by fatherbruh
Truth:
Bitcoin, through use of the blockchain, allows people to do something that wasn’t possible before (at least in a decentralized fashion): let people pass around ‘ownership’ of satoshis (the smallest units of a Bitcoin). The system was built to grow to its maximum supply (21 million Bitcoin) over the course of several years. A centralized authority could replicate this system for passing around ownership of 21 million, shall we say, Central-Bitcoin at a tiny fraction of the electricity and hardware cost. What bitcoin has achieved is a way to do this in a decentralized and transparent fashion, nothing more. It’s a pretty cool achievement, but with probably no practical value.
Grift:
The original Bitcoin grift was to liken it to national fiat currencies. “They’re just propped up by faith, so why not believe in Bitcoin?” National fiat currencies are propped up by the faith that you get in trouble if you stop using and having it. When Uncle Sam asks you to pay your taxes, he’s looking for U.S. dollars. He can force you to conduct your trade in dollars, and can create demand for those dollars every year through tax policies. If you reside in the United States, you cannot just abandon the dollar. With Bitcoin, on the other hand, there is absolutely nothing to prevent its abandonment. Nobody can force demand for it, which is why you see scammers trying to form a cult around limiting its supply (HODLing) and trying to perpetuate demand (it’s still early, jump in). Some people, I think honestly, tried to make it work as a currency. When that failed people pivoted and started calling it a store of value, but it will fail at that for the same reason: demand will run out.