This is a question that comes up all of the time, implicitly or explicitly, in a lot of discussions: does the existence of Bitcoin help or hurt the USA? Is a good thing or a bad thing for the country?
This line of reasoning is akin to asking whether the existence of a hammer could be harmful to a carpenter. What kind of harm might it cause in the hands of a deranged housewife intent on striking her husband?
Bitcoin is a financial instrument that, if used correctly, will prove beneficial. However, there is no guarantee that it couldn't also cause harm (in the wrong hands).
Some seem to think that Bitcoin is very bad for the USA--so bad that the USA would do everything in its power to stop Bitcoin (but somehow hasn't succeeded... ¯\(ツ)/¯).
The legislative acts concerning cryptocurrencies in this country don’t really look like attempts to destroy this asset class.
After all, the goal seems to be to regulate the sector, rather than to ban or eliminate it entirely.
Still others think Bitcoin will massively change the USA for the better.
Are
BTC-idealists?
For me the answer to this question is that it doesn't really help or hurt the USA in any significant way. Bitcoin may be an interesting technology/financial product, but there are thousands of those in our country, and no single one of them is going to make a huge difference in the long run. Today Bitcoin is one of many crypto products, which turn is one of many thousands (millions?) of investment products. Every product has some impact, and you can make a "connections" case for all kinds of things (viz. some shared library that is present on almost all of the world's devices), but compared to high-level technology initiatives like The Internet or (coming soon) AI, the direct impact is not in that league. Even compared to a smaller realm like "social media", Bitcoin's impact on society and the US as a whole is still pretty small.
I agree, as the influence of bitcoin on the public consciousness is greatly overestimated (especially in the context of its use by criminals).
The answer to this question seems to be an important part of many people's thinking about Bitcoin. They start with the assumption that Bitcoin is bad for the USA, and then make a bunch of additional logical leaps like so:
Instead of focusing on "themselves" (what direct benefit bitcoin might offer them personally), many people spend their time speculating about the harm bitcoin could cause the country as a whole.
3. Since "the USA" operates as a single consciousness, every person in the USA, or at least every employee of the US government, will work toward the goal of eradicating Bitcoin (but they haven't succeeded since Bitcoin is more powerful than every world government
).
I might almost believe that, if it didn’t seem so amusing.
Do you really imagine that all government employees are mentally linked to a single, centralized "government" mind that dictates how they should act?
Every citizen (including every government official) pursues their own interests; if it’s profitable, they will readily invest in bitcoin, regardless of any attempts by the government to stamp out that asset.
But others make a case that Bitcoin will radically improve the USA for the better, and make the country more successful and prosperous in huge and significant ways.
It seemed to me that bitcoin wasn't needed for this, since this country already has the best and most incomparable president - one capable of making the US great again.
Anyhow, would love to hear people's thoughts on this...
I think that’s definitely not my headache.
Why should I care about a country I don’t live in?
