIVE does seem to have an issue where the top witnesses have a heavy weight in what is funded or not. I saw it when the HBD stabilizer project got a ton of the funding and it removed funding from some of the good projects.
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BTC will remain but it will be in the hands of the elite. This is not going to change. We see the trend and it is not going to reverse. In fact, we are just at the starting point.
We will have to have everyone focused upon something else. This is why the Hive and the other tokens that actually apply to something that people use are vital.
It helps to offset the casino somewhat.
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This is why I think we can generally bring value to hive. Truth is the prices,the adoption and the value we want for hive can be brought by us. Crypto is basically the real deal, we cannot begin to talk about the people it's brought financial freedom. I like how you talked about doge. Such a shitty coin that pumped so hard because it's community believed in it.
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I still don't understand Doge because I tend to believe use cases. I don't know if it is the community or Elon Musk that are the pumping god since it has infinite supply.
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I believe it's the hype and buzz of social media that brings these things. You know.
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Yea but its hard to quantify the effects of it. I guess that is the hard part about finding out what something is worth when it involves the network effect.
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😀😀😀 I always enjoy the conversation about Doge, it is meant to be a joke coin anyway 😀😀
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Haha I mean people are so excited as to how a shit coin like doge would exactly do so well, it's the community I guess
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That's right from the start powerful people made the money but now you can create your own eg like Leo or other hive tokens I think that's freedom
Freedom for me is gold coins like the "libertad". Just posted about these superb gold coins.. But crypto is available for all I agree!
It seems to me that the reason Bitcoin is not living up to it's potential to free us economically from the power of the central banking system is because have not yet trained our brains to decouple the value of Bitcoin - or any other crypto currency from whatever fiat currency we are accustomed to using. As long as we continue to use any fiat currency as the standard to measure the value of a crypto currency, we're still psychologically chained to and controlled by the fiat currency. Only when we can view a crypto currency as money independent of fiat will it achieve the status of "The People's Money".
That might be true but it will not decouple as long as people are buying it today expecting a higher price tomorrow.
And with Wall Street institutions and other entities jumping in, the supply is starting to get eaten up.
This means we will see a lot less of it. The deflationary nature of Bitcoin makes is non suitable to act in the transactional capacity.
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Can you expound on the "deflationary nature"? As I understand it, deflation is the natural order and inflation is an artificially generated tool of the central banking system. As we progress in technology and goods and services become easier to produce en-masse, they should become "cheaper". Brand new innovations are more expensive at first, until new production techniques make them cheaper to make and competitors drive prices down. So, deflation should be a good thing.
Maybe I'm just not understanding how you are using the term in this context?
Crypto is an amazing innovation and with each passing year its getting more evaluable than even banks are scared of. Fiat was not able to provide freedom but there is a high probability that crypto will make people lots of money and with crypto, they can have financial freedom.
With bitcoin, we can say that its people's money since govt has no control over it. Hive is also in early-stage and its high time to accumulate as much as possible because later when the price will increase then again people will say that its our of reach now like many say the same about Bitcoin.
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They may not have control over it but anytime you move back into fiat, you probably have to pay taxes otherwise you open yourself up to liability. But internally, you can avoid government control when don't deal with fiat.
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Not yet but what happens when central banks start buying it and I believe there will come a point that they will? How about sovereign wealth funds? Rumors has it a couple of them already invested.
With each passing day, it is harder to see how Bitcoin is actually the people's money. It seems like more is being swallowed up by the establishment.
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They are certainly not concerned about freedom, I always believe love the blockchain tach, the decentralized use case it offers and you bound to be exposed to its product, cryptocurrencies.
Sadly and realistically most of us involved in crypto are only here because of the financial gains.
I hope that mindset changes otherwise we are screwed!
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Financial gains are important because it is hard to have financial freedom without them. However, we need to push the idea of what decentralization and enhance the plight of others truly means.
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but for us that loses the train in btc it is a little hurt, but here we are
well the power of make money were only reserved by the banks and powerfull men, with M1, M2, M3 that was the form normal for make money easily.
well we right now could get a little money with minning and writting thanks to hive and leo.
wsj have a lot of btc and they will do not leave it
well we only have the posibility to buuy other cryptos more cheap
fortunately it is a great form to enter to this new sistem monetary
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There are a handful of tokens that people have gotten really excited about in the past and I decided to pass on them simply because there is a part of me that feels they don't hold true to the original heart of cryptocurrency. It's actually a bit funny because the divide you talk about between the two groups of people is actually a reflection of my internal thought process. The idea of making wealth is constantly at odds with the part of me that is embracing the tech for what it is and wants it to be successful without all of the hype.
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How many of those handful of tokens actually succeeded?
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Still waiting to find out!
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Well it is important that we generate wealth because that is the battlefield. We are in a monetary system and crypto is going to be the greatest wealth generator of our time.
That said, it shouldnt be all about the money. But financial freedom is something that we have to push everyone towards. What that means is individual, based a lot on geography.
Thus, make yourself rich, but ensure you are doing it with the understanding that it is freedom for yourself and others that is sought.
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Since I have a decent job and a pretty good retirement lined up, this is mostly just supplemental for me. At least for now. If I play my cards right it could turn I to something greater.
The hive ecosystem with all it's flaws is the closest thing to cryptofreedom people can experience and I still think we are heading in the right direction but we have a long way to go before we start living the dream
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I agree with both those statements.
We do not have the applications yet for mainstream appeal. This is still too niche.
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Yes we want to remove the middle man and stop the banks/governments from having as much control over our money. The biggest issue I see is how most of the ordinary public doesn't have a good view of crypto and I hope this changes. Its just that the government will have a hand in the change for the public but I have no idea how it will unfold. Will they ban crypto? Will they accept crypto? Will they heavily regulate and tax crypto?
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So for a while now I've been trying to get Robert Evans (Behind the Bastards (Behind the Police), A Brief History of Vice, The Women's War, Worst Year Ever, etc...) to start using a Hive account I gifted him in addition to his other social medias and have been utterly unsuccessful. I get the impression he hasn't taken enough time to look at crypto to understand what this post explains.
I'm not sure how appropriate it is to ask everyone to twitter bomb this to @Iwriteok but if it isn't out of line, I think this might be something that gets him to take a good look at this side of the coin and what Hive is doing to advance these goals. I think having a voice like him advocating for this space within this scope of focus would be a super highway to growth and adoption. Thoughts or opinions?
Unfortunately, those who talk about freedom, especially as it pertains to crypto, are just that: talk. The reason I say that is they do it on the centralized platforms and refuse to leave. That is where their followers are.
Hence, the idea of them using a Hive instead of medium or 3Speak over YouTube is not going to happen. We tried it many times and just get overlooked.
Thus we have to make our own way in my opinion, pull in our own followers, and become the stars.
Let the rest of them try and play in our sandbox down the road.
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“Unfortunately, those who talk about freedom, especially as it pertains to crypto, are just that: talk. The reason I say that is they do it on the centralized platforms and refuse to leave. That is where their followers are.”
Yeah, but this isn’t that, I think..., this feels more like a situation like we got in the early days, wherein everyone who didn’t actually look for themselves just thought btc was for buying drugs on the dark web. This guy knows btc exists and writes it off as a speculative investment at best. He knows nothing of alt coins, blockchain, defi or decentralization in general. He’s also one of those who criticizes the social media he uses for being problematic, but, like everyone else, doesn’t know alternatives exist. The point is he’s a busy dude doing what I consider good work educating whoever will listen and I’d like to empower him to get more out of it there and while I think it would be awesome for HIVE to have people like him that’s not my primary focus. The idea is to have a conduit that shows alternatives to the status quo.
Having said, that, however, I don’t disagree with the rest of your reply, but I think a big part of what you pointed out is people just not realizing they have the key to the cage they’re in. Most of us don’t just wake up from the matrix. Someone has to show the way. I was “lucky” enough to be in a position to have nothing but time to explore these ideas for an extended period of time, and got lucky again that I was intrigued from the start, but most people just don’t have that option or the interest in technology to try to squeeze another minute out of the day to explore something that’s so foreign it’s incomprehensible to them at a mere glance.
I feel like I’m starting to rant so I’m gonna stop now, but I think for this movement to really gain traction we’re gonna need to find a way to interest people enough to motivate them to stick it out long enough to understand what they’re actually looking at and from what I can see the space is so convoluted with ideology and potential scams it’s nearly impossible for the average person with no understanding to be drawn in close enough to get a good look at what’s here.
Edit to add I sent you a message on bee chat in peakd but since it’s still new’ish I don’t know if you use it and I couldn’t find you on discord. If you have a minute I’d like your thoughts.
The vision is still ongoing. However, AI and robotics will finish the puzzle. As I have said before blockchain and automation go hand and hand. The goal now is to create so much abundance that it will engulf the legacy system.
That is true, automation is going to eat what is left over up.
The challenge is who owns the automation. Without decentralizing the innovation, we might just make "more powerful Facebooks and Amazons".
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I agree with what you're saying. I would add that it's easier to have philosophical principles when you're not focused on trying to make ends meet, and right now many people are. For those people crypto may seem like their best chance of escape from the trap of the current system. They're probably right.
The ones trying to make ends meet are not the ones who are approaching this like a casino. They are actually using it as the epitome of what it should be: to be able to meet the basic requirements of life through whatever engagement with crypto one has.
Those are the last people with the mooning idea.
They just want to feed themselves or pay for medicine.
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It is assumed that with Cryptocurrencies we truly have freedom, but always those who possess a fortune like Wallstreet, will be able to manipulate the markets. They just want everything for themselves to control them and make a monopoly, but the idea is that we can all benefit in some way.
This is a great post, thanks for sharing this information, we should be more astute than these people and join the most powerful trend.
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Spot on and why the journey to long term is the sustainable approach as it creates more wealth. Mooning is not sustainable for everyone and a select few benefit whereas building something is where the true value lies. Patience and more patience is required as we will have more riches for everyone plus our bags will be full.
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This is an important post. The revolution is underway and (as with most revolutions) the powers that be recognize the power play and make their own play. You said it perfectly, if we treat this like money, there is no way we can out hustle the institutions that have gotten rich for centuries out hustling humanity.
If we treat this like freedom, each person will work until they find their freedom and then they can pay it forward... freeing more people.
The future of "money" will be interesting. It will be like following fashion. One day it's here and the next day it will be something else.
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I think that this can only change when we ourselves stop thinking about the conversion rate of our currencies to fiat, it is something quite difficult because we are always interested in knowing how much our tokens are worth in fiat which indicates that indirectly our interest is to have more fiat and the impulse of toker more token is that then it becomes even more fiat, when we change that mentality is that we can free ourselves from the current system, greetings
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This is something I was writing about in one of my previous posts. I would agree that the freedom is the least concern for majority of people involved in crypto. On the other hand, I'm not so sure that majority of people involved in crypto are motivated solely for greed. For many, especially in Third World, main reason for their involvement in crypto is convenience.
Those who are involved due to greed are the most loud at social networks, though.
At least, this is my general impression.
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