Why I Believe The Bitcoin/Cryptocurrency Community Should Hire Lobbyists

in #bitcoin8 years ago

Quick Summary Of My Beliefs On Regulation In The Crypto Space

This post is going to be very controversial due to the fact that the bitcoin community is split between whether or not it should engage regulators or ignore them. I happen to personally be in the camp of people who believe that we as a community should work and engage with regulators, but not give up the fundamental attributes of that make it revolutionary. I want to gain the greatest amount of exposure to bitcoin and I honestly believe we do that with not only businesses that ignore regulators, but with ones that engage with regulators as well. If we offer easier onramps for both types of people seeking different things out of bitcoin, we will be better off as a community. I want bitcoin not only to be for the anarchist techie, but also for the 40 year old working man who can buy a few coins in an etf and save for his retirement. With that quick summary, I want to go into why I believe together as a bitcoin community we should hire lobbyists.

Lobbyists Can SOMETIMES Be A Good Thing

So when I originally saw the idea about hiring a bitcoin lobbyist about 2 years ago, most people were opposed to the idea purely based on the notion that lobbyists are the spawn of Satan and only add to corruption. While this is sometimes the case, if you have lobbyists for both sides of a problem it can actually have a beneficial outcome. A lobbyists main goal is to educate and try to persuade a politician to vote for their cause, but also to educate them on the subject they are lobbying. Obviously depending on who hired the lobbyist, the information they provide can be biased or misleading, but this is why having two opposite sides lobbying can be a good thing. If two sides lobby an issue a politician is able to see both sides of the debate and get a better understanding of a topic. Being a politician in America means that you are constantly voting on bills you really aren’t very knowledgeable about. The wide range of topics is just too much, that very few people could know everything about what they vote on. In this respect, politicians rely on third parties such as advisors and lobbyists to give them short summaries on why or why they shouldn’t vote a certain way. In this regard, just informing politicians about the benefits bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies bring, could open their eyes.

Lobbyists Are Already Lobbying Against Bitcoin

It has become quite obvious with recent anti cryptocurrency bills coming to fruition in places like California, that banks and payment processors like Mastercard are lobbying against bitcoin. We knew this from disclosed records a year ago and it seems like if they had their way, the US government would be banning bitcoin. Despite no one being able to stop the use of bitcoin, a negative sentiment like a ban would ultimately limit growth and the amount of people bitcoin could reach. If the goal is to reach a large amount of people, other countries tend to follow the US in terms of regulation and might choose similar laws. If we hire a lobbyist to combat the anti bitcoin lobbying that is currently going on, we could have the politicians see both sides of the argument and see the potential of the system to bring jobs and wealth to the US.

True Mainstream Adoption For The Masses, Won’t Come Without Regulated Businesses

Despite what many bitcoiners think , most people invested in the currency need viable on and off ramps with reputable companies to make it worth it to hold large amounts in bitcoin. Someone who wants to invest a million dollars into bitcoin isn’t going to be bothered selling on localbitcoins. They are going to want mainstream solutions to invest and secure their coins. Regulated businesses might not be a perfect outcome but it will definitely help in making the system more robust. If we can make the bitcoin market cap 100 billion rather than 10 billion it becomes a much sturdier and less volatile system. These things are essential in getting mainstream third world acceptance and use of bitcoin. Third world countries don’t and won’t have access to payment processors or any onramps to their own currency besides person to person trading, so a less volatile commodity would benefit them greatly. People would be much more likely to use bitcoin if it didn’t fluctuate 5% a day, and it becomes much harder to do that when you have a much larger market cap and mainstream organizations trading it. This is exactly why you rarely see the DOW or Gold swinging 5% daily, because it just takes too much to move it that much.

In Closing

In closing I believe that we should explore all options to help mainstream adoption of bitcoin as a currency and adding a lobbyist would help. I believe lobbying works and we should pursue it as an option. I think certain types of businesses don’t need to be regulated and that startups should not have to pay exorbitant fees just to create something. However I think that a lobbyist can express all these problems to politicians and speak to them in terms they can understand. If politicians hear about how it can create jobs and bring massive amounts of wealth like the internet did, they would be much more willing to explore it more, rather than shunning it because all they think about is how bitcoin can be used to buy drugs. A lobbyist can help change minds in Washington and I think that is the most important part to acceptance in the US at this point in time. If you have anything you wanted to add, questions or comments ill try and respond to most. Thanks!

-Calaber24p

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This could be interesting... Someone could take it upon himself to meet up with legislators and discuss crypto with them, educate them and generally provide the other side of the discussion, since I expect most legislators only ever hear from anti-crypto lobbyists. Basically, to lobby for crypto. Then they could post on Steem about the ideas discussed, the questions brought up, etc. and be rewarded for their work.

Bitcoin is old bad news. Bitcoin is the past. Steemit is the future.
LONG LIVE STEEMIT!!!!!!!!!!!

YES :)

@juneaugoldbuyer Think of Bitcoin as the "big brother" and other alt-coins that came after as middle brothers. STEEM is the baby brother. And what usually happens to "baby brother?" Things are usually easier for him and he gets all the love. And when "Shhhstuff" hits the fan, guess who they run to? Big Brother. Big Brother as has little brother's back. STEEM is in good hands.
@streetstyle

I think both can have a successful future :)

@calaber24p one of the problems is that coin developers themselves need to be part of the lobby group. We're already not organized at this level, so it becomes difficult.

Crypto is so fragmented right now, we're all over the place. Cooperation for a common good is going to be difficult.

For instance Sunny King, the creator of Peercoin is doing a live chat tomorrow (I posted about it on my blog) .. and after 2 hours, I'm at 7 votes. It doesn't make sense to me. Even if someone doesn't own Peercoin, the fact that one of the first few visionaries other than Satoshi is going to socialize with the cryptocommunity at large.. yet it goes unnoticed.

Perhaps we need a UN setup. Where competing currencies get a seat at a table twice a year, where the heads of state.. (I mean heads of coins?) get together to work together during that event. I don't know.

I agree with you, that we need developers to work together, but that might seem impossible. If the scaling conferences brought anything to light, it was that many of the developers are very one minded. Not to mention the amount of bitcoin maximalists in the space that believe every coin but bitcoin is a shitcoin. It would be very hard to get these different communities together.

I think we need lobbyists to promote the entire concept and health of cryptocurrency systems. Steemit is but one aspect. I don't believe there will be only one cryptocurrency, but rather many with different roles to play. I hope Steemit will be one of the big/value-add players.

But first things first. The world needs to better embrace and integrate with cryptocurrencies. Then we can hash out who is the best for what.

I agree. I want a lobbyist to tell regulators about the benefits of crypto and the systems built around the different types and not to write them off.

I agree with you, the community needs to grow. And to do that there needs to be a way to "mainstream" Bitcoin, and it needs to be simple for new adopters.

By doing so we will reach new groups of people that doesn't even have a bank nearby or the possibility to create a bank account because of the country they live in.

Considering what the new "phenomenon" termed "fintech" has done to incumbents followed by the "blockchain" hype or summit explosion I would suggest that we are in a very sensitive phase as far as the current system and its power over the economic or financial future goes.

At the end of the day even policy makers at any level of government or within the official corporate structure on boardroom levels or below that are oftentimes not fully aware of who is in control of the actual agenda or who is best positioned within the possibly competing agendas within any structure that participates in the economy.

Hence it all comes down to strategy in my eyes. None of us is in possession of all relevant datapoints when it comes to assessing the balance of the current powerplay on the global scale.

What most of us do know however is that the central banking system is flawed if not outright fraudulent. However the average person is not helped much with even absorbing that insight in the day to day survival needs to protect life and liberty.

So back to the question of the function of lobbyists. It is a phenomenon that can be emotionally handled - or practically. In other words a lobbyist is on a certain level nothing more than a strategic representative for a specific interest or interest group.

Since we all have an interest - if for nothing less than for the survival of the human species - we understand that the current central banking system is not sustainable. It will be increasingly difficult to find anybody that can successfully counter that argument.

So the lobbyist question is one of practicality to a very important end goal. The question is not can we afford lobbyists - it is rather can we afford not to integrate lobbyists in the strategy of making cryptocurrencies adaptable for mass integration and mass acceptance.

We can learn from the techniques that have been used against us and apply them to corner the incumbents and the power controllers step by step.

Steemit is an incentive based tool and has been conceived as far as I see it from exactly that strategic core of thinking.

Incentivice a lobbyist to incentivice a policy maker or influencer based on what their individual needs are as well as what they need for their constituency or their fans/followers. If it's done ethically and morally sound within the framework of the laws in the affected jurisdictions then one is en par with what the current power incumbents are doing and it is a more fair and equal game now.

So I support the concept of a think tank to strategically integrate the method of lobbying in order to make the cryptocurrency space palatable for the masses as well as the current decision makers on all levels of society ;-)

I agree with 100% of what you said, I think I just shed a tear.

Nice physiological expression of mutually inspired resonance. Thank you for tabling that topic ;-)

I don't think it's even a matter of choice. Some bitcoin communities might use lobbyists. Others might not. These things, like everything in life, tend to fork into multiple directions. The most efficient path survives while the other perishes.

Digital currencies most certainly need regulators and legislation in their corner for success. Great polished piece. Thank you

The regulation around certain businesses is absurd, it stifles the entire business in some cases! Yes, it is ridiculous the fees that startups have to pay. There should be incentives to create businesses not fees... anything that can facilitate that is a great idea!

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