Bitcoin Obituaries

About a decade ago, a group of anarcho-capitalist coders rallied around the utopian notion that the digital protocol developed by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto would one day create marginal efficiencies for JPMorgan Chase ’s back-office operations. Well, not really. Blockchain and Bitcoin were, of course, initially supposed to allow individuals to send each other cash without any state..

Honestly, cryptocurrencies are useless. They’re only used by speculators looking for quick riches, people who don’t like government-backed currencies, and criminals who want a black-market way to exchange money. Eulogy made by Bruce Schneier Source

I believe bitcoin will eventually go to zero and so too will many bitcoin look-alikes. So the question is, what will survive? Ripple looks dodgy, so I don’t think that will last either. Eulogy made by Kevin Dowd Primarily all we do with bitcoin is that we trade it. That is awfully similar to tulips and..

In conclusion, it is a dismal space. Private and permissioned blockchains are an old idea—a good idea—just with a new buzzword on it. The public blockchains are grossly inefficient. The cryptocurrencies don’t work to provide anything against drugs and ransoms and stuff like that. Smart contracts are an unmitigated disaster unless you like comedy gold…

The price of bitcoin could nosedive to zero, a top investor in the crypto space told CNBC during a debate, which focused on the future of the underlying technology known as blockchain. “I do believe it will go to zero. I think it’s a great technology but I don’t believe it’s a currency. It’s not based on..

Back in August 2014, I discovered that the bitcoin mining industry had the industrial structure of a natural monopoly. A natural monopoly is a market in which production is most efficient with a single producer. This discovery came as a shock, but the implication was clear: Bitcoin could not survive in the long run. As..

Ardo Hansson, the governor of Bank of Estonia, has claimed that cryptocurrencies would die as a complete load of nonsense while speaking at “5 Years with the Euro” conference in Latvia. The policymaker assured that the bubble has already started to collapse and it should continue to do unless the market reaches “a new kind of equilibrium.”..

  Israel’s economics “tsar” Avi Simhon has denounced Bitcoin (BTC) as intrinsically inefficient, predicting that the cryptocurrency will therefore disappear. A Cointelegraph correspondent reported that Simhon — the head of the National Economic Council and senior economic policy advisor to the country’s prime minister — made his remarks at Israel Bitcoin Summit at Tel Aviv University on Jan. 8. Simhon..

Bitcoin prices will continue to tumble in 2019 The simple truth is that there are virtually no investment strategies that are worse ideas than cryptocurrencies. “Investing” in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is pure, unadulterated speculation. I put investing in parentheses because this is not investing, it is speculating. Cryptocurrencies are the “Tulipmania” of the 21st..

If currencies are fundamentally tribal, how can Bitcoin possibly become the “new gold standard”, as maximalists dream? Humans don’t take kindly to attempts by other tribes to eliminate their tribal symbols and impose those of another tribe. They have to be persuaded, not coerced. Currently, Bitcoin maximalists can’t even persuade other Bitcoiners to support their..

Bitcoin was never more than a vehicle for tax evaders and grifters to burn carbon in the hope of scoring a hot new Lambo. It represents all of our worst excesses, and it does so at a huge cost both to the people and our planet. Perhaps now that the investment has dwarfed the potential..

Bitcoin is literally worth nothing. Bitcoin has no chance of success because it’s worthless. It has nothing backing it but an illusion; no gold or silver or even a decree that it’s legal tender. It has no intrinsic value and no one needs it. Bitcoin doesn’t actually have any intrinsic value of any sort backing..