Bitcoin and Crypto and DeFi and Sometimes Ayn Rand

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The following is one hell of a hidden reality that looks like its opposite.

 

Think about it. What is the main characteristic of a Ponzi scheme?

Most people will say it is the mechanism of getting future profits and liquidity from new buy-ins.

But they all miss something.

A Ponzi scheme needs a Ponzi. It needs someone to control the offers, supply the tokens to buy, keep up the storyline, be the poster child of credibility (while it lasts), and so on. Without a Ponzi, no Ponzi scheme could ever work.

And central banks have developed their "Ponzi persona" down to an art form. They even feel like essential government institutions. But all they live on is new people buying in while they refine it further by fleecing everyone with constant small changes in policy and rules. Not to mention periodic major monkey-shines. 

 

Bitcoin has no Ponzi. No one can change the rules and no one can make off with the loot. Even though adoption is critical to Bitcoin's worth as a currency, that is true of any product to be a success. 

Bitcoin is the Ponzi killer, not the Ponzi. The Ponzi is the central banking system.

Dayaamm... that truth is beautiful once you see it.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I thought a Latin American country would be the next one to fall, but it looks like it might be in Europe: Liechtenstein.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

This is right in your face, but how many will keep from seeing?

Old habits die hard the world over.

(Banks die hard, too, but they are dying.  )

As for truth anyone can see in front of them, the truth that counters those habits, people who speak that truth piss off everyone.

It happened that way with Rand.

 

 

Bitcoin is about as momentous for human society as the discovery of agriculture, the wheel, and fire were.

Max often says, you don't change Bitcoin. Bitcoin changes you.

Let me add for O-Land readers, this is the first 100% rational money ever invented. Since it cannot be confiscated, there is no way to use force against it.

Except maybe shut down the entire Internet. And even then, cold storage guarantees Bitcoin does not lose its value.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

What a great visual representation of how economic propaganda and fools and scammers present it versus reality.

 

That is exactly how it works, both perception-wise in today's culture, and reality-wise.

Wisdom is learning this way of seeing reality for what it is and letting go of misrepresentations.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Max often says, you don't change Bitcoin. Bitcoin changes you.

For example:

 

Michael

[Strictlylogical]

41 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

For example:

 

Michael

Will there ever be a version of bitcoin for which there will be absolutely no middle men? 

Once after having bit a little gold coin, I would simply trade man to man, real world stuff, on its being genuine.

 

If I am correct for a Bitcoin transaction, we send ones and zeros (keys or codes) over a third party device, over a third party satelite/cable/fiber ISP, to a third party repository/calculation house (computing platform) that does something and sends back verification or keys or codes back down the chain. 

Oligarchs and central planning tyrannical government are not only in the process of destroying money as such, they are and have also destroyed trust, so that any alternative appears not much better.

 

 

[tmj]

Society presupposes middlemen ie division of labor. The test of whether or not Bitcoin is a secure store of value is more about the properties of the security of the mechanism than of the ‘inherent’ value of the thing itself. 
The context of sound money in a civilized society is always conditioned by the level of freedom in that society and not on the ‘value’ of money or currency, when the shit hits a fan you can eat neither gold or Bitcoin.

I think I grok the freedom loving aspects of Bitcoin, but .. I’m still a little fuzzy on ‘how’ it’s produced and a little afraid that a shaky power grid could render it as inedible as gold on a desert island. If the existential properties of a blockchain token (?) allow for the security and uncompromising ability of free use , I’m in and seems like a more than just a useful tool for a civilized society and human flourishing but a necessary one.

Pretty sure we need both and such a tool could/would ‘work’ synergistically to those ends , but we sure need a non shaky power grid , and not just mechanically not shaky , but non shaky as in a developed and sustained society that functions in a way that energy and power production are regarded as seriously as food production.

[Strictlylogical]

17 minutes ago, tmj said:

Society presupposes middlemen ie division of labor. The test of whether or not Bitcoin is a secure store of value is more about the properties of the security of the mechanism than of the ‘inherent’ value of the thing itself. 
The context of sound money in a civilized society is always conditioned by the level of freedom in that society and not on the ‘value’ of money or currency, when the shit hits a fan you can eat neither gold or Bitcoin.

I think I grok the freedom loving aspects of Bitcoin, but .. I’m still a little fuzzy on ‘how’ it’s produced and a little afraid that a shaky power grid could render it as inedible as gold on a desert island. If the existential properties of a blockchain token (?) allow for the security and uncompromising ability of free use , I’m in and seems like a more than just a useful tool for a civilized society and human flourishing but a necessary one.

Pretty sure we need both and such a tool could/would ‘work’ synergistically to those ends , but we sure need a non shaky power grid , and not just mechanically not shaky , but non shaky as in a developed and sustained society that functions in a way that energy and power production are regarded as seriously as food production.

Sounds like too much central planning for my tastes.

I like the idea that some people grow food because other people eat and some people learn to cut hair because other people trade for haircuts.

 

The arrogance and hubris of technocrats thinking they can formulate the "correct" systems, the right centrally planned machine into which humans can be integrated IS the problem...

I don't want MORE of that to function as any kind of "production" or "distribution" system... if anything, at this point in history humans need decentralization, of government, of media, generally of any power, agency, network of relationships... of all so called "systems", decentralized back primarily to individuals, families and communities, and away from the central planners.

 

[tmj]

I’m right there with you , I want Bob my neighbor to build a thorium reactor I can plug my mining equipment into and I’ll pay him what ever amount we agree on !
(Btw internets serendipity Michael Saylor on Patrick Bet David podcast live now )

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Educate yourselves.

The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous (referral).

I started this book because billionaires who are into Bitcoin recommend it as an education. For example, Ricardo Salinas in the video below.

Mexican Billionaire Ricardo Salinas: Private Jet Bitcoin Interview w/ Max Keiser & Stacy Herbert

RUMBLE.COM

---

Join Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert on a special trip to El Salvador aboard Ricardo Salinas' private jet. On this episode of Hard Money: KEISER, Max and Stacy speak with the Mexican telecom mogul about

In fact, I started reading that book because of such a strong recommendation.

I thought I knew something about money, its history, conditions and so on.

That book is an education about money in general and then about Bitcoin.

 

As to relying on the Internet, as a friend says, if the Internet goes down, we are going to have a lot more problems than money.

 

 

Granted, Bitcoin is not the best currency for a barter society or one where there is little to no technology, but for a technological society, it is the best money ever devised.

And El Salvador is concrete proof of what happens when it is adopted. You can see the results, including all those happy people who are becoming prosperous. You can see them not just theorize about results, tell stories about "if" and look at statistics.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Strictlylogical said:

The arrogance and hubris of technocrats thinking they can formulate the "correct" systems...

S,

You mean central bankers and government economic people?

Formulating "correct" systems is all they do outside of fleecing everyone.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Bitcoin is the perfect money for a technological society.

Even in Silicon Valley.

Especially in Silicon Valley.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Michael Saylor, billionaire, connecting Bitcoin to the creation of a world envisioned by Ayn Rand and the Objectivist movement.

It's a 60 second video and well-worth watching.

You just don't get billionaires saying what he says about Ayn Rand.

Click on the image. It will take you to YouTube and play.

 

On the technical side, this is a YouTube short, so it should embed instead of taking you to YouTube. Actually, it does embed. But when I embed it here on OL, the thumbnail does not show Michael Saylor. It shows two young black kids playing in a poor village talking about family.  

I don't know what the higher-up powers that be think over at YouTube, but they don't seem to like Bitcoin, Michael Saylor or Ayn Rand. 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I can attest to the truth of this because it happened that way with me.

It took me less that 1,000 hours though. And I still can't make heads or tails of Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper. 

 

Michael

[deanwins]

I'll offer some bitcoin Q&A answers here.

Bitcoin software only relies on your ability to connect to one other honest person in the network.  It doesn't necessarily rely on the middle men carrying messages.  Originally the communication network didnt use public key encryption to verify the identity of other users (or verify their messages are from them)... but it could... if that became a problem.  For example some people communicate over TOR with bitcoin.  Bitcoin software just asks the world for the hardest-to-build blockchain, that has the highest tower of work built up.  One can verify for oneself with Bitcoin software which tower communicatedto you was the hardest to build.  No middle man information injection.

[Strictlylogical]

31 minutes ago, deanwins said:

I'll offer some bitcoin Q&A answers here.

Bitcoin software only relies on your ability to connect to one other honest person in the network.  It doesn't necessarily rely on the middle men carrying messages.  Originally the communication network didnt use public key encryption to verify the identity of other users (or verify their messages are from them)... but it could... if that became a problem.  For example some people communicate over TOR with bitcoin.  Bitcoin software just asks the world for the hardest-to-build blockchain, that has the highest tower of work built up.  One can verify for oneself with Bitcoin software which tower communicatedto you was the hardest to build.  No middle man information injection.

The magic box with lights tells me it is installing software that works in a certain way.

The magic box tells me the little lighted box on its face runs "Bit coin" stuff.

The little lighted box says things about security and keys... and appears to "work" .. it also does so apparently because of invisible spirit messages that pass between magic boxes and big towers with metal ears... and bigger boxes in big buildings.

 

The men who make and take care of the buildings,

the men who make and take care of the big boxes,

the men who make and take care of the towers with metal ears,

the men who invented and monitor the invisible spirit messaging,

the men who  make and take care of the little lighted box,

and the men who make the magic box with lights, 

they all tell me that I can and should trust them that I can deal and trade "directly" with another person, without any intervention or interference or invasion of privacy or interruption or error or bias or problem or fraud of any kind ... and they tell me the same promises were made to the another person by another similar or same chain of men... and boxes and towers and blinking things.

 

Never will there be ONLY two people, some equivalent of a piece of gold, and a direct meeting of the minds... in the context of any computationally dependent transaction.

 

[Peter]

14 minutes ago, Strictlylogical said:

they all tell me that I can and should trust them

Sigh. If I had only bought bitcoin when it only cost . . . . well, I still wouldn’t be going around hurting people. This is a good read. The author doesn’t usually team up his two U.S. Marshals in one book. Peter

From the Best Thriller Books about "Righteous Prey:” In John Sandford’s 32nd Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport adventure, a team of filthy rich Bitcoin billionaires hunting down well renowned assholes. Talk about one hell of a plot line, one where the betterment of the planet is at the forefront of a group of killer’s minds. Sandford brings to life a story of necessity in the eyes of the rich, who feel justice is better served by the powerful, and money equals power. 

Sandford dreams up a team of highly intelligent billionaires, who all happen to have Bitcoin ties . . . .

[Strictlylogical]

Although Bitcoin cannot be stolen from you or seized,

in a surveillance state

your ability to transact through all the magic boxes can and would be limited, access to the net, banking, and transactional systems could be restricted to those willing to undergo  bio-verification or other ID protocols, 

transactions could require separate records of what you paid X bitcoin for, who you are, where you were when you authorized it

banks, banking systems, credit transactional systems etc.could be required to only authorize the initiation of transactions to people with social credit and who have not done, said, bought, donated to, the wrong things, in addition to the required biometrics or other ID protocols

if you did the wrong thing with your "bitcoin", sure they couldn't literally take it... but they could put it in prison by denying your access to the internet infrastructure, credit and banking systems...

 

although arguably better than CBDC, I'm not sure how much better it would be in a surveillance state.

 

Anyone want to present arguments countering this?

[deanwins]

Strictly, ok.  Its not feasible for most people to build their own computers from scratch.  I'd never suggest anyone fully trust a computer they didn't make themselves... especially one connected to the internet.

I do think the CIA can take over any computer connected to the internet whenever they want.  If they used that power to temporarily disrupt bitcoin... they would reveal their card, and a lot of people would want to build new computers to defend themselves from such an attack, which would reduce the CIA's power to hack computers in the future.  At this point Bitcoin is still a very new technology.  One day there may be dedicated bitcoin wallets made by hundreds of companies.  You could have 10 of them in your pocket all verifying your transaction to buy a house, at a escrow company who uses all 100, with the house seller who uses 5 wallets from 5 different companies.

I'd highly recommend that people use gold and silver to some extent as a fallback for trade, and a portion of their portfolio for shit hits the fan and return to sound money scenarios.  I'm not sure if Bitcoin tech would be competitively advantageous in a situation where the monopoly on banking was broken. Our current system might be replaced by local moneies and thousands of big business issued monies... which may all be based on contracts to deliver gold/silver.  But the current powers that be dont allow such, hence bitcoin's decentralized nature has a niche, despite its inefficiencies.

What I would recommend is that one puts most of their resources into creating a lasting society... developing their land to be prosperous and secure.  Money is a tool for trade.  Just hold enough for nearterm transactions in the kinds of money you dont like all that much.

I really do like local gold delivery contracts more than bitcoin for most transactions...  theres just that little problem of the world being full of dupe slave sheeple who transform into valueless mercenaries to enforce a monopoly on slave money.

[deanwins]

Strictly, In such a powerful surveillance state, bitcoin tech can adopt more computationally costly procedures to hide transaction history.  It would then only be useable in the black/gray market.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Proof of how a Bitcoin economy works is right before our eyes.

El Salvador.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

From the Best Thriller Books about "Righteous Prey:” In John Sandford’s 32nd Virgil Flowers and Lucas Davenport adventure, a team of filthy rich Bitcoin billionaires hunting down well renowned assholes. Talk about one hell of a plot line, one where the betterment of the planet is at the forefront of a group of killer’s minds. Sandford brings to life a story of necessity in the eyes of the rich, who feel justice is better served by the powerful, and money equals power. 

Sandford dreams up a team of highly intelligent billionaires, who all happen to have Bitcoin ties . . . .

Peter,

Thanks for the recommendation.

I am a voracious consumer of thrillers. This guy Sanford (Camp) sounds like a winner and he is now on my organizing list for plowing through his works.

At the present, I am doing Raymond Chandler, but before him, I did Robert Crais, and before him, Brad Taylor. I've done quite a few (Patterson, Thor, Connelly, Baldacci, Silva, Child, Flynn, Hunter, McDonald (both of them), Fleming, Ludlum, Spillane, DeMille, Burke, and on and on...)

I like to listen to thriller audiobooks as I walk--I do several miles a week, and when I get going, I do 3 miles a day. 

I also intersperse nonfiction (right now I am going through The Bitcoin Standard) and some charming-ass classics like "King Solomon's Mines" and so on.

But Sanford looks very interesting. It's about time Bitcoin got into the thriller business.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I have some friends I talk Bitcoin stuff with offline.

In one, we got to talking about Bitcoin and storytelling.

When Bible stories came up, so did El Salvador as Noah's ark, or for Randians, El Salvador as Galt's Gulch.

I started thinking on this and came up with the following for Bitcoin being one of the destroyers of the fiat money system and the central bank cartel. I thought about Samson.

Imagine a huge building with an elite class partying up a storm in it. And nobody is paying attention to that blind dude over there shoving against a pillar. He was only there to be laughed at, after all.

 

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Here is my antiwar moral argument for Bitcoin.

Max Keiser says it better than me, too.

 

There are a few other things, too. Bitcoin cannot be expanded like other money-supplies can (or, to use the jargon, like other shitcoins can  ). The number of Bitcoins is preordained and cannot be altered without shutting the whole shebang down.

And since many billionaires are involved, do you know how hard it is to shut anything down a billionaire wants to stay open?

Step out of theory-land and try it if you believe it can happen (outside of a major war).

 

 

There is also a usury issue. Bitcoin has no mechanism for including usury at the currency level. It looks like it does right now because Bitcoin is absorbing and converting fiat currency left and right from people who are starting to panic. But the usury is all on the side of the other currencies, not on the Bitcoin side.

Once a system develops where there is only Bitcoin, there will be no usury at the money supply level. People will be able to lend money and charge interest, but not screw around with getting interest (directly or indirectly) from issuing money like is now practiced all over the world.

The algorithm does not allow it. And the torrent-like control makes it impossible to mess with the algorithm, unless you shut the whole thing down to do it. And... hmmm... didn't I just say something about that?

 

Michael

[deanwins]

The obedient mercenary slaves killed all those terrorist baneling families on the other side of the world.  Cant have the terorists simultaneously exploding I-beams with aluminum and kerosene.  Only baneling magic from evil witch terrorists can do that.  The wise money printers knew exactly who to bribe with newly printed monopoly money to eliminate the 5 million banelings.