[2018-08-08] Study Provides an Interesting Look at Changing Bitcoin Narratives

[ivanpoldark]

Last week Nic Carter, the partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of Coinmetrics.io, published an interesting study that looks at the ever-changing narratives tied to Bitcoin technology. Carter and his fellow researcher Hasufly scraped up a lot of data stemming from Bitcointalk.org posts over the years that highlight some of the community-derived visions of what Bitcoin should be and how these visions have changed over time.

The Ever-Changing Bitcoin Narratives

If you’ve been into cryptocurrencies for a long time you might have noticed the community narratives and visions for Bitcoin have changed over the years. For instance, back in the early days, Bitcoin technology was supposed to eradicate the current banking cartels and remove money from the state’s power as well. At least that’s what the early bitcoiners and cypherpunks said at the time. However, Bitcoin narratives have evolved and lots of Bitcoin proponents now want the central bank’s acceptance and think governments regulating the use of cryptocurrencies will make them a ‘legitimate’ form of tender. Moreover, some people believe Bitcoin should be a store of value much like gold, while others believe Bitcoin was meant to be a fast and cheap peer-to-peer cash system.

After researching this topic, Nic Carter published a well-documented study of the ever-changing narratives stemming from individuals and groups who like to tether their own visions to the Bitcoin protocol. Carter and his partner Hasufly used data derived from conversations taking place on the forum Bitcointalk.org over the last decade.

“Perhaps the most enduring source of conflict within the Bitcoin community derives from incompatible visions of what Bitcoin is and should become,” explains Carter’s study.

In the absence of a recognized sole leader, Bitcoiners refer to founding documents and early forum posts to attempt to decipher what Satoshi truly wanted for the currency. This is not unlike US Supreme Court justices poring over the Constitution and applying its ancient wisdom to contemporary cases.

Read more:

https://news.bitcoin.com/study-provides-an-interesting-look-at-changing-bitcoin-narratives/

https://medium.com/@nic__carter/visions-of-bitcoin-4b7b7cbcd24c

[hugeblack]

In the absence of a recognized sole leader, Bitcoiners refer to founding documents and first forum posts to attempt to decipher what Satoshi truly wanted for the currency.

I don't know how Satoshi's "As a leader" presence affects the currency?
If Satoshi returns and makes changes, there is nothing the community should accept.

 - The idea of creating a Bitcoin is decentralized, so the absence of a leader is a factor of strength.
 - The source of the conflict is due to the high price because many people have entered/used bitcoin as a way to make more money than those who joined it in its early days.

Isolated and Incompatible Visions
Carter and Hasufly’s research breaks Bitcoin narratives down into seven sections which include:

As I mentioned, the multiplicity of the definition is due to the change of those interested in bitcointalk "online users."
Most newbie accounts want a currency that is easy to exchange & cheap fees even if they abandon decentralization, unlike old members such as Amir Taaki.