It was a fanatical crusade: bitcoin and the broad cryptocurrency world was decentralized and unbounded from the high voltage searchlights of governments. The hodlers believed that you can live in your hut, your mansion, and anything in between, untethered to any central ordinance.
But here, I had posited that it was all an illusion to think that Bitcoin is not centralized. Indeed, the top 10 global miners possibly control up to 70% of the total coins being created. And what that means is this: only a few people or organizations can “print” the new currency of Bitcoin and bring it to the world. Sure, many prefer that over central banks because governments are bad!
But with the collapse of FTX and the domino impacts across domains and territories, we can now agree that crypto is not fundamentally decentralized, but centralized outside the powers of government. As FTX goes, it has taken hedge funds, startups, businesses and thousands of global citizens along, financially. From Nigeria to Germany, Canada to Japan, etc, entities have been affected just because one company faded.
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Good People, if anyone tells you that his coin is outside the influence of the government, ask him how he got the bank account which made it possible for you to use actual currency to buy his coin. For him to get that bank account, he must have been normalized by the government and that means having a company incorporated and using the documents to get a bank account.
Provided they are not asking for shells or cowries but Naira and US dollars, be assured that they are part of the government system. FTX is an exchange and all exchanges are an extension of governments because exchanges must have bank accounts, pay taxes and have licenses to operate.
Which one makes sense – decentralize technically but centralized at exchanges or just trust that central bank governor? I wish hodlers will beg governments to regulate cryptos to make them better, and stop the illusion they can run away from governments.
It turns out that crytocurrencies are not decentralized with one company controlling more than 25% mining capacity of one of the most popular ones. The top miners control nearly half of the total mining capacities. If you look at it the other way round, those guys are the ones “printing the money”. I will prefer government to print my money than 3 people controlling a currency I use. I do believe that crypto is a fraud and an illusion. Yes, it is an illusion to think that you can run away from government when you live under government. No African country has the technical capacity to lead the mining. The miners are the new “central banks” and if you trust them, I simply pity you.
FTX brought winter to the crypto world
From LinkedIn News: ‘Crypto exchange Kraken announced Wednesday that it’s laying off 30% of its workforce — about 1,100 employees — as the meltdown in the digital currency market gains pace. Kraken, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, had tripled its headcount in the past few years, CEO Jesse Powell said. He added that the layoffs would take Kraken’s “team size back to where it was only 12 months ago.” The cuts come just days after Kraken agreed to pay $360,000 to settle with the Treasury Department for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran.
A string of digital currency platforms, including Coinbase and Gemini, have announced job cuts following the high-profile implosion of crypto exchange FTX. Powell said he remains “extremely bullish on crypto and Kraken.”’
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There’s no absolute freedom anywhere, but you have to live with the illusion that you are free, just to help you get along. You cannot be on earth and escape government, even if you escape to outer space, some governments are already laying claims up there.
FTX is an example of what should never happen in an organized society, but it will still happen again and again, because humans are actually dumber than you think.
Imagine a world that is ethically challenged across board, and yet people believe that lines of codes written by ethically challenged creatures are all they need to escape government’s overreach? It doesn’t show a developed mindset, because the concept of trust remains a moving target.
You cannot be too careful in this world, just choose your own stupidity wisely.