The Cutting Edge of Bitcoin
Tags: Fintech, Startup, Disruption, Fossils, Bitcoin

The deeply entrenched financial services industry is about to be completely killed by Bitcoin, and they don't like this fact one little bit. They are in a blind panic over whether they should embrace or resist the sea change.

If you want to get a feel for the level of threat the financial services industry is experiencing with Bitcoin, go to a conference of traditional players and talk about the inevitable Bitcoin future.

Some of the people in that sclerotic and redundant industry have a visceral hatred for Bitcoin. They can’t bear the idea that it bypasses and makes KYC/AML impossible and that they are going to miss, or have missed the Bitcoin revolution because they are so wedded to bad ideas.

They hate the fact that Bitcoin companies are super agile and they are not. They resent Bitcoin, its philosophy and the nature of its origin.

They hate software.

They also know deep down that Bitcoin works. They know it is “genius expressed and in motion”. They also know that they don’t have the intellect to attack its design. This galls them, chafes them, and has forced them to concoct ever more bizarre pretexts for it not working, in a vain attempt to put people off adopting it. It isn't working.

Hearing the emotional, irrational, illogical reactions and arguments of these people is very amusing; they all use the same arguments and fallacies and don’t know that as they argue against Bitcoin, they expose their own ignorance. It is amusing precisely because we know there is nothing they can do to stop Bitcoin spreading everywhere.

People who work in Bitcoin hear the same vapid arguments over and over, and these robotic detractors don’t even have the sense to realise that any objection they can put forward will probably not be novel, since they are computer illiterates that have probably never even used Bitcoin, much less had any experience in software development or Austrian Economics.

It is deeply satisfying to know that all of these people are in a blind panic. They are in the headlights of a freight train and don’t know how to move out of the way. It is a pitiful sight and sound.

The same people who don’t understand Bitcoin say that “The Blockchain tech is interesting, but not Bitcoin” this is like saying, “The Apache webserver software is interesting but TCP/IP is not”. It’s completely absurd. They also claim that the newly invented “Side Chains” are an interesting development, but Bitcoin “can’t work”.

Side Chains are an interesting development for the same reason Bitcoin is, The Blockchain. What these detractors don’t or can’t understand is that all these innovations are:

Software On the Blockchain.

You can’t claim that Bitcoin cannot work, but Side Chains can; both are tied to the Blockchain. Either the Blockchain works, or it doesn’t. If it does, then Bitcoin works, and so do Side Chains and anything else built on it.

What we have here (apart from a failure to communicate) is a deeply rooted, psychological disconnect on behalf of Bitcoin deniers. These people want to be cutting edge, but the edge of Bitcoin is designed to cut them out. They know this, and do not like it. They are terrified of the consequences of Bitcoin, the inevitable Wild West that will emerge, uncontrolled, un-knowable, unstoppable and absent their redundant ideas and flaccid opinions. At the same time, they are desperate to be a part of the revolution; to touch it in some way, and be remembered. They can’t write software and so they are excluded.

This is very painful for them. They have… our sympathy.

The Bitcoin world will emerge without their permission or approval and will astonish them all. The sky will not fall, “society” will not collapse. They will all be proven wrong, and Liberty will emerge to capture everything.