Bitcoin Developer Declares War on the Nation State
In his self-described call to arms, Monero core developer elucidates his thoughts on the Bitcoin community’s “Delusions of Grandeur.”
Our hubris led us down the path of infighting; inflated self-efficacy fueled the belief banksters would just disappear. After the brief scolding, our Bitcoin Napoleon reveals his plans for our salvation – and world domination.
French programmer & crypto dev David Latapie decried in an eclectic late-night post on the bitcointalk.org forums.
“We are resting on our laurels because BTC reached 1000 dollars… And let me tell you: cryptofiat is a thing to come…. This is a war and we are soldiers.”
Besides supplying rallying cries to la resistance, David Latapie is kind of like the Gavin Andresen of Monero – a cryptocurrency running on a separate protocol from Bitcoin. Nor is it a fork of the original Satoshi code. In a previous interview , David says Monero is a response to premined altcoins. Monero gives people a “fair chance” – capped at 18,400,000 coins with 80% mined in the first four years.
“… fiat. It is a symbol… Fiat could change its protocol… to cryptographically-enforced. Yes, cryptodollar or cryptoeuro or cryptoyuan could very much become a reality”
His concern is the cryptocurrency community is bad neighbors to one another. He would like us to refocus favoring less cryptocurrency and more community. Though some of his words are lost in translation, his message is clear. David’s path is sans malice and not one of a violent revolutionary. His version of Join or Die adds cyberpunk flavor to the founding father ’s original meme.
“First, we should both not care too much about infighting (the altcoin war is also Darwinian evolution at work, it has its uses) and at the same time still care enough to remember what really matters. Speaking of that, what does really matters, mmh? You have four hours.”
David is absolutely correct. Squabbling over which coin is best contributes no value to cryptocurrencies. Fighting with each other bolsters already overwhelming odds. The market is going to pick the best coin or coins. It pays to be first, Bitcoin, but America Online, Ultima Online, Lycos, and Dreamcast would like to talk to you about that.
It’s open-source software, AND you get to participate in the greatest paradigm shift in the way humans live their lives since the industrial revolution. Smile.
“Second, it is easier to win if your competitor lets you win. Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across. If a governement can take advantage of crypto (and I already explained it can), make it so that this is a mutually-profitable agreement. Hatred only go that far; negociation goes much farther. Hey, I’m French, I know what I am talking about, we have an A-grade in Stubborness and Stupidity (Africa, Indochina…) whereas the British were much smarter.
Governement wants money and control. Let us do it whilst allowing anyone on an individual basis to opt-out. If we create the tool, it will be possible. If we let the government create it, much less.”
Someday soon our governments will announce the central bank’s plans for addressing cryptocurrencies. Here, I dissent from David’s opinion. I believe that even if governments adopt crypto it won’t matter so much. The government can demand “debts” (taxes) paid in FiatCoin, but consumers will just wait until the last minute, convert their normal crypto to FiatCoin and pay their taxes. It won’t have an actual use in society.
How Bitcoin Will End the Nation-State
Liberty.me’s CLO Jeffrey Tucker gave a wonderful presentation on this idea. “How Bitcoin Will End the Nation-State.” Also, somewhat unrelated, F.A. Hayek’s “Denationalization of Money” is like a book of cheat codes for cryptocurrency.
“Third, read history. Remember WIR. Remember how local currencies die when crisis are over (or sort of). Fiat won’t disappear, it will adapt and there is room for non-fiat cryptocurrencies as long as it makes sense. What could an “illegitimate” currency (as in “not backed by governement”) be good for? I believe that anonymity is the important thing4. You can be sure that cryptofiat will be traceable. You can also be sure also there will be a need for untraceability. A homeostatic system integrates its own opposition, that’s why it is homeostatic. In simpler terms, legality has to tolerate illegality to continue to exist (which doesn’t mean that tools useful for illegal action can’t be used for legal actions – you do pay your coffee with some quarters, right?)”
The poetry in these words is concise. Every dominant power construct in the history of mankind still exists in some form. Progress makes it less important, takes away its power. Again, I defer. In favor of “What power does Heaven hold over its saints if not for the nightmare of Hell?”
I don’t think governments have been bad enough yet. Albeit, the US policy is a drunk teenager thinking of driving home real fast, and keeping two wheels on the sidewalk will get them home twice as fast and keep them only on the road half as long. But even my peers, with thousands of dollars in debt, who didn’t find jobs after college, have big TVs, smartphones. It’s not a secret the US economy runs on the cheap debt it cannot pay back. If wealth redistribution does one thing well, it’s keeping the poor from revolting. It’s going to take the end of cheap debt and the middle class realizing it’s on the bottom of the totem before Joe Sixpack drops his Budweiser for Bitcoin.
“So stop infighting and look at the real threat. Come on. It would be one of biggest missed deed of our time if open source failed to liberate more than code.”
And it truly would. Just as America lost the freedom that once made it the greatest place in the world in exchange for a police state, losing Bitcoin to people who seek power would be a blow to liberty. Bitcoin’s algorithm is Proof of Work – it produces something. That’s all peaceful people have ever wanted to do for all time – produce something of value to serve each other. FiatCoin is Proof of Violence .
The original bitcointalk.org post
Images from Shutterstock.
