Bitcoin was doing fine until trust began to shift more towards big investors

[Ucy]

Bitcoin was doing fairly OK back in the days when focus was more on privacy, censorship resistance, trustless transactions, decentralization, deflation, etc. People wanted something different from what they were used to in fiat financial system, hence they prioritized on principles more than money. *This does not mean things were good back then, it just wasn't this bad.
I remember how fiercely the community fought against attempted takeover/centralization of Bitcoin,  or against villains who wanted to be seen as Satoshi/Bitcoin leaders/spokespersons, or even against rich people who wanted the community to think that price of Bitcoin depend on them in order to use that as bargaining chip. But since Bitcoin seems to attract people who don't worship mere mortals, the resistance against all that attempts and pretenses succeeded. Unfortunately, something strange began to happen around 2020 to date, (I believe it was partly due to easy or undeserved rewards/incentive flowing in crypto space) people who love money more than good principles began to join and dominate the space, and more credits started going to "gods of money" and moneybags who seem to be acting on behalf of fiat system, and who were neutralized or suppressed in past.  Bitcoin does not like this because, just like certain wealthy elites control fiat system, they could try to do thesame thing here if Bitcoin community start trusting or depending on them.


The way out of this is to first consider or trust the strong Foundation Bitcoin is built on. Everything else, whether rich or poor, has to be subject to the foundation. If the moneybags say things to gain your trust or to make you depend on them, just make sure they are according to the Bitcoin foundation,  then watch as the price of Bitcoin start doing really well again

[Fivestar4everMVP]

The price of bitcoin is not doing bad currently, I don't know where you got the idea that Bitcoin is doing badly right now, based on the well known four years circle which I believe we all are well familiar with, we are supposed to be in a strong bear season right now, but look at the price of bitcoin, it's holding up strong above $60k after dropping from its all time high which is normal thing for all volatile assets.

Gold (for example) rises and creates a new all time high but when bear market hits it, the price falls and sometimes far behind the all time high it reached.

Nothing is wrong with bitcoin at the moment if you context is based on the price actions, were you expecting the price of bitcoin to be $500k by now or what exactly?
All I can say is buy, hold and be patient, there is time for everything under the sun.

[Dunamisx]

Bitcoin was doing fairly OK back in the days when focus was more on privacy, censorship resistance, trustless transactions, decentralization, deflation, etc. People wanted something different from what they were used to in fiat financial system,

Has things gotten better or worse ever since then, or maybe we should consider right from inception, I don't think bitcoin for once has ever been moved by all the unnecessary noises around the world, instead they keep making it stronger and being more recognized, while it has already built a resistance towards censorship from the network, which altogether are part of why we continue to have increase in adoption rate.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

The way out of this is to first consider or trust the strong Foundation Bitcoin is built on. Everything else, whether rich or poor, has to be subject to the foundation. If the moneybags say things to gain your trust or to make you depend on them, just make sure they are according to the Bitcoin foundation,  then watch as the price of Bitcoin start doing really well again

Trust is firstly and lastly in Bitcoin, not in any institutions or big investors. People want to invest money in Bitcoin because by whatever reasons they see potential of Bitcoin, they trust it, believe in its future, so that they are ready to use their money for purchasing bitcoin. Firstly buying bitcoin, but after that people can use their coins for trading or for long term investment holding.

Some people bought bitcoins by themselves but store coins on centralized exchanges, in custodial wallets.
Some other people did not buy bitcoins by themselves but indirectly invested their money to Bitcoin Spot ETFs and even Ponzi-scams, but it's not responsibility of Bitcoin.

Some people store their bitcoins in non custodial wallets while the others ignore risk and store their coins on centralized exchanges or online platforms. They have different risk, make different decisions, take opposite fund storage action, and can face with opposite results later.

[Donk1]

From the early stage of Bitcoin till now I believe Bitcoin is still undergoing phases as time goes, and we are in an era whereby everyone wants to make quick profit. But still it doesn't work that way with Bitcoin. Even if rich people try to control the price through hype or so ,we will always have those who will oppose them by not falling for their schemes. And I think that's just the point having users who believe and trust in the technology, not those who only want to make use of it regardless of how it might affect others...

​That said my opinion here is that there are millions of users making use of Bitcoin and if you think about it, if they do not trust the basics at first then they wouldn't have made use of the technology. So yeah I believe the Bitcoin foundation is stronger than ever, and we should focus more on the future potential, not the past. That's all...

[Joy_learns_crypto]

Bitcoin is doing fine all these comes with adoption, many people with diverse backgrounds are adopting bitcoin, we wanted a spectacular mass adoption the difference is what comes with it.
Is your trust shifted to big investors? Mine is not shifted to big investors but there are those who trust all they directions big investors take they are the weak links but they are still adopters temporarily.

[Razmirraz]

I think, what you describe above is more directed at the classic dilemma between the early ideology (cypherpunk) and the financial mainstream (institutionalization) or Bitcoin of the 2010-2017 era which is often considered an Ideological Project vs Bitcoin Bitcoin of the 2020-present era which is starting to be considered an Investment project.

The entry of large institutions, public companies and ETF has significantly changed the dynamics of the Bitcoin market. In the past, Bitcoin users focused on privacy, anti-censorship, being your own bank, and ensuring no one could shut down the network. The attitude of users also always adheres to the principle "better Bitcoin $10 than $100 but controlled by the bank.
But now the focus is starting to shift from "how to be censorship-free" to "when is the next ATH". New terms have begun to emerge, including "Bitcoin is just digital gold," "KYC on exchanges is fine, as long as the price goes up," and "spot ETF are adoption, not betrayal."

Bitcoin users also started to wait for the movements of influential people (rich people/company CEO), Elon Musk tweeted (To The Moon), MicroStrategy made a large purchase, BlackRock entered the market, Bitcoin became their bargaining chip, exactly what the community had previously fought against. The shift in Bitcoin is like punk rock: it used to play in basements (with idealistic content), but now it's moving into stadiums, with expensive tickets and a different audience. The music remains the same, but the vibe is different.

I think this shift is a natural cycle. Great ideas are bound to attract the attention of big investors, and when large sums of money start flowing in, the narrative changes.

[Spaceman1000$]

Bitcoin was doing fairly OK back in the days when focus was more on privacy, censorship resistance, trustless transactions, decentralization, deflation, etc. People wanted something different from what they were used to in fiat financial system, hence they prioritized on principles more than money. *This does not mean things were good back then, it just wasn't this bad.
I remember how fiercely the community fought against attempted takeover/centralization of Bitcoin,  or against villains who wanted to be seen as Satoshi/Bitcoin leaders/spokespersons, or even against rich people who wanted the community to think that price of Bitcoin depend on them in order to use that as bargaining chip. But since Bitcoin seems to attract people who don't worship mere mortals, the resistance against all that attempts and pretenses succeeded. Unfortunately, something strange began to happen around 2020 to date, (I believe it was partly due to easy or undeserved rewards/incentive flowing in crypto space) people who love money more than good principles began to join and dominate the space, and more credits started going to "gods of money" and moneybags who seem to be acting on behalf of fiat system, and who were neutralized or suppressed in past.  Bitcoin does not like this because, just like certain wealthy elites control fiat system, they could try to do thesame thing here if Bitcoin community start trusting or depending on them.


The way out of this is to first consider or trust the strong Foundation Bitcoin is built on. Everything else, whether rich or poor, has to be subject to the foundation. If the moneybags say things to gain your trust or to make you depend on them, just make sure they are according to the Bitcoin foundation,  then watch as the price of Bitcoin start doing really well again

I feel it's just natural with human beings, people will always want to front themselves as the leaders of a certain project so that people that don't have concrete knowledge about that project will see them as the wealth of knowledge they need to tap in to understand how that project works, and Bitcoin made it easy for such persons because of the anonymity of Satoshi Nakamoto, as it's been seen as if nobody is available to claim leadership position, so am not surprised if some rich guys jumped in to occupy such space and start giving their own narration about Bitcoin.  The thing is that, the moneybags can on do their bit, but Bitcoin has been made in a way that everybody can leverage on it, you can build your own knowledge by asking the right questions, nobody alone has the monopoly of investing as it's open for all.

[Rustam Meraj]

Looking back 10 years, it is interesting how spirit of this place has changed. When you see people celebrating billionaires of Wall Street and large hedge funds as saviors of crypto, it definitely looks like original spirit is being taken away in pure greed. Beauty of Bitcoin is its rules do not care about anyone net worth or social status, however. Such individuals have money to purchase vast quantities of coins and thus boost their prices, but they never have power to force hard fork that community won't accept or change rules of network. As for gods of money, code is totally different at end of the day, and the original thought is always alive despite the corporate noise, as long as original node operators in the network are still spread out.

[Donneski]

I don't see this as a corruption phase, I think it's more of a maturity stage of Bitcoin. It's very normal for any successful system to attract big players but one thing we know that's certain is that Bitcoin rules remain unchanged regardless of who participates.
If there's any concerning thing about the recent developments, I think it's the people who follow almost every move of these big investors instead of understanding Bitcoin for themselves. That is the risky part of the whole thing not in big investors or institutions holding Bitcoin.

From what I know about Bitcoin, it was built on "don't trust until you verify" so as far as that  nothing happens to that principle, I don't think the participation of big investors threatens the Bitcoin network.

[Chinesebaby]

Bitcoin was doing fairly OK back in the days when focus was more on privacy, censorship resistance, trustless transactions, decentralization, deflation, etc. People wanted something different from what they were used to in fiat financial system, hence they prioritized on principles more than money. *This does not mean things were good back then, it just wasn't this bad.
I remember how fiercely the community fought against attempted takeover/centralization of Bitcoin,  or against villains who wanted to be seen as Satoshi/Bitcoin leaders/spokespersons, or even against rich people who wanted the community to think that price of Bitcoin depend on them in order to use that as bargaining chip. But since Bitcoin seems to attract people who don't worship mere mortals, the resistance against all that attempts and pretenses succeeded. Unfortunately, something strange began to happen around 2020 to date, (I believe it was partly due to easy or undeserved rewards/incentive flowing in crypto space) people who love money more than good principles began to join and dominate the space, and more credits started going to "gods of money" and moneybags who seem to be acting on behalf of fiat system, and who were neutralized or suppressed in past.  Bitcoin does not like this because, just like certain wealthy elites control fiat system, they could try to do thesame thing here if Bitcoin community start trusting or depending on them.


The way out of this is to first consider or trust the strong Foundation Bitcoin is built on. Everything else, whether rich or poor, has to be subject to the foundation. If the moneybags say things to gain your trust or to make you depend on them, just make sure they are according to the Bitcoin foundation,  then watch as the price of Bitcoin start doing really well again

Bitcoin is still doing very well right now as a decentralized digital currency. And secondly, despite the fact that we now have some individuals who can single-handedly invest a very large amount in Bitcoin and hold it for their respective desired timeframe, it doesn't automatically grant them control over it as asset, because it's control still lies in the hands of its investors, through the influence of its demand and supply. Thirdly, inasmuch as we have had many persons claimed to be the original crypto of Bitcoin, in the person of Satoshi Nakamoto there have never been any solid prove to justify it, as all they care about is just to be using the anonymous investor to their advantage.

[Pays City]

Yes, when I clicked on the title I was expecting the OP to talk mostly about the massive entry of institutions, public companies and Wall Street giants. Of course, now several of them made a fast exit when the losses - the price of following the herd near the top - became too painful. None of that affects BTC security or safety at the network level. The biggest real concerns are preparing for quantum computers and looking at the people who influence and control the current development process.

I think, what you describe above is more directed at the classic dilemma between the early ideology (cypherpunk) and the financial mainstream (institutionalization) or Bitcoin of the 2010-2017 era which is often considered an Ideological Project vs Bitcoin Bitcoin of the 2020-present era which is starting to be considered an Investment project.

The entry of large institutions, public companies and ETF has significantly changed the dynamics of the Bitcoin market. In the past, Bitcoin users focused on privacy, anti-censorship, being your own bank, and ensuring no one could shut down the network. The attitude of users also always adheres to the principle "better Bitcoin $10 than $100 but controlled by the bank.
But now the focus is starting to shift from "how to be censorship-free" to "when is the next ATH". New terms have begun to emerge, including "Bitcoin is just digital gold," "KYC on exchanges is fine, as long as the price goes up," and "spot ETF are adoption, not betrayal."

Bitcoin users also started to wait for the movements of influential people (rich people/company CEO), Elon Musk tweeted (To The Moon), MicroStrategy made a large purchase, BlackRock entered the market, Bitcoin became their bargaining chip, exactly what the community had previously fought against. The shift in Bitcoin is like punk rock: it used to play in basements (with idealistic content), but now it's moving into stadiums, with expensive tickets and a different audience. The music remains the same, but the vibe is different.

I think this shift is a natural cycle. Great ideas are bound to attract the attention of big investors, and when large sums of money start flowing in, the narrative changes.

[un_rank]

Can you highlight any situations that shows bitcoin is moving away from those principles? There may be in the crypto sector in general but with bitcoin the core principles of decentralization and censorship resistance are still as strong as they were at any time in the past.
I do agree that as more investors come in a good amount of them are among those that do not care for privacy, they will easily give up their information to comply with KYC/AML regulations.

- Jay -

[EL MOHA]

Can you highlight any situations that shows bitcoin is moving away from those principles? There may be in the crypto sector in general but with bitcoin the core principles of decentralization and censorship resistance are still as strong as they were at any time in the past.
I do agree that as more investors come in a good amount of them are among those that do not care for privacy, they will easily give up their information to comply with KYC/AML regulations.

- Jay -

Sometimes i actually think that people do not actually understand the core principles of bitcoin rather they just simply misunderstand things, I actually saw the place where people actually called out bitcoin as not been decentralized because the market was reacting to news by institutions. Some even think that the more institutions or whales actually get their hand on bitcoin it simply means that bitcoin isn’t decentralized as this people can manipulate bitcoin.

Also this are wrong perception of bitcoin. Bitcoin network will forever remain decentralized except on rare cases of 51% attack or miners actually censoring transactions before adding them to their blocks. Market sentiment has nothing to do with decentralization

[Jegileman]

The way out of this is to first consider or trust the strong Foundation Bitcoin is built on. Everything else, whether rich or poor, has to be subject to the foundation. If the moneybags say things to gain your trust or to make you depend on them, just make sure they are according to the Bitcoin foundation,  then watch as the price of Bitcoin start doing really well again

The facts are clear OP, since Bitcoin was launched, it has never shown any sign that it would stop growing and not make those who invested in it not profit from it. This is enough to tell and know that any external forces that claims to have control of the market are just temporary actions on the market and would not affect the foundations to which Bitcoin was built on.

These are temporary noise to me, and if we can neglect them and follow on the path to which Bitcoin is built on and walking towards, we won’t have any problem with external forces that market triggers to for the short time before getting back to its normal state. These type of external forces are just there to cause uncertainties, panic and fear but one who understands the market very well will not give room for all that and will act accordingly.

[Son Of Blockchain (SOB)]

 I'm confused at the message you're trying to pass, cause is Bitcoin doing bad, is it centralized, is anyone dictating what the price would be or do investors worship big players? The answer to all those questions i asked based on your post is a big NO Bitcoin is still Bitcoin there's not much change asides more adoption and the ETF's being the largest holders of Bitcoin currently.
 I don't know what or who gave you the idea that Bitcoin is not doing fine, maybe you should do more research to get better facts cause from the ones you mentioned I'm not convinced that you're an inch right about what you're saying.