Cryptheory – Just Crypto

Cryptocurrencies are our life! Get an Overview of Market News

BTC 2021 Panelists Make ‘Moral Case’ for BTC

2 min read

BTC 2021 Panelists Make ‘Moral Case’ for BTC

BTC’s success is a moral imperative, argued a group of BTC advocates at a major conference in Miami on Saturday.

Far from a get-rich-quick scheme, BTC upholds property rights and topples state monopolies on violence, they said at a panel titled, “The Moral Case for BTC.”

As philosophical proof, the panel, comprised of a mix of developers and CEOs, cited a strand of libertarian philosophy that emphasizes “self-ownership”. By this logic, your body is your property; everything that extends from it, including your BTC, falls under that property right.

“The thing that violates property rights is theft, [and] the current system is a cesspool of theft,” said one panelist, BTC developer Jimmy Song.

Robert Breedlove, CEO of investment firm Parallax Digital, thinks that American dollars are immoral. “Every time a dollar is printed, that is a violation of human property rights,” he said.

Breedlove thinks that inflationary fiat currencies subtract value from their holders over time—a form of property theft. “Inflation is legalized counterfeiting and counterfeiting is criminalized inflation,” he concluded.

By comparison, Breedlove argued that “BTC is the first property right that exists independently of [the government’s] monopoly on violence.” Q.E.D, BTC is virtuous.

Absent from the panel, which took place at an unabashedly pro-BTC conference, were those who believe that BTC is immoral.

Among possible counterarguments: BTC mining is terrible for the environment and wastes electricity; BTC’s wealth distribution is incredibly unequal; BTC facilitates illegal markets, and BTC shills ward unsophisticated investors into highly volatile investments. Many of these criticisms also apply to fiat currencies.

Tobey Scharding, a professor at Rutgers Business School, developed a moral case against BTC in 2018 by leaning on Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s 19th-century account of ethical currencies. Fichte argued that an ethical currency is stable; it allows people to plan their lives free from worries caused by sudden changes.

“If the currency is really fluctuating in value such that you could become a pauper or really rich in a matter of a couple of days, you can’t carry out your life,” Scharding explained in a 2018 interview with Rutgers. BTC is volatile, so it isn’t an ethical currency, she said.

Perhaps there’s a compelling rebuke of that take. But BTC 2021 is for Bitcoiners and by Bitcoiners: the panel was preaching to the choir.

Source

All content in this article is for informational purposes only and in no way serves as investment advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies, commodities and stocks is very risky and can lead to capital losses.
BlackRock (IBIT), the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Fidelity (FBTC), Ark Invest/21Shares (ARKB), Bitwise (BITB), Franklin (EZBC), Invesco/Galaxy (BTCO), VanEck (HODL), Valkyrie (BRRR), WisdomTree (BTCW), Hashdex (DEFI)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *