Bitcoiners now labelled as Right-wing extremists! LoL

[Kakmakr]

The latest attack by one crazy individual and some money that was invested in the Ponzi scheme, Bitconnect, now automatically ties many people in the Crypto currency community to Right wing extremists.    <If you believe all the crap that are posted on the Internet now>  

The book, The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism by the author David Golumbia are one of these examples that are frequently quoted.  

Bitcoin’s early origin in right-libertarian Anarcho-capitalism is also used as a tool to blemish it's reputation. A lot of other people have since then, started to use Bitcoin and most of them do not even support these political groups.  

How many people in your circle of friends and family are into Right-Wing Extremism?    <I know 1000s of people who has no political connection to these extremist groups>  

Let's not label a whole group of people, if a small minority of them use the technology for their extremist agendas.    <The shooter used cash and credit cards too, so we should automatically label all cash and credit card users as Right-Wing Extremism too?> 

[CryptoGM]

We are not extremist but believe in a concept and working technology that will change the way we view our lives in an interconnected world. These people labelling supporters and users of bitcoin as extremists should have started the movement with the inception of the internet giving birth to communication freedom. Right now bitcoin offers financial freedom and this is going to change the way globalisation works to the demerit of big enterprises that have always taken advantage of masses.
Worse still this movement will be picked by the young who are born in an era when communication is at zero cost (or near zero) and start using financial products and services pegged on bitcoin thus bypassing traditional entities. This is when they will think a generation of "extremists" exist but it will be too late because I don't think the generation will be worried about establishment concerns.

[DooMAD]

I'm a socially liberal lefty snowflake, heh.  They couldn't be more wrong about me.  Away from Bitcoin, I'm pro-immigration, I support social welfare, I believe in a taxpayer-funded health service, I fight for equal rights regardless of race, gender or sexual persuasion.  

It's easy for someone to attempt to tar everyone with the same brush, but it's difficult to make it stick.  

[ribowo76]

It's sad to see that fact, every time there is a negative action, and the perpetrator has or uses bitcoin, for the means of crime. What is seen by the public is bitcoin, does not see what the motives of the perpetrators. Bitcoin is always a scapegoat

[squatter]

The latest attack by one crazy individual and some money that was invested in the Ponzi scheme, Bitconnect, now automatically ties many people in the Crypto currency community to Right wing extremists.    <If you believe all the crap that are posted on the Internet now>  

Is there an article in particular you're talking about? I've seen a couple small blurbs about the shooter's investment in Bitconnect but I haven't noticed this narrative about Bitcoin and right-wing extremism in connection with the Christchurch shooting.

[bitbunnny]

This is really ridiculous. Another bad attempt to discredit Bitcoin users. But I without give much attention to such pamflets, they will appear all the time. Puting labels on people without any reasonable explanation is just stupid. And since Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies promote totaly different concept itself, like freedom and decentralization this theory about right wing extremists makes even more lack of common sense.

[traderethereum]

Yes, bitcoin is like a gun, which we can use for good or bad things. It depends on the person, but unfortunately, when bitcoin is used for bad things, people judge bitcoin to be bad and not the person who did it. People still think that bitcoin is a way for terrorists to carry out their operations because the law is difficult to track.

So, I think if we can use bitcoin (which I'm sure we can), we will bring bitcoin to the good, so people don't think that bitcoin is bad. They will open their eyes to see the reality of bitcoin, and they don't talk about the bad things that bitcoin can do.

It is difficult, and yes it is difficult especially to explain to the public that bitcoin is not a tool to commit crime because they have read statements from other people that saying bitcoin is a bad thing they should not use.

[buwaytress]

Kakmakr, I must confess I have no idea what you're talking about... where I am actually there are a least 2 local incidents (actually disproven to be terror related but until today people here plus the radio still call the perpetrators a terrorist).

All I can say that, Bitcoiners have been labelled everything on this green earth. I've dealt with the weird looks.

Even if the rumours were about Bitcoin and not Bitconnect, early adopters of the internet were equally notorious. It's perfectly natural that new tech's first adopters are... extremists.

Contextually inaccurate but I actually thought the Bitcoin white paper had some pretty extreme views;)

[kaya11]

No more than a small minded man-the who writes that article is such a dork. He clearly puts himself among of the dumbest people around the world labeling us right-wing extremist. That kind of person lacks attention or rather writing stupid journalism that only confused and put simple minded people into doubts and fears towards crytpo currencies.

[OlympianBitcoin]

We are *financial right wing extremists*

The money to end all banks

[dothebeats]

My political view is somewhat swayed over to the right, and I believe that there are some occasions in which government interference should be absent and that the society themselves should be the primary movers of the community, and not the government. While I see myself as a rightist, I still also believe that the government is vital in making things happen in which the society alone cannot stand alone properly e.g. universal healthcare and other government-funded activities and programs.

..early adopters of the internet were equally notorious. It's perfectly natural that new tech's first adopters are... extremists.

This is true. Most of the time, pioneers have become extremists since their beliefs, ideals and what they're doing somewhat deviates from the societal norm. Nowadays, people and governments are slowly accepting the concept and idea of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, so the term 'extremist' especially 'right-wing extremist' do not apply to a bitcoiner anymore--not that it ever applied to every bitcoiner since the conception of the white paper, except Satoshi, perhaps.

[KennyR]

When governments find groups uncontrollable it gets termed with several terms. At present the cryptocurrency community is one that can't be controlled by governments. This is the reason why they are termed as right wing extremists. This mentality is found all around the world. To eliminate these corrupt people technology is a must and blockchain will do it in the future.

[Slow death]

the book was released in 2016 and from what I see it had no impact on the crypto world. and it seems to me that at many points he was wrong. so I think it's something that we do not need to take seriously what he says. Anyone who wants to know more about what the book says can read a summary in this link that I found

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2017.1322997

[Darker45]

Duh, people calling other people names and labels are a bunch of weird.  The people I knew who adopted Bitcoin much earlier than me were indifferent or at least they simply don't give a damn about politics, much less about which political group they belong. If there was a label proper to them it would be techy nerds. They were even neutral in terms of banks and fiat and monetary system. They just loved the idea of something new or radical. They simply embraced innovation at its finest, which Bitcoin was.

[TheCoinGrabber]

It seems everyone else is far-right these days. I guess wanting to take charge and full responsibility of your finances coz gov't is not trustworthy is far-right. 

When governments find groups uncontrollable it gets termed with several terms. At present the cryptocurrency community is one that can't be controlled by governments. This is the reason why they are termed as right wing extremists. This mentality is found all around the world. To eliminate these corrupt people technology is a must and blockchain will do it in the future.

If Bitcoin's goals are achieved then yes, that's a significant amount of power the government is losing. As for Americans, they also have the right the arm themselves. Bitcoins and guns might make them even harder to control.

[nauane]

It's sad to see that fact, every time there is a negative action, and the perpetrator has or uses bitcoin, for the means of crime. What is seen by the public is bitcoin, does not see what the motives of the perpetrators. Bitcoin is always a scapegoat

This is nothing new as many people who do not want bitcoin to grow spread such negative news about bitcoins. Extremists and criminals can use dollar also so how come bitcoin is assumed as bad if the criminals use it.

[Indamuck]

Media is doing the same thing with guns.  They find people using guns/bitcoin for evil purposes then label the whole thing as evil.  These things are simply tools while humans are the operators with intent.

People stand to lose a lot of money that are invested in traditional finance like credit card companies if crypto becomes truly successful. 

[gentlemand]

I don't really know anyone any more. Most of the people I used to know were gay, broke, communists, mentally ill, fucksticks and shit heels. They had so many other issues that right wing extremism leading to mass murder would be one of their lesser problems.

[klintay]

former liberal democratic governments all around the world are building police state (total surveillance style) monitoring systems while at the same time embracing right wing populous politiks! People have a right to be concerned. However if you think big brother is watching you then you are labelled an extremist and right wing nut job lol

the totalitarian technocratic plutocracy that surrounds itself with power has always used the monetary system to enslave the masses...
bitcoin is going to put an end to that     

[Linkkoin]

Technically, cryptocurrencies were invented to become an independent and private mean of payment not controlled by the government, and relying upon the trust of two parties.
Truly a libertarian idea to be honest.
But libertarianism itself has not much in common with right-wing extremism. Maybe just some meme pool on the internet and dislike for socialism.