It might give more favourable headlines, but is it really better?
I personally think so. I'm sure some speculators trade often too, and there's always a possibility of them seeing the merits of Bitcoin as a currency. It's anecdotal, but I know people who simply wanted to invest but was sucked in by the potential of the technology. It's not a bad idea to put crypto in the hands of people because you never know who might stick around.
I'd say not being associated with drugs is also a good thing, because it removes one potential reason for a government clamp down and it helps alleviate the stigma. Favorable headlines are inherently good for any subject too, especially for something that aims to be adopted by the general public.
Those are fair points. My concern is that I'd rather not see a point in time where people generally view rampant, mindless and morally ambiguous speculation as the primary purpose of Bitcoin. Enough people
already view it that manner (which, incidentally, also generates negative headlines about "
bubbles", "
tulips" and such). If we really want to see a positive economic change with this stuff, we can't just be recreating a world of investments and derivatives, like all the current fuss about ETFs and futures is leading towards. I don't personally see that as a good direction. Ideally, Bitcoin shouldn't solely be yet another financial instrument for asset managers and traders to gamble with. That's just more of the same behaviour that led to the global financial crisis in the first place.
Obviously we shouldn't try to curtail that behaviour, because they're free to do that if they want. But at the same time, we shouldn't lose sight of the goal of ordinary people having access to a secure, incorruptible and open alternative to fiat. We should do as much as we can to encourage things that lead to people being able to buy and sell actual goods and services with their bitcoins. That's what a proper economy should look like. There should be some
productivity involved
somewhere. Speculation alone doesn't meet that criteria. Detractors like Warren Buffett argue that "
Bitcoin doesn't produce anything" and we're sadly going to prove them correct if we don't find a way past this purely speculative mindset.
Hollow greed only gets us so far before it starts to become a problem. People really need to stop treating Bitcoin like a get-rich-quick scheme. It's ultimately harmful to public perception. Do we want people to take an interest in genuine financial freedom because that would be of benefit to them in this precarious global economy? Or do we want them to perceive this as some sort of plaything for the financial elites which won't resonate with them in the slightest because it's just more of the same?
