Congratulations. You knew exactly what to write to make it to the top of Hacker News. Sadly, it doesn’t take a whole lot of original thought these days. Just repeat the establishment talking points that crypto is a bubble and will be worth zero someday, and you will be blessed with hundreds of upvotes. This is echo-chamber, groupthink at its best. You are, of course, free to believe whatever you like, but the way you write about it comes off a bit arrogant and smug.

People have been making similar claims about Bitcoin for over a decade now, and meanwhile it is still alive and kicking and shows no signs of slowing down. It is especially useful in places in the world that don’t have easy access to banking and countries where their currencies are being debased. I encourage you to watch this video if you have any interest in challenging your beliefs:

https://youtu.be/1rbu32PO5jY

You shrug crypto off as not being “genuinely innovative” which I think shows a big lack of understanding. Personally, I think the invention of Bitcoin is perhaps the greatest innovation since the internet itself. It cannot be understated how powerful it is to create money whose supply cannot be controlled by a central institution or power. This is the kind of invention that could literally change the world (and likely will).

Your second point in claim 3 is the exact talking point used by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. I think this represents an extremely narrow view of the world. Look at the US dollar which is dangerously on the verge of falling into an inflationary spiral. If you feel safe keeping your money in dollars then godspeed. I personally feel very unsafe given the current political climate. The dollar has lost over 99% of its purchasing power since the creation of the Federal Reserve and the current strategy of printing more money to solve every problem has been much more of a “detriment to people’s lives and livelihoods” than the gold standard ever was. You should research The Cantillon effect which seems to be more and more relevant in today’s economy.

An alternative to the boom and bust narrative is that the banking elites of that time period created the boom and bust cycles themselves through control of the gold supply in order to lobby and justify the creation of a central banking system that would benefit them and ensure that if they ever got into a pinch they could bail themselves out by having easy access to the money spigot. Remember history is told by the victors.

I agree with you that governments are unlikely to let go of control over monetary policy and won’t do it willingly or eagerly, but I think it is already too late for them to kill Bitcoin. They can cut off exchange access to buy and sell for dollars, but by forcing people to use dollars and cutting off access to crypto, I think it will actually expedite people’s willingness and acceptance of crypto. People and businesses will start accepting crypto directly for payments. It will take a long time for this to actually materialize in the real world because there are so many people like you who have such a narrow-minded view of crypto, but when you are faced with accepting a currency that is losing 10-20% of its purchasing power every year, or accepting Bitcoin, eventually people will understand that Bitcoin is the better money.

I expect to receive an onslaught of downvotes for this reply and going against the grain, but so be it.