Washington Post: 'R.I.P. Bitcoin. It’s time to move on'

[MicroGuy]

Looks like the mainstream establishment media has gone into full-spin anti-bitcoin mode! Would love to hear your comments on this article published just 2 hours ago!

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"Not long ago, venture capitalists were talking about how Bitcoin was going to transform the global currency system and render governments powerless to police monetary transactions.  Now the cryptocurrency is fighting for survival.  The reality came to light on Jan. 14, when its influential developer, Mike Hearn, declared Bitcoin a failure and disclosed that he had sold all of his Bitcoins.  The price of Bitcoin fell 10 percent in a single day on the news, a sad result for those who are losing money on it.

Bitcoin did have great potential, but it is damaged beyond repair.  A replacement is badly needed.

Most currency and transaction systems today are opaque, inefficient, and expensive.  Take the North American Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, as an example.  It is amongst the most technologically advanced in the world.  Yet if I buy or sell a share of Facebook on the NASDAQ, I have to wait several days for the trade to finalize and clear.  This is unacceptable; it should take milliseconds.

In Venezuela, citizens wishing to buy anything of value on supermarket shelves wait all day in lines to do so, because hyperinflation causes the paper currencies in their pockets to lose significant value every day.  When migrant workers there send money back to their families in places such as Mexico, India, and Africa, they are gouged by money-transfer companies—paying as much as 5–12 percent in fees.  And even in the United States, payment processors and credit-card companies collect merchant fees of 1–2.5 percent of the value of every transaction.  This is a burden on the economy.

Bitcoin was born with serious flaws.  It was unregulated and provided anonymity, so it rapidly became a haven for drug dealers and anarchists.  Its price fluctuated wildly, allowing for crazy speculation.  And, with the majority of Bitcoin being owned by the small group that started promoting it, it has been compared to a Ponzi scheme.  Exchanges built on top of it also had severe security vulnerabilities.  And then there were the venture capitalists who got carried away.  Several of them purchased considerable coinage and then began to hype it as a powerful disruption that could underpin all manner of financial innovation, from mobile banking to borderless, instant money transfers.  They also poured millions of dollars into Bitcoin start-ups hoping to reap even greater fortunes.

But Bitcoin was not ready for primetime.  Hearn’s criticism has laid bare the nightmarish reality—a list of negatives that is both long and frightening."

Full Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2016/01/19/r-i-p-bitcoin-its-time-to-move-on/

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I think we need to start taking this media coverage seriously and start demanding that core clean up its act.

While employed at Credit Suisse First Boston, the banking firm invested over $150 million dollars on a project Vivek Wadhwa was working on.

[7788bitcoin]

Time will tell... These kind of articles have been around since many years ago, and they mean nothing to the growth of bitcoin.

[robelneo]

So many news about the dead of bitcoin but price still at $380 mark as of this writing if it is dead then we don't have business posting here and the price of bitcoin should have drop to $100 still at a normal growth space although the major obstacles has impede it's growth,still it's business as usual for us..

[CuntChocula]

So many news about the dead of bitcoin but price still at $380 mark as of this writing if it is dead then we don't have business posting here and the price of bitcoin should have drop to $100 still at a normal growth space although the major obstacles has impede it's growth,still it's business as usual for us..

You don't understand how slowly the markets work. For an example, check out Havelock Investments

Many of the companies traded there have been dead for years (ASICMiner [AM1; AM100]; MintSpare [MS]). They literally no longer exist -- the issuers ran away a long time ago, this is undisputed.
Have the shares in these nonexistent firms become worthless? Not at all! They're still being traded, some actually gaining value over the past three months

[Lauda]

This is the 90th time that Bitcoin has died so far.

[avikz]

The time will only speak!

The anonymity of bitcoin is a great advantage that users enjoy. How it can become a bane?? It's true that a class of people is taking this advantage but majority of the users are normal people like you and me.

Bitcoin is not going to rest in peace anytime soon.

[vipgelsi]

I doubt it.

[SamusNi]

Here is the e-mail of the clown that wrote that article: wadhwa@duke.edu

Website: wadhwa.com

[Patatas]

Allright,this hurts right in the feelings.Don't know should I be holding or regret in the future.Recently,there have been such news almost every other day of bitcoin dying.Not sure how much truth the media beholds.We cant jump to conclusions without having a proper statement from the core developers.I really expect some comments from the core team and that would be a final decision.

[CuntChocula]

This is the 90th time that Bitcoin has died so far.

Bitcoin is decentralized & in constant flux. The term "dead" is as inapplicable to Bitcoin as it is to molds, or even to icky bacteria:
"Endospores enable bacteria to lie dormant for extended periods, even centuries. Revival of spores millions of years old has been claimed.[3] When the environment becomes more favorable, the endospore can reactivate itself to the vegetative state." --wikip

TL;DR: "How do you kill that which has no life?"

Here is the e-mail of the clown that wrote that article: wadhwa@duke.edu
Website: wadhwa.com

When you grow up, I'll teach you to download LOIC, the most effective way to deal with things you don't like & the epitome of maturity

[xdrpx]

Yeah that's exactly how the media perceives it and tries to communicate it with the outside world. Just cause someone feels Bitcoin isn't going on the right path, they have worded their article to make it seem like Bitcoin's really dead.

Just remember once Bitcoin soars up again with some giant merchant implementing it for payments - "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

[fortunecrypto]

I wonder is this the biggest blow to ever come out in bitcoin existent,there will be people that will going to take over for the betterment of bitcoin technology so it is not going to die just like the media picture on the mainstream ,bitcoin will still go on,we should really move on for the betterment of the community

[CuntChocula]

Just remember once Bitcoin soars up again with some giant merchant implementing it for payments

You do know that the number of BTC-accepting merchants hasn't increased, and http://www.coindesk.com/is-bitcoins-merchant-appeal-fading/ , right?

[bileq]

im wondering how is the next posts on headlines
bitcoin reborn from its ashes ^^

[Kprawn]

You guys must take these media attacks on Bitcoin very seriously. If the major news sites start spreading FUD like this, you know there are major players in the background backing

these attacks. The small time shilling is one thing, but the subscriber counts for these media channels are massive and the print media reach a lot of people. We need some of the

Core developers to stand up and make themselves count and debunk these lies. Once these types of media outlets carry this story, the smaller shills will have a field day with this.

[CuntChocula]

You guys must take these media attacks on Bitcoin very seriously. If the major news sites start spreading FUD like this, you know there are major players in the background backing

these attacks. The small time shilling is one thing, but the subscriber counts for these media channels are massive and the print media reach a lot of people. We need some of the

Core developers to stand up and make themselves count and debunk these lies. Once these types of media outlets carry this story, the smaller shills will have a field day with this.

Sadly, The Bitcoin Foundation, Bitcoin's PRopoganda wing, is bankrupt

[NorrisK]

What a poorly written piece of crap article this is.. I would expect more from the mainstream media.. It is like it is written by one of the crypto news sites.

Let them rant, people will read about bitcoin again, engraving it deeper into their minds. When it is still here the next time they read about it, they may consider getting into bitcoin.

[Amph]

Just remember once Bitcoin soars up again with some giant merchant implementing it for payments

You do know that the number of BTC-accepting merchants hasn't increased, and http://www.coindesk.com/is-bitcoins-merchant-appeal-fading/ , right?

it has to do with all the rencet news probably, and anyway there are only two real merchants remained, amazon and ebay, the other even if they not accept bitcoin never, no one would care about

anyway, i'm not expecting bitcoin to be embraced by any single shop out there, especially phisical shop, don't dream too much on certain things..

[Betwrong]

Firstly, I have never considered The Washington Post as something you can rely on. It's a popular daily newspaper which publishes articles not in order to be truthful but rather in order to be more popular.

Secondly, I think in 10 years the author will regret publishing this crap instead of buying Bitcoins himself.

[Daniel91]

So, when exactly Washington Post become expert for virtual currencies?
I do not believe in their political and economic judgments, much less in their judgment about Bitcoin.
They are really funny