Bitcoin Forum

Did the 2008 financial crisis and distrust in banks make Bitcoin’s success unavoidable?

Most of the things that became too big in history, timing of the project has been one of the most important factors. Is it same in case of bitcoin also ?

Fiat is flawed to the point where it bloats itself too much, so, to a degree - yeah, BTC rise and adoption will become more and more relevant due to it.

The success in bitcoin is beyond when it was created but it is because there was nothing similar to bitcoin at the time. Bitcoin was new to people it is very opposite and better than fiat in almost all ways as it is decentralized and having limited supply. No blockchain before bitcoin, not successful digital currency before bitcoin. People like new things but bitcoin limited in supply makes it very valuable and they are used as investment while the government was not able to control it.

They (different govs) can only lick their teeth at it as of now, but they try to keep up the game with reserves / CBDCs  ;D

Sooner or later, BTC will be the biggest option besides fiat itself.

Its success comes from solid technical fundamentals, then a next factor is timing. If other cryptocurrencies created before Bitcoin were launched on a same Bitcoin Genesis Block day, I believe that they would still fail. It is because of their bad technology and lack of security as well as decentralization.

Bitcoin succeeds by its strong security together with decentralization and no censorship. Other cryptoccurencies before Bitcoin and after Bitcoin don't have decentralization.

^ Coins that would be the same as BTC launching the day as it did would have all the chances to be the next BTC, and BTC itself would be not as relevant then, but as it is now, yeah, BTC is truly the king of the market..

Bitcoin utility and timing makes it to be the king, and ahead of the rest. Bitcoin was created with good intentions to give us financial freedom. Altcoins were created for selfish purposes which is why they cannot have the unique nature of bitcoin.

Bitcoin is beyond institutional control and censorship resistance because of the decentralized nature. Solving double spending problem. Until we see a new coin that her utility more than that of bitcoin before bitcoin will stop dominating. I don't know if that's possible in the future.

Bitcoin was not launched as at 2008 when the crash happened so there was no way there could be a connection between them. Even in the numerous papers and posts of Satoshi, there was never any reference to that global economic meltdown as a motivation for the creation of Bitcoin, rather it has always been the need for freedom from control and censorship of the centralized and corruption prone fiat system that was the motivation for the creation of Bitcoin. So get your facts right and use Bitcoin for what it was meant for.

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I think it's not happen by coincidence, because the Lehman banks bankruptcy happen in September 2008 and then in the next month, Satoshi officially post Bitcoin whitepaper with a purpose to avoid interaction with third party.

Even though Bitcoin exist on the right time, but it still hard to gain trust from people to trust Bitcoin over banks, even now people are still trust banks over Bitcoin.

^ Because BTC overall generally is a brand new thing for everyone, retailers and institutions alike.

But people see how these entities treat them sometimes, and they turn their backs to something different.

Let's make this clear. The 2008 financial crisis, which resulted in mistrust of the institutional banking system, did not make Bitcoin's success unavoidable because central banks monetary policy and banking operations model make mistrust of the system inevitable, while the concept of BTC, and functionality make it success unavoidable.
Yes, Bitcoin was created at the ideal moment, but its success was predetermined by its concept and the solution it offered, since people are always looking for the best alternative solution to a problem.

Surely bitcoin got lucky due to different circumstances, and the 2008 financial crisis was a major one. Even though we call it 2008 financial crisis, it's when it started to have visible effects and it lasted for years. The distrust in fiat did brought more attention to bitcoin.

There were some experiments with digital cash like David Chaum’s eCash but at that time, the technology for SHA-256 algorithm was not advanced enough for eCash to take advantage of it. The technology for Bitcon were already mature by 2005 but no one made an effort for it and it was finally in 2008 when satoshi nakamoto came to this trustless system.

In the case of Bitcoin, I won't say timing was a big blow because even before 2008 we still had bank flaws but what propelled Bitcoin was the massive adoption and the vast community of individuals who not only believed in the project but also invested their time, effort, and resources into building around it. The timing might have helped to attract early attention due to the financial crisis, but it was the growing trust and continuous development that sustained Bitcoin and made it what it is today.

Bitcoin's rise is inevitable, and it also happens at the perfect time.
It is not right to say that the success of Bitcoin was due to the financial crisis and distrust in banks, because once something presents an innovative technology with a solution, people will switch to it at the end of the day. However, the financial crisis and distrust in banks do contribute to Bitcoin's success.
Nevertheless, the majority of people who see a beneficial future in BTC did so due to its technology, consensus, and potential of creating a millionaire overnight.

True, timing sure played a huge role. The financial crisis of 2008 really brought to light how fragil and manipulating banking system can be, thereby eroding the trust of the public. Bitcoin did show up just at the right moment —presenting a decentralized network, transparent option that don't rely on governments or even banks.
Therefore as the idea of Bitcoin was revolutionary, the timing is what makes it feel necessary. Without the international financial meltdown and loss of faith in firms, it may have remained a niche tech experiment rather than becoming a movement.

Maybe yes... Maybe no. I can't certainly tell.
I agree that timing places a crucial role in certain things, but there are chances of things not going right or as expected because it is part of life, and mind you, majority of these same individuals still ended up trusting the same financial system after the whole crisis. Though, I want to believe that a lot of things must have contributed to what has made Bitcoin what it is today, and a decent number of people are grateful for that.

This is exactly what Bitcoin was created, but I guess not very much people will see it for its worth when the economy seems fine or when the fiat system appears to be okay, but the moment the economy starts crashing and alongside the fiat system, then people start seeing Bitcoin as a way out from the financial and economic collapse and it gives them more assurance and serves as a safety net for those who turn towards it for refuge.

It didn't have a "good timing". It was a response to a very telling point in history. It's the cure to one of mankind's oldest diseases, so yes, it is inevitable. The 2008 crisis was just the last crisis where everyone was helpless and unarmored.

Bitcoin is the armor the people can now use to resist the centuries old theft. It's the organism that grows with financial entropy and chaos. Every crisis is one step closer to hyperbitcoinization. And we're the first people to experience life post-inflation.

This may not be the case for bitcoin as even if nothing happens to banks in 2008 that lead to financial crisis, bitcoin will still stand strong and undisputed. It may be a coincidence that when bitcoin came, it came at the time that banks had a very big blow that lead to many distrust in them but seeing how Bitcoin was able to farewell to this point, it doesn’t point back to this financial crisis of banks that lead to its success.

Again, if bitcoin in anyway come this far, and has faced a lot of black ash and also still farewell when everything in the traditional banking system was going fine, then it shows the strength of it not being disputable by the traditional banks. Bitcoin came at the right time and nothing has pushed it to have come this far, it happens independently of any support, so it makes it a trustworthy asset.

I don't think that 2008 has to do much (or anything) with Bitcoin's success. Bitcoin was an innovation at that time when it was created and it was also created very well. There was no blockchain concept before AFAIK. So, since Bitcoin was a very interesting creation and technology, it soon gained attention of good computer scientists because it really looks very interesting for such people. Then, slowly, it became popular, people started buying things with it (don't forget Pizza transaction), then started trading, then a coin that could be easily be mined in a large quantity, slowly gained value and the price reached $100. It looks like a thing that costs $0 became $100 in a flash. The question is, what caused Bitcoin's, rise? I'll tell you that at least 90% of Bitcoin users and investors have no idea how economy works and don't realize what actually happened in 2008. The reason of Bitcoin's rise is that it gained value from zero to a $100 and when people saw how easily this innovative coin brought x100 profit, they started investing. Then others made a decent profit and slowly more and more people started buying Bitcoin. Then other companies and people saw a great opportunity of making money from this coin and slowly, over years, Bitcoin achieved a great financial success. That's it!

I think the fundamental flaw in the existing banking system (and generally in the financial system) has had a significant impact on creation of a decentralized payment system. Keep in mind that the 2008 collapse was a long ways coming, many even predicted it 4+ years before it happened. Kinda like where we are these days with yet again another financial crisis that is caused by excessive money printing (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5563452.0).

When an old system collapses, people will look for a safe haven to go to and survive the collapse. That's where Bitcoin shines.

Please, what do you mean by 2008 financial crisis and distrust in banks?, and you didn't mention where this crisis takes place because this crisis can not be everywhere at same time and much more financial crisis has nothing to do with the success of Bitcoin because BTC is crypto money that has no control by banks or government, it is regulated by individuals self investments and if government thinks of investment into Bitcoin it becomes a plus for them, if not I don't think anyone can actually stop the success of Bitcoin.

Although the 2008 financial crisis happen in United States, but it do affect to other countries as well.

Just like in my country, the stock market index went down at the middle of 2008 to 2009, whereas it never fall in the last decade. Same thing happen to Ukraine-Russia invasion, it doesn't affect our country, but the price of commodities affected by their conflict.

It's not about the government or banks help Bitcoin to success, but they're the reason why people buy Bitcoin.

I don't think that the rise of bitcoin had anything to do with the timing.
If you go back into history, we can see that Satoshi had been discussing about bitcoin to many people.
He also used to create a mailing list to let everyone know about bitcoin.
Then it was from 2011 that bitcoin really started getting traded on exchanges.
Up until that point, the price didn't rise much and so I think the timing didn't had anything to do with the rise.

Bitcoin arrived at the right time, when public trust in banks and the traditional financial system, which is still controlled by the government, began to decline. This situation will create a need for something new as a safer and more transparent alternative. Bitcoin provides solutions that have not been offered by traditional financial systems, the blockchain technology used makes the transaction process safe, fast, and irreversible.

People need new methods that are faster and more efficient so that Bitcoin adoption is very fast, so that indirectly a strong trust will be formed in Bitcoin which offers security and transparency. The spread of adoption to government agencies will make Bitcoin even more successful in the future, factors such as institutional adoption, regulation and technological innovation also play a very important role in Bitcoin's success and its price increase.

It not only introduced an innovative way of dealing with transactions but it also provided anonymity which was unheard of during that time.
To add, the financial crisis also gave it the perfect opportunity for it to be put on the spotlight. However in 2012, lots of websites that use BTC as payment were forcefully closed by the government due to it being used as a currency to purchase prohibited items.

Is the rise of BTC inevitable? I would say so since we longed for something that really provided with this kind of trust and anonymity with our transactions. Banks are slowly becoming expensive; which eventually made BTC the perfect currency in the future.

In conclusion, the rise of BTC looked and perceived to be successful in the future and people used it as an opportunity to invest on it during its early stages.

Are BTC transactions possible if there were no banks around  ?