2013-04-16 Acton Institute: The Story of Bitcoin

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

23-page PDF (negative) analysis from religious viewpoint.

The Mission of the Acton Institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.

This is probably the primary reason Christians should avoid acquiring and holding
the currency: At best they are gambling with God’s money; at worse, they are hoping to
sell an object with no intrinsic value to someone more greedy or gullible in the hopes of
getting out before the bubble pops.

As a currency, the story of Bitcoin is likely to become nothing more than a
footnote in obscure economic journals, but its legacy on information technology and
peer-to-peer based trust systems may be as significant. The question we Christians must
ask is whether we should encourage the growth of a system in which thousands of people
will eventually lose real, significant wealth in the hope that it might lead to such
innovations that last as long as the stones of Yap.

http://blog.acton.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Carter_The-Story-of-Bitcoin.pdf

[cbeast]

What a bunch of FUD. I can't even begin to point out all the nonsense. Before I intended to respond, I read the Acton Institute Core Principles and realized that this organization is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Monetizing their religion by dictating "free market principles" is nothing new. Bitcoin doesn't need these moneychangers.

[Mike Christ]

The Mission of the Acton Institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.

[Gabi]

Pure epicness, awesome 

[odolvlobo]

It is better than most. It does a very good job of explaining how Bitcoin works.

The problem parts are the comment about "gambling with God's money", the quote by Timpthy B. Lee that concludes "So one of Bitcoin’s key selling points—a permanently fixed supply—is basically illusory", and the last paragraph asking "... whether we should encourage the growth of a system in which thousands of people will eventually lose real, significant wealth ..."