Bitcoin Isn’t Dead—We Just Sold Its Soul

[sunsilk]

That is part of Bitcoin's progress and sadly, OP is right. The main purpose is its soul and that's to be separated from the centralized of the institutions and governments.

But they can't ignore its growth and that's why they are there to embrace as well, we're just first than them although they're more impactful these days.

Everyone is looking for that day before when even financial institutions gets to join the movement and also starts to invest. Now that they did, it seems that it doesn't look good if we stay on the former and original thought and purpose of it.

The purpose is still there and it's never gone but this is the beauty of Bitcoin for which everyone is free to adopt, invest and own it.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Definitely the wrong place for this discussion.

Don't know about that--seems like as good a section as any to put a thread like this into, and I happen to agree with OP to some extent. 

But what else could we have expected when bitcoin slowly went mainstream and its valuation crept up over $100k?  Governments, and especially large financial institutions, are always going to co-opt something as innovative as bitcoin.  That said, I wouldn't have predicted we'd be where we are today when I first started lurking on this forum and learning about BTC (and cryptocurrency in general).  But all of my silly little predictions made in the past decade were proven wrong, at least as far as bitcoin's price goes.

None of us can change what actually happened.  The real question in my mind is whether bitcoin can be taken back, out of the hands of the big players who no doubt want to see wealth stay with the wealthy.  On that point, I'll say no more except that I'm not overly optimistic.

[Catenaccio]

Definitely the wrong place for this discussion.

A discussion about Bitcoin can be posted in Bitcoin discussion board, what's wrong with the topic in this board?

None of us can change what actually happened.  The real question in my mind is whether bitcoin can be taken back, out of the hands of the big players who no doubt want to see wealth stay with the wealthy.  On that point, I'll say no more except that I'm not overly optimistic.

If they have bad financial and risk management, they will have to sell their bitcoin off to get money back for solving their financial issues, or worse they will have liquidations, bankruptcies and similar severe issues.

A big player is Strategy with over leveraging strategies and they have yet stopped their leveraging gamble in Bitcoin. If there is any institutional investor with bad risk management to follow and see how their finance will have problems, it's Strategy company and Saylor has potential to be recorded as one of worst risk player in Bitcoin history.

[Somegory]

The problem isn't the centralised world forcing people who have Bitcoin to KYCed on every exchanges, the fault is the people who are buying using centralised platforms, everyone is using Bitcoin wrongly.

If we all respect the decentralisation nature of Bitcoin we all should be buying and selling Bitcoin the right way, by avoiding centralised platforms and only using Dex and P2P platforms, this brings back the power of Bitcoin among it's people.

This isn't Bitcoin fault, the soul is still intact, people are the ones to be blamed because they have opted to the easiest way that centralised world is offering them.

[michellee]

Bitcoin still has privacy if Bitcoin is on your private wallet. But if you send it to your exchanges, local or international, you need to KYC in that exchange, unless you use P2P. Bitcoin now heavily regulated, the government wants to know more about who has Bitcoin.

But we can't say much when people follow the regulations from their government because they searching for safety using Bitcoin. They thinks that if something bad happens such as the exchanges turn scam, the government can handle the case and force a refund the money. But the government will not helps you totally as when they see you have much money, they will impose high taxes on you.

The governments don't want to miss something they see as an opportunity and gives them a benefit and while Bitcoin still growing, they can see the small things they can use for their benefit.

[pawanjain]

Bitcoin once stood for something completely different than what it does today. Even though it operates primarily the same as it did a decade ago—still decentralized, still on track to reach millions per coin as predicted—it has entirely lost its original selling point and its soul.

The days when Bitcoin was seen as a true separation of money and state are over. It is now heavily regulated, KYC’d, scrutinized under a microscope, taxed, and traced more thoroughly than any form of money in human history. It is no longer the escape hatch it was intended to be. Instead, it has become—and continues to evolve into—a sophisticated surveillance and control mechanism.

Corporations, institutions, and governments once attacked Bitcoin precisely for the rebellious spirit that defined it. When they realized they couldn’t defeat it from the outside, they built a Trojan horse from within: they joined Bitcoin, infiltrated its culture, corrupted its ethos, and diluted its original purpose. What was meant to be the ultimate tool for opting out has been transformed into something far more compliant.

Really ? I see it from a different perspective, the one you have already mentioned in your post.
Nothing has changed with bitcoin on protocol level. So it depends on us on how to use bitcoin.
If you want to use bitcoin as an escape hatch, you can. What's stopping you from doing it ?
Just don't put your money on centralized exchanges or wallets. Keep your bitcoins on a wallet whose seed phrase you hold.
Use decentralized exchanges and use P2P payments and you will be good to go.

[tabas]

This isn't Bitcoin fault, the soul is still intact, people are the ones to be blamed because they have opted to the easiest way that centralised world is offering them.

There is no one to be blamed. Satoshi made it open for everybody and that's why these centralised government have seen an opportunity in it. While it offers and fights them with the decentralisation that it offers. They've seen that with so much volume and market capitalization, they can't ignore it longer. This is the usual progress of something that's been very valuable and meaningful to people. The monetary value has been there and that's why from individuals, to companies, to institutions and even the governments has taken its attention.

[KingsDen]

Corporations, institutions, and governments once attacked Bitcoin precisely for the rebellious spirit that defined it. When they realized they couldn’t defeat it from the outside, they built a Trojan horse from within: they joined Bitcoin, infiltrated its culture, corrupted its ethos, and diluted its original purpose. What was meant to be the ultimate tool for opting out has been transformed into something far more compliant.

What are the trojan horses?
The ETF?
BlackRock?
US government?
Is strategy among?

If by trojan horses, OP meant the fork upgrades, AI tools inclusivity, opportunity for large pockets to buy once and hold for the future instead of relying on careful DCA approach, regulatory policies before adoption, tax and remittances payment mediums or even self invested mining farms, then the topic might just be slightly misconstrued.
I believe Bitcoin didn't sell its soul, it had to adapt to be adopted but the maths remains in cue and functioning according to the original white paper, but we don't think expansion in any business or as it concerns Bitcoin here, would be monotonous in nature, do we?

The idea of Trojan horse came from the famous Troy war that brought the impenetrable Troy Kingdom down. That was achieved by sending a gift of reconciliation to Troy, the gift being a horse was beautifully made outside but inside was soldiers hidden which were unleashed at night that brought Troy down.

So master was referring how we accepted the government as special gift for bitcoin but they now seem to be a virus - Trojan horse.

A decade ago, we thought the war against bitcoin was so severe and we prayed that the government and institutions should just adopt bitcoin so that we will all have peace of mind.
Now that global adoption has happened, we are no longer comfortable and we keep lamenting and praying for status quo.

The status quo may never be able to be reclaimed, we just have to learn how to live with bitcoin just the way it is now. Like others have commented, it is not Bitcoin that has been tempered with, it is still working on the same path it was invented for. The people using Bitcoin are those that are being centralized by the government. The taxes they pay, KYC’s they’ve done and the traceability are all what the people using it has settled down for, so it is not of the concern about what bitcoin has come to be. It still remain decentralized and not under the control of the government unless you make yourself centralized and government take advantage of the use of your bitcoin.

Bitcoin itself will remain decentralised, but then it is left for us the users to maintain the legacy