Category: Op-Ed
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Why Bitcoiners Are Turning to Unschooling for Decentralized Education
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GazZBvHhgQ&w=560&h=349] Unschooling is an alternative education movement quickly gaining popularity and currency worldwide. Like Bitcoin, it is an individualist approach to an area of human action long thought to be established beyond question―education. Both cryptoeconomics and unschooling seek to provide autonomy to individuals, providing a return to logical, natural systems that value human life.…
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The Politicization of Money: Crypto as a Safeguard Against Economic Propaganda
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTANFw5f664&w=560&h=349] Money has come a long way since its origins. From cowry shells to crypto, transferable, divisible, and economically sound means of exchange have been adopted by market actors everywhere. Modern history has brought us to a dangerous place, however, a cultural climate where politics and bad economics have co-opted monetary utility in the…
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New Crypto Guidelines From FATF Have Far-Reaching Implications
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1-_7bNLWkI&w=560&h=349] The FATF (Financial Action Task Force) has revealed updated guidelines that would require cryptocurrency and digital asset exchanges—and potentially independent business owners and crypto holders—to share sensitive customer information as VASPs (Virtual Asset Service Providers), compromising user privacy and restricting crypto market access. Also read: BCH Development Fund Doubles Its Goal After a…
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Facebook Is a Threat to Governments Not Crypto
The moment Facebook released the whitepaper for its planned Libra coin, social media was flooded with claims about Zuckerberg’s new drive to take over the cryptocurrency market, with some even calling it a Bitcoin killer. However, looking at the actual details of the plan, it has little to do with cryptocurrency and is in fact…
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Privacy Is Paramount: How KYC Makes Us All Less Free
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQRyt6h49VU&w=560&h=349] KYC (Know Your Customer) policies and endless private data collection, coupled with force-backed, violent legislation compromise the utility and ethics of crypto trading. An uncompromising stance on user privacy is critically important to crypto traders and peer-to-peer transaction. It’s not about having nothing to hide, but about sound economics, human dignity, and creating…
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BCH vs. BTC: Which Offers Greater Privacy?
Do you want every person you ever transact with to know how much is in your wallet and your net worth? Of course not. That’s why you need and want to mix your coins to hide where they came from before you use them. The degree of privacy you can expect by default, however, varies…
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Zuckbucks or Bust: How SEC Rulemaking Hurts Startup Cryptos and Favors Big Tech
SEC guidance has created a more attractive environment for regulated tech firms like Facebook to offer proprietary cryptoassets integrated into their existing products that can be legally traded on existing crypto-exchanges as non-securities. Meanwhile, the SEC has targeted startup cryptos for increased scrutiny. Also Read: SEC Commissioner Says Time Is Right for Bitcoin ETFs —…
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Bitcoin Payments Are Being Bulldozed for Political Reasons
Bitcoin Core wants to distance itself politically from the former project leader Gavin Andresen, the payment protocol BIP070 he was involved with, and from the BCH-friendly Bitpay payment processor company. The attempts to remove software associated with Gavin Andresen are now having real-world effects on the security of bitcoin payments. Also read: How to Prove…
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Our Value of Money Is Subjective But That Doesn’t Make It Meaningless
In my last op-ed, I discussed how the value we place on items and goods is subjective based on Carl Menger’s Subjective Theory of Value and how these concepts apply to people’s perception of value with things like fiat, gold, and bitcoin. The post outlined the idea that money cannot serve as a store of…
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Putting an End to the Bitcoin Store of Value Fallacy
Over the last few years, many have claimed that bitcoin core (BTC) has turned into, or will soon become, a store of value (SoV). Proponents of the BTC-based SoV theory seem to think that money can somehow store value and if it’s held long enough, the price will be higher or predictably useful when spent…