There are many points of debate about bitcoin. It’s dead. It’s not dead. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s ridiculous to even think that it has a shot to be anything more than a fad that goes nowhere.
But there’s one thing that everyone can agree on: it’s impossible to predict.
When the calendar turned 2014 to 2015, bitcoin struggled to reach $300 – after flying high at 3x that earlier in the year. In 2016, bitcoin hasn’t dipped below $400. Yesterday, Jan. 21, bitcoin’s price around midday was $410.77.
But, increasingly, if you ask the bitcoin community, some of its most strident advocates are beginning to question its viability, including one of its most prominent developers.
The Developer Who Sparked The Debate
Mike Hearn, a prominent bitcoin developer, made headlines this month for giving up on the digital currency, declaring it a “failure.” He also wrote a lengthy, scathing blog post about the demise of bitcoin, which certainly doesn’t help the cause.
“From the start, I’ve always said the same thing: Bitcoin is an experiment and like all experiments, it can fail. So don’t invest what you can’t afford to lose,” the British computer programer wrote.
But then the kicker.
“But despite knowing that bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly. The fundamentals are broken and whatever happens to the price in the short term, the long-term trend should probably be downwards. I will no longer be taking part in bitcoin development and have sold all my coins,” he wrote.
He blames the bitcoin community for what he believes to be the failure of his once beloved digital currency. The decentralized digital currency, he writes, is controlled by few and is of a network that is “on the brink of technical collapse.”
“The mechanisms that should have prevented this outcome have broken down, and as a result there’s no longer much reason to think bitcoin can actually be better than the existing financial system,” he continued.
He’s right.
His post goes on to explain the science behind bitcoin’s “failure” as he calls it, and discusses how the community most involved is pretty much clueless. He claims that bitcoin can’t evolve because of its consolidation into too few hands, which will limit its power and stunt any potential it has to develop into anything of true value anymore, particularly to the masses.
“Bitcoin has gone from being a transparent and open community to one that is dominated by rampant censorship and attacks on bitcoiners by other bitcoiners. This transformation is by far the most appalling thing I have ever seen, and the result is that I no longer feel comfortable being associated with the bitcoin community,” he concludes.
http://www.pymnts.com/news/bitcoin-tracker/2016/bitcoins-volatile-start-to-the-year/
