[2020-12-11] Why 2021 Is Set To Be Even Bigger For Bitcoin

[acquafredda]

Bitcoin is coming to the end of one of the biggest years in its short history.

The bitcoin price has surged through 2020, reclaiming its 2017 all-time highs after finding support from Wall Street and some of the world's biggest investors.

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations—Wall Street giant Wells Fargo has said it expects to be "discussing the digital asset space more" next year.

Read the article @ https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2020/12/11/why-2021-is-set-to-be-even-bigger-for-bitcoin

[Coin-Keeper]

I share your enthusiasm.  It does seem like things are lining up for a great 2021, go BTC.  Many of my friends are now talking about BTC, and they don't even know I own some.  LOL

[Karartma1]

Bitcoin's no fad.
Tapeworm diets, Paris' public morgue viewing, piked shoes, ornamental hermits, etc. were fads. Bitcoin's changing the history of money and I am convinced 2021 will be the year of bitcoin's full recognition.
For those of us who don't look only at the financials but who believe in bitcoin properties, its dominance was just around the corner. Fasten your seat belt.

[Lucius]

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations...

Facebook's coin (whatever it will be called) could not have been inspired by Bitcoin because in its essence it is something completely opposite to everything that is at the very core of what Satoshi Nakamoto invented. FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.

Bitcoin's changing the history of money and I am convinced 2021 will be the year of bitcoin's full recognition.

Optimism is good, but it is better to be realistic than to be disappointed if we set some expectations too high. Following an old saying that says "Rome wasn't built in a day", talking about some kind of full recognition in just one year is not exactly something I would agree with. Again, I don't know what kind of recognition you're talking about - that Bitcoin will be recognized by even more large companies, which is very likely - or that most world governments will say they accept Bitcoin as something completely legal and positive?

I’m pretty sure Bitcoin won’t have such a welcome in countries like China, Russia, or India which together have almost 40% of the world’s population.

[bryant.coleman]

Facebook's coin (whatever it will be called) could not have been inspired by Bitcoin because in its essence it is something completely opposite to everything that is at the very core of what Satoshi Nakamoto invented. FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.

Can't put it any better than this. The Libracoin is completely opposite of everything Bitcoin stands for and it is more similar to a central-bank issued fiat currency rather than a decentralized cryptocurrency. In the end, there is going to be hardly any difference between the digital versions of fiat currency (such as PayPal/Visa), stablecoins such as USDT/USDC and Libracoin.

[acquafredda]

Facebook's coin (whatever it will be called) could not have been inspired by Bitcoin because in its essence it is something completely opposite to everything that is at the very core of what Satoshi Nakamoto invented. FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.

Can't put it any better than this. The Libracoin is completely opposite of everything Bitcoin stands for and it is more similar to a central-bank issued fiat currency rather than a decentralized cryptocurrency. In the end, there is going to be hardly any difference between the digital versions of fiat currency (such as PayPal/Visa), stablecoins such as USDT/USDC and Libracoin.

Mark Zuckerberg's coin is very much needed fro the whole walled garden Facebook experience: he needs a token to allow an end-to-end payment mechanism for Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and whatever will come next. Like Apple did with iTunes, you will see.
In the end everything is about enclosing the customer and allow him to be "monetized".

[cr1776]

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations...

Facebook's coin (whatever it will be called) could not have been inspired by Bitcoin because in its essence it is something completely opposite to everything that is at the very core of what Satoshi Nakamoto invented. FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.
...

I have to agree with this.

I'd also add that Facebook's coin "Diem" (not Libra)***  might as well just be an entry in a database for all the "innovation" it brings.  It is centralized, censorable, blocked at a border, tied to fiat, can be frozen at the whim of whatever government can pressure FB.  It might just be that FB not liking what you are posting or disagreeing with you.  As the last few years have shown, these huge companies (FB, Twitter etc) are behold to the governments and political parities.  Do something they don't like, "well your coins are frozen and you can't move them or cash out.  Recourse?  None since they aren't regulated banks."   Members of the association will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger - think they are following you now with cookies?  Then they'll be able to also track what you spend your coins on.  Bitcoin will (one hopes shortly) be helping to increase privacy on chain.

The "Association" is essentially an unregulated central bank that will be able to monitor EVERY transaction, freeze, control, inflate the value away or seize your coins at any point.


It might as well be the Petro or one of the other nonsense coins.  Anyone who decides to use this is just asking to be controlled.  The ONLY potential positive is that people will see it, and go into "real" crypto, but that is a small hope.


**** https://www.diem.com/en-us/white-paper/
"On December 1, 2020, the Libra Association was renamed to Diem Association. This white paper, originally published by the Libra Association in June 2019 and then re-issued as a stand-alone update in April 2020, replaces previous versions published by the Association. Supporting technical papers published by the Libra Association in June 2019, have either been edited or retired. Features of the project as implemented may differ based on regulatory approvals or other considerations, and may evolve over time."

[bbc.reporter]

I share your enthusiasm.  It does seem like things are lining up for a great 2021, go BTC.  Many of my friends are now talking about BTC, and they don't even know I own some.  LOL

I am afraid that similar to 2017, when your friends begin asking about bitcoin and they want to begin buying it, this might be the first signs for the whales to begin dumping on them hehehe.

[acquafredda]

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations...

Facebook's coin (whatever it will be called) could not have been inspired by Bitcoin because in its essence it is something completely opposite to everything that is at the very core of what Satoshi Nakamoto invented. FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.
...

I have to agree with this.

I'd also add that Facebook's coin "Diem" (not Libra)***  might as well just be an entry in a database for all the "innovation" it brings.  It is centralized, censorable, blocked at a border, tied to fiat, can be frozen at the whim of whatever government can pressure FB.  It might just be that FB not liking what you are posting or disagreeing with you.  As the last few years have shown, these huge companies (FB, Twitter etc) are behold to the governments and political parities.  Do something they don't like, "well your coins are frozen and you can't move them or cash out.  Recourse?  None since they aren't regulated banks."   Members of the association will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger - think they are following you now with cookies?  Then they'll be able to also track what you spend your coins on.  Bitcoin will (one hopes shortly) be helping to increase privacy on chain.

The "Association" is essentially an unregulated central bank that will be able to monitor EVERY transaction, freeze, control, inflate the value away or seize your coins at any point.


It might as well be the Petro or one of the other nonsense coins.  Anyone who decides to use this is just asking to be controlled.  The ONLY potential positive is that people will see it, and go into "real" crypto, but that is a small hope.


**** https://www.diem.com/en-us/white-paper/
"On December 1, 2020, the Libra Association was renamed to Diem Association. This white paper, originally published by the Libra Association in June 2019 and then re-issued as a stand-alone update in April 2020, replaces previous versions published by the Association. Supporting technical papers published by the Libra Association in June 2019, have either been edited or retired. Features of the project as implemented may differ based on regulatory approvals or other considerations, and may evolve over time."

Exactly, the final goal is about controlling what the users does almost everywhere and particularly on their Facebook platforms. This way the ads will point directly to a facebook marketplace in order to maximise both revenues and ad expenses. It is a very sad vision of the new Internet.

[Carlton Banks]

I'd also add that Facebook's coin "Diem" (not Libra)***  might as well just be an entry in a database for all the "innovation" it brings.  It is centralized, censorable, blocked at a border, tied to fiat, can be frozen at the whim of whatever government can pressure FB.  It might just be that FB not liking what you are posting or disagreeing with you.  As the last few years have shown, these huge companies (FB, Twitter etc) are behold to the governments and political parities.  Do something they don't like, "well your coins are frozen and you can't move them or cash out.  Recourse?  None since they aren't regulated banks."   Members of the association will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger - think they are following you now with cookies?  Then they'll be able to also track what you spend your coins on.  

this

the whole concept of money is about ownership, money is simply an imaginary piece of the real pie. Everyone pretends the money is as good as something with real value; it's a universal mirror of your stake in the economy, a token of ownership.

so if someone else can control how you spend your money, then it's not really yours. People trade their labor for money, and the fewer choices you have with which to spend it, the more that your labor is essentially controlled by that someone else.

traditionally, when someone controls how, where or when you work, or what you can trade it for, your role in that relationship has a specific name....

[bbc.reporter]

I'd also add that Facebook's coin "Diem" (not Libra)***  might as well just be an entry in a database for all the "innovation" it brings.  It is centralized, censorable, blocked at a border, tied to fiat, can be frozen at the whim of whatever government can pressure FB.  It might just be that FB not liking what you are posting or disagreeing with you.  As the last few years have shown, these huge companies (FB, Twitter etc) are behold to the governments and political parities.  Do something they don't like, "well your coins are frozen and you can't move them or cash out.  Recourse?  None since they aren't regulated banks."   Members of the association will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger - think they are following you now with cookies?  Then they'll be able to also track what you spend your coins on.  

this

the whole concept of money is about ownership, money is simply an imaginary piece of the real pie. Everyone pretends the money is as good as something with real value; it's a universal mirror of your stake in the economy, a token of ownership.

so if someone else can control how you spend your money, then it's not really yours. People trade their labor for money, and the fewer choices you have with which to spend it, the more that your labor is essentially controlled by that someone else.

traditionally, when someone controls how, where or when you work, or what you can trade it for, your role in that relationship has a specific name....

It can also be argued that Paypal is doing their adoption of bitcoin similar to the centralized controlled facebookcoin, however, worse. Paypal wants to control how bitcoins are used while much of the people in the community celebrate and think this is adoption.

Is the specific name called a slave hehehe?

[Sithara007]

It can also be argued that Paypal is doing their adoption of bitcoin similar to the centralized controlled facebookcoin, however, worse. Paypal wants to control how bitcoins are used while much of the people in the community celebrate and think this is adoption.

Is the specific name called a slave hehehe?

PayPal can't control how Bitcoins are used, because Bitcoin is a decentralized asset. At the most, PayPal can control how Bitcoins are used by their registered clients. But still, there is a limit up to which PayPal can enforce this. Because unlike the case with fiat payments, PayPal doesn't enjoy a monopoly with cryptocurrency payments or cryptocurrency storage.

[bbc.reporter]

@Sithara007. I did not imply Paypal can control bitcoin. I said Paypal wants to control the way bitcoin is used. They are taking the most important properties of the currency and transformed this into a censorable token for speculative gambling for their users. Is this adoption?

[stompix]

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations...

FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.

I don't understand why people think that the launch of Libra will be good for us and for decentralized coins. The whole scenario of people learning about Libra/Diem, exploring it, and then finding out about Bitcoin is a bit childish, everyone has already heard of it and if they haven't tried it it's certain it will take more than Facebook and d'oh, what reputation Facebook has at the moment to convince them. Centralized coins are in the best case scenario a competitor, in the worst case a real danger as getting rid of competitors is what business try to do all day, and Facebook as a business will try the same, forcing business to accept their coin and at the same time putting pressure on rising fees for others if not dropping them altogether.

It can also be argued that Paypal is doing their adoption of bitcoin similar to the centralized controlled facebookcoin, however, worse.

There is a slight difference, Paypal can improve things, by letting you withdraw real coins to your wallet as they promised they would (eventually), Facebook can't do anything good with it, no matter what they do with it will be the same centralized garbage in which you will never have control over your coins.

[cr1776]

...
I don't understand why people think that the launch of Libra will be good for us and for decentralized coins.
...

I agree.  People aren't (yet?) aware that Facebook will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger.  And they will do so.  They're salivating about it right now about the information and power that will accrue to them by doing so.  They won't just know everything you like (and by implication dislike), exactly who your friends are, see when you visit just about every web site on the internet and everything they can calculate by implication.  They will know every site you go to, when you get there, what you do there, how long it took you to actually purchase something, exactly where those funds came from, exactly what you purchased.  

Facebook and their partners will know just about everything about everyone who uses Facebook and Diem.  You want any privacy?  Don't buy into Diem, and delete FB.  The reasons everyone has mentioned above also are relevant.

You buy a hat supporting person X, or a want to donate to person Y?  If Facebook doesn't approve, they could easily shut you down.  Or they could take the coins of the people you are buying from and you'd have no recourse.  Unlike a credit card company which is (theoretically) on your side, Facebook is only on their own side.  Freezing the coins is enough, they already have the cash you used to buy them so if they are frozen, you'll never be able to redeem them while FB has your cash to use as they wish.  Look at how PayPal has done things with frozen accounts.  

This is also why privacy upgrades to bitcoin are so important so that every person every where can validate the chain, but they can't know that person A bought Z from person B.

Diem/Libra is evil.  Could it help bitcoin and decentralized coins?  I am not sure who is stupid enough to turn over their entire life to a company.

Of course, I didn't think in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 that anyone would allow tracking of them like Google et al do, let alone like FB does.  Makes me think of the HL Mencken's (slightly edited quote): "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the ... public."

[bbc.reporter]

Now, with the bitcoin and cryptocurrency community looking forward to a slew of developments in 2021—including the much-anticipated launch of Facebook's bitcoin-inspired cryptocurrency and potentially industry-defining U.S. cryptocurrency regulations...

FB will eventually launch some kind of stablecoin, and we all know that such coins are completely pegged with the fiat currency that supports them - which opens up unlimited manipulation as seen in the case of Tether.

I don't understand why people think that the launch of Libra will be good for us and for decentralized coins. The whole scenario of people learning about Libra/Diem, exploring it, and then finding out about Bitcoin is a bit childish, everyone has already heard of it and if they haven't tried it it's certain it will take more than Facebook and d'oh, what reputation Facebook has at the moment to convince them. Centralized coins are in the best case scenario a competitor, in the worst case a real danger as getting rid of competitors is what business try to do all day, and Facebook as a business will try the same, forcing business to accept their coin and at the same time putting pressure on rising fees for others if not dropping them altogether.

It can also be argued that Paypal is doing their adoption of bitcoin similar to the centralized controlled facebookcoin, however, worse.

There is a slight difference, Paypal can improve things, by letting you withdraw real coins to your wallet as they promised they would (eventually), Facebook can't do anything good with it, no matter what they do with it will be the same centralized garbage in which you will never have control over your coins.

They promised hehe. I speculate that this might never come because it would be a big compliance problem. Paypal wants bitcoin adoption, however, it does not want to give its company unnecessary legal problems.

[acquafredda]

...
I don't understand why people think that the launch of Libra will be good for us and for decentralized coins.
...

I agree.  People aren't (yet?) aware that Facebook will be able to see, extract and analyze the items in the Diem ledger.  And they will do so.  They're salivating about it right now about the information and power that will accrue to them by doing so.  They won't just know everything you like (and by implication dislike), exactly who your friends are, see when you visit just about every web site on the internet and everything they can calculate by implication.  They will know ever site you go to, when you get there, what you do there, how long it took you to actually purchase something, exactly where those funds came from, exactly what you purchased. 

Facebook and their partners will know just about everything about everyone who uses Facebook and Diem.  You want any privacy?  Don't buy into Diem, and delete FB.  The reasons everyone has mentioned above also are relevant.

You buy a hat supporting person X, or a want to donate to person Y?  If Facebook doesn't approve, they could easily shut you down.  Or they could take the coins of the people you are buying from and you'd have no recourse.  Unlike a credit card company which is (theoretically) on your side, Facebook is only on their own side.  Freezing the coins is enough, they already have the cash you used to buy them so if they are frozen, you'll never be able to redeem them while FB has your cash to use as they wish.  Look at how PayPal has done things with frozen accounts. 

This is also why privacy upgrades to bitcoin are so important so that every person every where can validate the chain, but they can't know that person A bought Z from person B.

Diem/Libra is evil.  Could it help bitcoin and decentralized coins?  I am not sure who is stupid enough to turn over their entire life to a company.

Of course, I didn't think in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 that anyone would allow tracking of them like Google et al do, let alone like FB does.  Makes me think of the HL Mencken's (slightly edited quote): "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the ... public."

Yep, if people would carefully look at diem/libra they will probably get the big picture which is to link another ring at the chain: they created the book of all faces (people) who basically sold their souls to the platform. They do not get that they are sharing their entire lives for commercial purposes. It is a long story, to make it short diem/libra is the missing link to have an almost "perfect" system. Once they control the money which is used in and out, they have full control over everything.
The real question is: do you think there will be a nation state which will challenge this?
And, to sum it up, this has actually nothing to do with bitcoin!

[Carlton Banks]

I don't understand why people think that the launch of Libra will be good for us and for decentralized coins. The whole scenario of people learning about Libra/Diem, exploring it, and then finding out about Bitcoin is a bit childish, everyone has already heard of it and if they haven't tried it it's certain it will take more than Facebook and d'oh, what reputation Facebook has at the moment to convince them.

I slightly dispute this!

Since the 2013 bull run, there were a huge number of people that (only when they felt compelled to) dismissed Bitcoin on the grounds that "only government can issue currencies". Pointing out that national banks are often independent of the government (or at least as told in the popular press), or that independent currencies dominated before those issued by kingdoms (or that a king or queen was often the heir of some issuer of independent currency) never helped against the "Only Governments Issue Money" argument; our promulgator of the deference argument would defer again (successfully?) in replying "only governments issue currencies in today's world"

Until Facebook began to talk about doing it, everyone entirely accepted it, at least implicitly. Attempts have been made to issue private currencies, and governments went quite out of their way to stamp them out every time (with the exception of barter based and older commodity based currencies, which one can argue do not qualify as issued currencies).

It demonstrates either the power or the arrogance of Facebook, really. I might suggest both. Certainly, taking on the banking lobby as a registered US corporation is a hell of a power play, but Facebook can use it's network to fight back: simply starting a flood of newsfeed stories about banking corruption, and simultaneously about alternative money systems (even just cooperative or community banking) could really scare the banking lobby into negociating with Facebook instead of threatening them.


I think Facebook certainly have a big issue though, which you allude to: their credibility is suffering, due to biased policing of the network. Policing always needs a bias, but you sure as hell need to pick your biases carefully if your intention is not to run your media platform into the ground. Facebook in 2020 appear to be absolutely confident that losing between 50-75% of their account holders doesn't alter their power base. That could be either supreme confidence, based on information unavailable to the public, or sheer hubris. I suspect again, slightly both: a master stroke in this situation would be for Facebook-heavy stockholders to sell Facebook shares into a toppy market, then quit as the ship goes down. Selling all the public-trust capital (for short term gains) could quite easily be a part of that play, and Facebook in 2020 sure as hell looks like they are selling every shred of credibility they ever had.

tl;dr there will be no Libra, Facebook knows they're circling the drain, but they have helped to open the floodgates to Bitcoin in a small way

[stompix]

I slightly dispute this!

Then let's strongly agree to slightly disagree on some of it.

I must first mention that my view on some might be biased as I'm from Europe and all my information about how things are currently in the US might come from already biased sources and on top of that things work a bit different here when it comes to lobbying, so I might get this entirely wrong.
Anyhow, I think Facebook right now has no chance of going to war, they have money but they lack power and they have a lot of hurdles to overcome, the new administration is looking for money, corporations and big tech companies are the usual targets both for their stash and for looking good to voters, they are in trouble with the propaganda during elections and the covid "fake stories", launching a media campaign now won't look good. And most important, they can't even take on Apple and are howling at them like coyotes for months  

As for the implied adoption of BTC through them, probably it was also scary for some as the authorities constantly denying FB might have been more harmful than acceptance would have been positive, some might have seen cryptos as something that will never get overall approval. My opinion is that the move of Paypal with its PPbitcoins (or how do we call that CFD they are offering people) have done more for BTC's reputation than FB will ever manage to do.

but they have helped to open the floodgates to Bitcoin in a small way

Probably small is the keyword here.
Maybe I've rushed a bit in denying that even a small percentage of the population might have come to BTC through them but I still think that in terms of both % of the users base and overall sums bought their contribution was minimal.

[Carlton Banks]

Anyhow, I think Facebook right now has no chance of going to war, they have money but they lack power and they have a lot of hurdles to overcome, the new administration is looking for money, corporations and big tech companies are the usual targets both for their stash and for looking good to voters, they are in trouble with the propaganda during elections and the covid "fake stories", launching a media campaign now won't look good. And most important, they can't even take on Apple and are howling at them like coyotes for months  

right, the hits to Facebook's reputation are gradually stacking up this year, all as a result of them trying to use the power of their network to manipulate both their account holders and their tech business partners.
I think they're on borrowed time from here on in; Facebook was already losing it's appeal once kids realized their parents and teachers were using it to get information about them, that was years ago now. I've never heard of so many people talking about or actually deleting their Facebook account as I did this year.

My opinion is that the move of Paypal with its PPbitcoins (or how do we call that CFD they are offering people) have done more for BTC's reputation than FB will ever manage to do.

Symbolically, Paypal's move was much more meaningful. Unfortunately, it was almost as much pure symbolism as the Libra currency; there's no actual way of proving that Paypal are holding any BTC for you, aside from them displaying the balance in your account. Perhaps they are buying BTC somewhere (where? no details exist AFIAK), and people can spend them at market prices at PP merchants... but let's just wait to see how that part pans out. Seeing as Bitcoin is a ready built replacement for the entire Paypal platform with none of it's problems (and issues of it's own that are direct trade-offs against Paypal's model), I get the sense that Paypal's move is most bizarre given the status quo for Bitcoin's network, the risk that some will abandon using Paypal now they've validated Bitcoin's legitimacy seems a little high.