Do Bitcoin ETFs conflict with the original ethos of Bitcoin?

Some people think that a Bitcoin ETF is ridiculous because it doesn’t fit the original idea of ​​Bitcoin. On the contrary, I think it's a perfect fit.

It would be a misunderstanding of Bitcoin’s history to think that it was the idealism of cypherpunkism that spawned the Bitcoin movement. Bitcoin never got off the ground without a lot of good old-fashioned greed. In Bitcoin terms, this greed is often referred to as “the digital currency going higher,” and it has been crucial from the beginning. The new Bitcoin ETFs are clearly not cypherpunk, but they are very much in line with the founding ethos of “digital currencies going higher.”

If you remember, one of the main goals of the cypherpunks was to create anonymous digital cash. While Bitcoin certainly had some roots in cypherpunk ideals, it quickly became apparent that the digital currency's rise was inconsistent with the dream of digital cash: after all, assets with volatile prices are not suitable as mediums of exchange. Soon, the rise in digital currencies drowned out the voices of the cypherpunks.

I remember walking into the Bitcoin Embassy in Montreal in 2014, located on the corner of busy St-Laurent and Prince-Arthur. I've been researching and writing about Bitcoin for a few years, but decided to play dumb to see how people at the embassy teach newbies about Bitcoin. Instead of lecturing me on how to make a Bitcoin payment from my self-hosted wallet, the ambassador led me to a large screen displaying Bitcoin prices. "Look, prices are going up," he marveled.

That’s Bitcoinism in a nutshell. Like the televangelists of the 1980s with their gold-plated cowboy boots, mansions, private jets, and a dash of God, Bitcoin is all about price charts, with a dash of cypherpunkism thrown in for good measure.

Cryptocurrencies moving higher have always required bringing more people into the game. Unlike a public company, it does not generate an ever-increasing stream of profits, so the only way its price can continue to rise is by recruiting more participants, like a pyramid or MLM. From the early days, gaining access to traditional financial and banking infrastructure has been key to making this recruitment process as smooth as possible.

Connecting Bitcoin to the existing financial system has begun since the first Bitcoin exchanges emerged in 2010, with these exchanges connecting to key global bank wire systems such as SWIFT, as well as local exchanges such as the Federal Reserve’s Fedwire system and Europe’s SEPA system. Wire transfer system. These integrations were critical in getting the initial round of funding into the Bitcoin game and pushing the numbers above $1, $10, $100, and $1,000.

Subsequently, bridges to the Visa/MasterCard debit and credit card network brought Bitcoin closer to the regular world, bringing more inflows and more digital currencies higher. Later, add Bitcoin purchases to mobile payment apps like PayPal and Cash App. Seen in this context, ETFs are actually nothing new; they simply represent the next marriage between the two worlds.

As for the financial industry in general, it's not complaining. Companies like Visa are on a mission to generate profits – what they want most is to add new products like Bitcoin to the list of products they’re already connected to. Interestingly, no chain letter-like product has ever been as popular as Bitcoin.

Now with a Bitcoin ETF, the digital currency moving higher requires more connections to traditional finance and banks. What happens next? One possibility: The Bitcoin community is expected to lobby to allow federally chartered banks to offer Bitcoin products outside of savings deposits and retirement accounts. Banks offering Bitcoin to their retail customers may seem less consistent with Bitcoin's more cypherpunk ideals of being an alternative to the banking system, but conversely, it's hard to imagine a more fantastical recruiting tool for the digital currency's rise.

[Disclaimer] There are risks in the market, so investment needs to be cautious. This article does not constitute investment advice and users should consider whether any opinions, views or conclusions contained in this article are appropriate for their particular circumstances. Invest accordingly and do so at your own risk.