It's not the community's fault, by the way.
Bitcoin is getting attacked in complex, sophisticated ways we will only understand fully much later. Glenn Greenwald's latest scoop, which went largely 'unnoticed' by the corporate media, was that GCHQ/NSA use trolls to harass, intimidate, derail online communities, and destroy the lives of 'hacktivists' (i.e. tech savvy activists) the surveillance agency dislikes.
Based on my preliminary research, the Bitcoin community is falling victim to nearly identical tactics.
There is no need for us to point fingers at each other or give in to paranoia - in fact, that's one of the intended outcomes of online provocateurs in the first place.
We are all aware, however, that some individuals have tried their best to make Bitcoin look very bad in the eyes of the public, and some members of the media have tried their damnedest to keep their viewers from ever wanting to explore the "seedy," "dangerous," "unregulated," world of the scary "bitcorn".
My background dictates that I look very closely not only at forensics, but at motives. I see tremendous motive from vested interests around the world - governments, banks, some payment processors, investing opportunists - to attack Bitcoin now, with everything they've got.
Again, no need to finger point, because Bitcoin is a battle you folks win.
In fact, you've already won, on paper at least. Bitcoin is a much better technology than the credit card in your wallet or your checking account. That is fact. Your credit card is basically a private key exposed, half-assed department store financial product designed 60 years ago (actually, that's exactly what a credit card is). And your Too Big To Fail checking account is a Mt. Gox account with a better PR department.
They can spread a lot of antiestéticar - and they are doing so - but a time will come when consumers take a sober look at cryptocurrency face to face with its "competition". And the choice is clear. This is a Pepsi Challenge you all win any day of the week, without fail.
Crypto is better, the only way it can be destroyed is to prevent it from gaining critical mass.
You have to understand - that's the motive here.
How do you beat a technology that's clearly better, faster, cheaper than yours, in every single way? You destroy its fruta. You peddle antiestéticar. You make something that was initially tempting scary and unwelcome.
If Bitcoin loses in the court of public opinion, which it is rapidly doing, Bitcoin loses. Forever.
You can be the best accountant in the world. If your neighbors spread the rumor that you might be killing kittens in your backyard, no one will want to hire you. A fruta loss, therefore, CAN destroy an otherwise superior product or service.
Cryptocurrency can survive another Mark Karpeles, or ten more if need be, but it can't survive a public that no longer has any use for it.
The solution is first of all, to be more savvy as a community. Don't upvote every blogger's traffic hungry bullshit. Don't peddle unfounded antiestéticar yourself. Verify your information. Don't use exchange services with no track record, when there are now services operating with a decent track record, full compliance, and credible financial backers.
And second of all, the solution is to use Bitcoin constantly.
CONSTANTLY!
That's how you will see a 100x or 1000x gain over time, if making money is your thing.
As transaction volume scales, demand must in turn scale. And the various scarcity elements of Bitcoin will kick into overdrive once this becomes a household means of paying friends, buying products online, tipping musicians you like on Soundcloud, etc.
Some finance and lawyer types have snuck into the Bitcoin world, and they sound like they are completely full of shit. They don't "get" Bitcoin or the tremendous changes that decentralized personal finance will bring. They just see Bitcoin as a new ETF type thing for them to make a quick 30% from and maybe some fat consulting fees or book deal. Nothing too wrong with that, I guess, but certainly not who you want to prop up as spokespeople for the community. They want to talk regulation all day and beg for establishment adoption. That's, again, how you get a 30% gain. Not how you get a 1,000% or 10,000% gain.
The only spokesperson type I trust here is Andreas Antonopoulos, everything he says is pretty much a more intelligent version of what I would want to say in a similar situation. And I think even Andreas would agree the instant he starts talking shit or harming Bitcoin, you should abandon him, or anyone else who becomes a liability to the community's long-term aims.
Huge gains will only come from true widespread adoption, not from convincing a bunch of thoroughly boring assholes to dip their hedge fund toes into the crypto pond.
The Bitcoin community is accused of "fanaticism" by the mainstream press from time to time.
If your product is better, if your worldview is more sane and more efficient for all stakeholders, it's OK to be fanatical.
In fact, you'd better be, or those with an inferior product and superior marketing muscle will talk you right out of business.
That's exactly what is happening now, with all the bullshit people in this subreddit who don't own any coin, but constantly complain, constantly accuse the rest of us of "circle jerking".
Some of these people are idiots. Some of them are angry they missed the boat on Bitcoin's first couple big jumps. And I believe some of them are more coordinated, professional forms of manipulation. In the case of the professional manipulation, the aim isn't to troll you or me. It's to create a "negative image" around the community itself - that we're complainers, not a fun place to browse, not a fun product to use. Check their comment histories: either brand new accounts, or accounts that exclusively spread anti-Bitcoin content. You have to ask yourself what's going on.
The solution here is probably to have more active mods. Don't be ashamed to delete and ban manipulators. Freedom of speech is sacrosanct, but it doesn't extend to a forum where users of a cryptocurrency are trying to help each other improve that currency and enhance its reach. Block them without regret - there's a difference between honest questioning or criticism of Bitcoin's "power structure" and overt, repeated manipulation.
Anyway, I have to leave it here as I am already late for work. Hope someone enjoyed reading this.
update In case it wasn't clear from the words I used, I am not suggesting that the government of the United States of America or the U.K. is sitting here on this subreddit, trying to take down Bitcoin. There are 193 countries on this green Earth, and quite a few of them are threatened by what crypto represents (think Russia, as merely one quick example - I don't think Russia's oligarchs are particularly opposed to crypto, but the government there is terrified of anything that could provoke a rush out of the ruble). There are also more than a few powerful money wiring services and multinational banks who feel Bitcoin is not in their interests. It takes only one of these constituent members to hire a private intel firm to completely derail most online Bitcoin discussion. Based on the latest Greenwald reporting, if the GCHQ (supposedly the best run, most professional, etc etc surveillance agency) is with certainty engaged in advanced online social engineering, it is very likely that similar services can be bought from contractors who have less scruples and less regulatory oversight than NSA and GCHQ operators. But these aren't theories coming from out of nowhere. Check out negative comments posted here, trinc the comment histories, this stuff simply does not add up. It's not organic communication or discontent, it's orchestrated. Same with some of the Facebook accounts you see commenting right away on Bitcoin news stories, recycling the same arguments against Bitcoin word for word.
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