2013-09-16:Bitcoin vs. Dollar Hegemony

[World]

http://www.e-ir.info/2013/09/16/bitcoin-vs-dollar-hegemony/
The most important quote.

“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted 3rd party” (Nakamoto, 2008, 1).

btw: a very nice article

[TheButterZone]

"Shatoshi"

[Carlton Banks]

http://www.e-ir.info/2013/09/16/bitcoin-vs-dollar-hegemony/
The most important quote.

“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted 3rd party” (Nakamoto, 2008, 1).

btw: a very nice article

Great quote. Why trust when you can prove? It's like the difference between religious belief and scientific reason.

[No_2]

Great quote. Why trust when you can prove? It's like the difference between religious belief and scientific reason.

+1

[HenryRomp]

This is a really great article. Love it.

" The calls of the end of dollar hegemony have been coming from all quarters for many a year. The increasing loss of faith in the dollar will eventually find itself under unconquerable pressure to reverse its current deficit, thus unraveling the entire operation. Though that does not mean that there is not an absence of faith, just that the currency that enabled it (that many an American will feel an emotional, even nationalist, attachment to) is no longer a realistic project. Unfortunately, it is the American population that will feel the greatest shock when the neoliberal class project topples like a house of cards. Faith needs to be placed elsewhere. Bitcoin has the ability to avoid the dire consequences that an unreasoned, unmeasured and, indeed, immature response to the self-evident truth of a collapsing hegemon will have on the lives of people and the planet we inhabit. The people can now find monetary empowerment to positively affect change.
Buying Bitcoin is tantamount to a real ‘vote with your dollar’ scenario, not merely a neoliberal proverb that was never meant to seriously intrude on its preacher’s power. A single dollar used to purchase BTC is one less dollar in the fractional reserve banking hegemony. Bitcoin syphons value out of the monetary system, and into its virtual coffers. Moving one’s money into the emerging monetary paradigm is a ‘vote of no confidence’ in our archaic medium of exchange, and the hegemonic class that profit. It is also the acceptance of the end of American hegemony, at least through the seignorage of the dollar. In addition, the money transferred to Bitcoin is also a show of trust in the cryptographic method—namely that it can keep your money safer and your transactions easier and more secure than the powers that have normalized their position as the trusted third party in our society. A monetary vote of trust is the only language the hegemonic class understands. In recognition of this, we can begin to move toward a universal social construction that does not irresponsibly trust people with power, for power’s sake."

[odolvlobo]

It got Satoshi's name wrong both times (and different each time):

"Created anonymously by the pseudonym Shinto Nakamoto in 2008, ..."

"Shatoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin’s anonymous creator) argues that ..."

[HenryRomp]

It got Satoshi's name wrong both times (and different each time):

"Created anonymously by the pseudonym Shinto Nakamoto in 2008, ..."

"Shatoshi Nakamoto (Bitcoin’s anonymous creator) argues that ..."

Yeah I noticed that... it seems bizarre

[TraderTimm]

Like I've been saying - over and over - the current ecosystem of exchanges is really temporary in the long run. When the last willing/available sovereign currency unit is hoovered up, converted into Bitcoins - they will largely become irrelevant, like your appendix.

At the same time, the only people using these outdated and obsolete tokens of "worth" will be the older generations that couldn't be bothered to learn new things, probably don't have a computer or internet (even though they could if they wanted to), and are just happy as clams to have their purchasing power decline like their intellect with age.

It will be much like the description of the last vestiges of government in "Snowcrash", where there's a loyal 'core' of die-hards, (oh my, they even have *mailboxes*, lollerz), trudging up-and-down stairways in heavy woolen suits and skirts, loyal to the system mostly because they fear the unknown. All rooted in a decaying complex of buildings labeled with confusing three-letter-acronyms, patrolled by men with dark sunglasses and earphones.

The future is now, but the traditionalists just can't see it yet -- and that gives me hope.

[monkeybars]

"This is what makes the concept of virtual currencies so appealing, particularly the dollar’s most widely used and talked about offspring, Bitcoin."

Um no, Bitcoin is not the offspring of the dollar. It's the offspring of the Internet and cryptography if anything.

Article needs to be edited better, but lots of good points.

Bring on the PetroBTC!

[cypherdoc]

you may double down by shorting the USD.

just take out a loan to buy BTC.