Three stages of bitcoin awareness: Trump, Fed chairman, MPs PK

A few years ago, Bitcoin was only circulated in a few circles, and only cryptographers, password punks, and some liberal-minded people would be interested in this magical Internet currency.

Fast forward to today, the US President, the US Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve Chairman, and members of Congress have recently talked about Bitcoin publicly.

At the congressional hearing, there was even a shocking discourse of “first bitcoin, followed by Shitcoin”. Even the Fed chairman admitted that bitcoin might be a “gold substitute” and a “value storage medium”. And we are living in such a magical world.

As Bitcoin continues to sneak into public awareness, more and more people—including politicians and news anchors—have to ask themselves questions about the difference between money, control, and bitcoin and Shitcoin.

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“Shitcoin is not a curse. It is a highly specialized term in monetary economics. I sincerely thank @warrendavidson for introducing such an important concept to other members of the US Congress.”

The world’s understanding of Bitcoin is undergoing tremendous changes. Previously limited to small circles, dialogue has now begun in the wider public circle. What a wonderful time this is.

Understanding the three stages of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a very complex beast that combines many rules in a non-trivial way. It takes a while to understand its function, working principle and meaning.

Many people dismiss Bitcoin at first, they may think it is stupid, arguing that it will never work, they may think Bitcoin is inefficient, and then believe that some shitcoin can solve the same more effectively. problem. They may think that bitcoin is only a short-lived enthusiasm, and this magical Internet currency will disappear in the near future.

After depreciating Bitcoin, you may try to ban it, especially if you are engaged in or close to the printing business. Of course, this ban will prove to be ineffective. Bitcoin is a global phenomenon, and prohibiting it within your jurisdiction will only hurt you, not bitcoin.

The third stage is to realize that stopping Bitcoin is a difficult task, which is almost impossible. It is very difficult to kill a beast without a head. To make matters worse, this special beast lives in cyberspace, is not bound by a single jurisdiction, and feeds on human greed, and every attack on it will make it stronger.

In the past three weeks, we have seen three voices representing these three stages, which are from the President of the United States and members of Congress.

1. "I am not a fan of Bitcoin";
2. "We must ban bitcoin";
3. "You can't kill bitcoin";

Let's check these stages one by one.

Stage 1: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin" (Representative: US President Trump)

On July 12, 2019, the world's most powerful man published his views on Bitcoin on his 62 million Twitter fans:

“I’m not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, they’re not money, and the value is fluctuating, all based on air. Unregulated cryptographic assets can promote illegal behavior, including drug trafficking and other illegal activities…”

What does this mean for Bitcoin? Except for free publicity, this doesn't make much sense. The Bitcoin network will continue to be happy to continue producing blocks, whether or not it is approved by the President. The only thing that can happen is that a certain percentage of the 62 million followers who have never heard of Bitcoin will fall into this rabbit hole.

As mentioned above, the US president is not the only celebrity who has recently commented on bitcoin. The Fed chairman tried his best to tell everyone that Bitcoin was not used, except that people used it as a value storage medium, just like gold.

When asked if the cryptocurrency system is popular around the world, will it reduce or eliminate the traditional reserve money demand? The chairman of the Federal Reserve replied:

"This is a good choice. This kind of thing is possible, but we have not seen such a situation. We have not seen it being widely adopted. I mean, bitcoin is a good example, actually Almost no one uses bitcoin to pay. In fact, they use it more as a substitute for gold. It is a value storage medium, which is a speculative value store, just like gold.” — Jerome H. Powell

Let me re-translate what the Fed chairman said:

Question: If super bitcoinization happens, will this make the Fed obsolete? The answer from the Fed chairman is: Yes.

Well, since Bitcoin poses such a big threat, we can enter the next phase of understanding Bitcoin: trying to ban Bitcoin!

Stage 2: "We must ban Bitcoin!" (Representative: Member Chad Shillman)

Just a few weeks before President Trump’s view of Bitcoin, a US congressman urged a bill to try to ban all cryptocurrencies.

What does this mean for Bitcoin? Well, first of all, Bitcoin is bigger than American law. Second, if the law cannot be implemented in a meaningful way, then the law is not very effective.

However, after the opening remarks of "We must ban Bitcoin," a magical thing happened. It seems that this congressman knows Bitcoin very well, and even he knows Bitcoin better than many bitcoin maximalists.

The following is a wonderful explanation of the value proposition of Bitcoin by Chad Shillman in less than a minute:

Once the value proposition is correctly understood, the final stage is to think about the decentralization of Bitcoin.

Stage 3: "You can't kill Bitcoin" (Representative: Member Patrick McHenry)

One side effect against Bitcoin is that it is humbling and profoundly aware that it is almost impossible to turn off Bitcoin. This beast is hard to kill. Once you realize this, you have two choices: (1) fight it, become a joke, (2) join it, then wake up.

If you told me six months ago that a member of Congress would post a praise for Bitcoin in an interview with CNBC, I would definitely drive you out of the room. However, now we do see such a scene on TV.

The views of Patrick McHenry are worth repeating:

"There is no way to kill Bitcoin, even firewalls and extreme interventions can't do it. I mean, you can't kill Bitcoin."

It seems that this is not positive enough. However, this politician continued to reiterate the unstoppable nature of Bitcoin in the opening statement of the hearing of the US House Financial Services Committee. Similarly, the opening speech by Mr. Patrick McHenry at the hearing is also worth repeating:

“The reality is that no matter whether Facebook is involved or not, the change is here. Digital currency exists, blockchain technology is real, and Facebook’s entry into this new world is precisely a confirmation. Nakamoto and others are building The world is an unstoppable force. We should not try to stop this kind of innovation, the government can't stop this kind of innovation, and those who have tried have failed."

Take a moment to digest it:

1. “The government cannot stop this innovation”;
2. "Bitcoin is an unstoppable force";
3. "You can't kill bitcoin";

Three years ago, an esoteric paper written by cryptographer Ralph Merkle talked about it. He believes that Bitcoin is a new form of life that cannot be changed, cannot be tampered with, cannot be destroyed, cannot be interrupted, and cannot be stopped.

Three years later, for the first time, a non-technical metaphor was used to express the fascinating nature of Bitcoin, which took place in both the US Congress and television.

The future of Bitcoin is bright

Bitcoin continues to win people's hearts and minds. This includes the hearts and minds of politicians, news anchors, bankers and others who are currently powerful and influential people.

If you tell me that you are bullish on bitcoin six months ago, I probably won't believe you.

But now we are at this stage. Bitcoin appears on Congress and on TV. The US President is also thundering about Bitcoin. What a wonderful time. The world is paying attention to Bitcoin, and I am more optimistic about Bitcoin.

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