Nic's Unpopular BTC Opinions @[email protected]

Bitcoin is critically centralized in some key ways, other coins are more centralized, but Bitcoin still has obvious pressure points

Satoshi was flawed in many ways and failed to anticipate the eventual development of the protocol. This is fine. Satoshi was not infallible and fetishizing his/her vision is a doomed prospect

Bitcoin is critically centralized in some key ways, other coins are more centralized, but Bitcoin still has obvious pressure points

Bitcoin's growth may not suppress its volatility. Plenty of valuable things are volatile. Its supply inelasticity effectively ensures that it is always will have some volatility

Bitcoin's institutionalization is largely at odds with the success of Bitcoin as black market money

The code is the spec, the white paper was just a brochure. Satoshi updated and continually revised the code, acknowledging that Bitcoin had some inherent malleability.

Success for Bitcoin does not mean becoming a global currency and UoA. Minimum Viable Success in my mind is becoming a large, independent virtual commodity that is easy to move wealth in and out of without restriction

The more unilateral discretion developers have in the system design, the more scope for lobbying and capture. Being extremely resistant to change is a great feature

It is appropriate to question Bitcoin's long term sustainability.

Bitcoin banks are appropriate and inevitable, as is credit creation on Bitcoin

Bitcoin absolutely has a teleology, not because its creator intended it, but because its design narrows the scope of possible usage. Some usage modes (millions of retail txns) are fundamentally incompatible with its design constraints

Regardless of outcome, Bitcoin permanently altered the world's monetary landscape. No one can dispute that

Bitcoin isn't guaranteed to pump in a global recession. It will probably sell off

Bitcoin will never be cuddly and fully regulated. It will be used by terrible people. Bitcoiners need to be ok with that

Attempting to impose behavior codes on Bitcoiners is a veiled attempt to gain control over Bitcoin. If speech or behavior codes are ever instituted, Bitcoin will have been captured.

Inflation is manifested in Bitcoin through the creation of competing projects. Forks genuinely do confound newcomers and (at least temporarily) redirect attention and value

Bitcoiners should be preparing themselves for full Bitcoin criminalization. This won't be an easy road

Bitcoin developers are not unimpeachable. They have no special purchase on traits like the economics of bitcoin, and their proximity to the code might actually impair their ability to take a 10,000 foot view of the system

Bitcoin's institutionalization is largely at odds with the success of Bitcoin as black market money

There is absolutely no inconsistency in being pro securities regulation and being pro bitcoin. Being pro bitcoin does not require a blanket rejection of government or law