Why Charles Stross Wants Bitcoin To Die In a Fire

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "SF writer Charles Stross writes on his blog that like all currency systems, Bitcoin comes with an implicit political agenda attached and although our current global system is pretty crap, Bitcoin is worse. For starters, BtC is inherently deflationary. There is an upper limit on the number of bitcoins that can ever be created so the cost of generating new Bitcoins rises over time, and the value of Bitcoins rise relative to the available goods and services in the market. Libertarians love it because it pushes the same buttons as their gold fetish and it doesn't look like a "Fiat currency". You can visualize it as some kind of scarce precious data resource, sort of a digital equivalent of gold. However there are a number of huge down-sides to Bitcoin says Stross: Mining BtC has a carbon footprint from hell as they get more computationally expensive to generate, electricity consumption soars; Bitcoin mining software is now being distributed as malware because using someone else's computer to mine BitCoins is easier than buying a farm of your own mining hardware; Bitcoin's utter lack of regulation permits really hideous markets to emerge, in commodities like assassination and drugs and child pornography; and finally Bitcoin is inherently damaging to the fabric of civil society because it is pretty much designed for tax evasion. "BitCoin looks like it was designed as a weapon intended to damage central banking and money issuing banks, with a Libertarian political agenda in mind—to damage states ability to collect tax and monitor their citizens financial transactions," concludes Stross. "The current banking industry and late-period capitalism may suck, but replacing it with Bitcoin would be like swapping out a hangnail for Fournier's gangrene.""

Pay for Laundry jobs with it

[hawkinspeter]

So, it has come to this.

Mod Parent Article Down.

[ElementOfDestruction]

Whether or not Charles Stross is correct is irrelevant; BitCoin is bigger than Jesus.

Shitty essay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Huge crabon footprint, hideous markets, damage central banking, hide transactions from government, tax evasion, ... I mean, if this has a case against Bitcoin, why doesn't he list some negatives about it?

Geeze! What a shitty essayist!

Re:Limited money supply is a problem?

[sandytaru]

You can't make a pretty pair of earrings for your spouse out of bitcoins, though.

Re:really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Before you had to go through the Assassination Guild and Child Molester's Union. They ensured a painless death and good working conditions for their workers, respectively(?). Now with Bitcoin, we're seeing millions of new hitmen flooding the market, driving prices down so that anyone can have someone killed. This "democratization of murder" appeals to the bitcoin crowd, but it is ultimately harmful for society. There's also been reports that people are starting to molest their own children to produce pornography and selling it for bitcoin instead of kidnapping them or buying them. Bitcoin is not only undermining the family, but it is forcing the Mafia to have to find new ways to find revenue.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Dune

[DaveV1.0]

Yes, science fiction novels are a great source of political theory and quoting them definitely bolsters your point. Nothing better than that~

Re:Mod Parent Article Down.

[CanHasDIY]

Whether or not Charles Stross is correct is irrelevant; BitCoin is bigger than Jesus.

So, what, it has 13 followers?

Yawn. Wake me when Bitcoin becomes something millions of people are willing to kill each other over.

Re:Bigger than Jesus?

[serviscope_minor]

Plus Jesus is more deflationary than Bitcoin since the world supply dropped from one to zero, briefly peaked at one again and then dropped back to zero and stayed there.

Just imaging if the church had also thought to hoard their Jesus. Due to the low supply, it would be worth so much that they'd have more money than Je... uh god.

Re:Bigger than Jesus?

[Anarchduke]

Thats a bunch of crap. There have to be a couple of million Jesuses running around in Mexico alone.

Re:Bigger than Jesus?

[TubeSteak]

Plus Jesus is more deflationary than Bitcoin since the world supply dropped from one to zero, briefly peaked at one again and then dropped back to zero and stayed there.

Spoken like a true heretic.
Any true believer [wikipedia.org] would tell you that the body of Christ is exactly like bitcoin:
It's thin, widely distributed, and turns to shit a few hours after its creation.

Bitcoin zealots have also been known to chant "Hoc est corpus meum, hic est calix sanguinis mei" while participating in the creation of bitcoins.

Re:Mod Parent Article Down.

[Culture20]

And knowing /. It will be raised again in a few days.

Re:Bigger than Jesus?

[Atzanteol]

That's because forgery is a big problem with the Jesus market.

Re:Libertarianism

[EdgePenguin]

Nobody is demonizing you. You are not the victim of discrimination. You are the victim of mockery, for expressing ridiculous beliefs. Drop the persecution complex and grow up.