Full Faith and Credit

Turns out I'm not infallible.   Since I started my internal debate over whether to invest heavily into Bitcoin, it has more then doubled in value.

It seems that since the Cypriot banking debacle, Bitcoin has entered into the lexicon of the mainstream media.   The general uncertainty regarding government-issued currencies has contributed to its rise in popularity and price.  The news coverage has not all been well-informed or positive however. 

The following segment was appeared on Bloomberg:



Right away the well is poisoned by the title, "The Anarchist Virtual Currency."  My goodness, how frightening!  It could just have well been titled, "The Incorruptible Currency."  Maybe, "The Stateless Currency"?  Oooo, I know, how about "The People's Currency."  That one, I feel, has legs. 


The hosts, to their credit, do not seem to expend much energy hiding their ignorance of the subject of Bitcoin.  They brand the creators of Bitcoin as...gasp... "hackers".  "Who wouldn't trust hackers?" says one host.  It's not as if the creators of Bitcoin were doing anything nefarious.  They could just as easily be described as innovative, tech savvy, cryptology experts, but no I guess the producers are right, "hacker" gets ratings. 

Side Rant:  The nerve of these hackers by the way, creating a potentially stable system of currency not "backed" by the full faith and credit of any official state body!  Have they no knowledge of history?!  Do they not understand how effective fiat currencies (the Continental, the Greenback, the Mark, the Zimbabwean dollar, the Drachma...etc) have been in protecting the holders' wealth over time?  Furthermore, do they not understand how dangerous it would be for governments around the world to not have ready access to taxation free currency?  Just imagine how onerous it would be to start a war!

In other news, Tech Crunch is shocked at Bitcoin's success given its having "been relegated to the realm of the super geeky, or seen as the currency of anarchists or crazy digital libertarians."

And much to the sorrow of liberty-loving, thug-hacker anarchists everywhere, New Scientist reports that the US government has released new guidelines that would, in my opinion, fundamentally disrupt the Bitcoin community if they were to be thoroughly enforced. 

It's been a mixed period for Bitcoin, but I still hold out temendous hope.



Related post: The Bitcoin Economy