
Five myths Bitcoin promoters want you to believe - sherm8n
https://medium.com/@ramyadeeb/five-lies-bitcoin-fans-want-you-to-believe-f05d4dad6d74
======
jsutton
This article is completely amateurish and without any merit. Don't waste your
time.

The author tries to tell you that because a bitcoin can be divided up into a
million pieces or more, it means it's not a limited resource. What idiocy.

Bitcoins aren't secure because most people keep their keys in a vault they
don't actually own? What does that have to do with Bitcoin itself? Bitcoin's
security (while having known attack surfaces) is proven, as are people's
tendency to not care about securing their own digital information.

------
sova
> "It’s time we in the tech industry acknowledge the bubble nature of
> bitcoins"

You can only call things a bubble accurately in hindsight. Please provide data
to substantiate your claim.

------
wyldfire
> #1 ... Compare that with 5.8 Billion ounces of gold in the world, or 1,885
> paintings by Picasso and you realize this supply is not so limited after
> all.

Bogus, gold can be decomposed further than ounces. This item is
foolish/ignorant.

> #2 ... It’s decentralized, but it is also incredibly inefficient, slow, and
> prone to fraud. Out of a few thousand startups using blockchain technology
> out there, perhaps one or two make any sense product-wise. ... More
> importantly, bitcoins are built on top of blockchains. But you can create
> blockchains without anything to do with bitcoins.

This argument has a shred of merit. Yes, there is lots of way overblown ideas
about how bitcoin can change our world. Banks are not going away. But the
download-every-email-ever analogy underscores just how invalid it is to
consider email as an example case.

> Myth #3: Bitcoins are secure

Agreed, they are not easy to secure. But here's the interesting bit: they can
be secured well by companies who have expertise. "oh but that's not
decentralized" you say. True, but the tiers that have appeared are valuable
and solve problems. Bitcoin could be considered a uniform infrastructure for
financial services.

> Myth #4: ... world’s best tool for evading capital controls. Also known as
> money laundering.

IMO it's immaterial that it can be used for laundering. Controls and
regulation at the legitimate exchanges are appropriate.

> Myth #5: Bitcoin has intrinsic value ... it’s a function of demand. ...
> People do not buy bitcoins for some intrinsic value.

It's not universally the case. But I will concede that it is a very large part
of the demand. Ergo, its exchange rate could tumble significantly. But if it
did, would it stop being useful? No. Would it lose all its value? No. Would it
lose any utility? IMO no.

~~~
kandouss
On #1: I think the more important thing is that a unit of BTC is well defined
and non-zero fraction of all possible bitcoin.

------
rs86
How can a guy like this be a partner at khosla? His point of view is as
extreme as that of Bitcoin maniacs. And really weak technically.

------
kenpomeroy
If I had a bitcoin for every time I facepalmed while I read this...

------
n1tranquilla
This is a terribly uninformed opinion.

