Perhaps the biggest cultural shift in my eleven years of working on Bitcoin has been the move from the tinkering techies who stress “never invest more than you are willing to lose,” to the Michael Saylors of this world telling everyone to sell their houses, cars, and wife. (Then going into debt) to buy more Bitcoin.
Whenever I listen to macroeconomic commentators in this area (who mostly started appearing about five or six years ago), I usually feel that there is one key point they are still missing. Bitcoin is certainly no longer just the new experimental project it was more than a decade ago, but it is He can Still fail.
The list of things that could go wrong is too long to include in this article, but suffice it to say it includes everything from over-centralization to over-centralization Decentralization. (For example, if mining gets too centralized, Bitcoin could be regulated to death. Whereas the project could literally and figuratively collapse if people can’t even settle on a single set of consensus rules; something we’ve come close to indiscriminately Comfortable during mass size wars.)
I believe Bitcoin can overcome these problems. The incentives for Bitcoin to succeed are strong, and perhaps most importantly, smart and passionate people from around the world can help find solutions to any challenges Bitcoin may face.
But in order to do this, the problems must first be acknowledged, and then fixed. Selling your house, car, and spouse just to buy and hold Bitcoin won’t do it.
This article is a takes. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.