Revolution, Digital Gold, Ponzi, Scam..

“Bitcoin” – almost everyone has an opinion on it! Bitcoin, along with other coins in Crypto Land, have seen a steep correction in last few days.

Let's use this fall to simplify and de-jargonize the complicated world of Bitcoin.
Thread 🧵

𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬: Bitcoin was born in chaos, in the aftermath of 2008 financial crisis – banks collapsing, counter parties abetting on contracts and declining trust in Central banks. It was designed as a peer to peer decentralized monetary system devoid of intermediaries.

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The domain https://t.co/OBNEySDYwS was registered in Aug 2008 and the Bitcoin paper (https://t.co/AHIwajbGWw) was published on Oct 31, 2008. This started the journey of Cryptocurrency.

Bookmark this visual comic form explanation of the whitepaper: https://t.co/6gEHGVV8UM

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What is the debate on decentralization all about?

For both storing your money and for every transaction involving transfer of value, a financial intermediary or an administrator has been necessary before this. Such as Central Bank for Banking, SEC for securities, etc.

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This was until a guy called Satoshi Nakamoto decided - No more middlemen!

That isn’t how Satoshi Nakamoto looks :)
Nobody knows how he looks. Nobody knows if such a person even exists. In words, no one knows who owns Bitcoin. This has been fodder for conspiracy theories.

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But what is fairly certain is that the origin of Bitcoin (and Cryptocurrency) can be attributed to 𝐉𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐧, purely by looking at the history of crypto volumes. Also the pseudonym adds up here. The Japanese were the first to start mining and using Bitcoin on the Darknet.

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Cut to today - a lot of water has flown under bridge.

Before today's carnage, the total market capitalization of Crypto stood at ~$ 2 Trillion, with Bitcoin contributing c. half of it, although its weight in overall Crypto has been declining.
Check: https://t.co/Ca2PiJbTQR
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Bitcoin is too big to ignore now.

As Dalio puts it - "Bitcoin is one hell of an invention. To have invented a new type of money via a system programmed into a computer & being able to scale like that in 10 years!"

This chart via JPM shows the ascent of BTC. Fascinating.

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To understand the success of Bitcoin, we first need to understand what is money?

As per traditional finance, money has 3 purposes. It serves as:
✍️A medium of exchange
✍️A store of value
✍️A unit of account

The utility of BTC & Cryptos has been debated on all 2 parameters.
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While the many critics of Bitcoin have challenged the idea that it can never serve as money, experts now agree on on it's utility as a store of value. The current debate is around medium of exchange due to the volatility.

To its many critics, Bitcoin has always asked back:
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Where are we today?

To quote Twitter: "Bitcoin is inevitable":
✅Increasing use cases, leading to DeFi
✅A strong cult (seen the laser eyes?)
✅Early institutional adoption (Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Tesla, Blackrock etc)
✅Stronger payment ecosystem

But there is a catch:
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Of the many debated aspects, the one that is proving to be Bitcoin (and Crypto's) nemesis is energy inefficiency.

"Bitcoin consumes more electricity than Argentina". This headline caught the world's fancy in Feb '21 & it's been a topsy turvy terrain since, leading to this:
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As we speak, BTC is down from its peak of ~$64,870 to $40,010 (recovered from intra day low of $30,202). But if one zooms out, it's still a phenomenal rally.

And this not the first correction.
It fell from its peak of $19K in Dec'17
to ~$10K in Feb '18, to ~$3K early 2019.
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Let's discuss some lesser talked aspects:

A. Increased retail participation:

Rapid growth in new a/c openings on crypto exchanges. Chart shows unique crypto wallet accounts on https://t.co/5jhnEfoATp. Sharp upticks during FOMO rallies in end 17, mid-2019 & since Nov '20.
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B. Increase in balances held in accounts between 1,000 and 10,000 BTCs, likely to be institutionally driven.

Interestingly, balances held in accounts with more
than 10,000 BTCs have declined significantly,
suggesting potential cashing out by early investors and miners.
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C. Debate on volatility:

Despite the raging debate, data shows that Bitcoin's volatility has not trended lower over the
past several years. Tt remains about 4 times more volatile than Equities or Gold.

This has been a big impediment in its utility as a medium of exchange.
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D. Constraints on liquidity

Lack of legal tender status will constrain
cryptocurrency liquidity compared to traditional portfolio hedges such as Commodities (Gold), Currency, Bonds or real estate.
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JPM observes that a "large majority of this liquidity provision comes from high frequency-style traders who often end up fleeing when volatility picks up."

This explains the steep swings (such as now) and are tail risks that should be understood by more crypto enthusiasts.
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E. Regulatory risks:
Citi in a report "BITCOIN - At the Tipping Point" opines:

"Despite most ardent wishes, it might prove almost impossible for a government to shut access to BTC or prevent its ownership or usage w/out effectively causing shutdown of the global Internet."
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F. Way forward:

There are increasing cues that the way forward would be a middle path between a centralized monetary network and a decentralized network such as Bitcoin - something what experts are calling "Stablecoins". Or Central bank backed digital currencies.
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Conclusion: It is difficult to have one particular conclusion of a globally debated topic such as Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency, but we close with these articulate and poetic closure by Citi in their note.

Let us know questions or thoughts and we would love to discuss.

/End

More from All

#தினம்_ஒரு_திருவாசகம்
தொல்லை இரும்பிறவிச் சூழும் தளை நீக்கி
அல்லல் அறுத்து ஆனந்தம் ஆக்கியதே – எல்லை
மருவா நெறியளிக்கும் வாதவூர் எங்கோன்
திருவாசகம் என்னும் தேன்

பொருள்:
1.எப்போது ஆரம்பித்தது என அறியப்படமுடியாத தொலை காலமாக (தொல்லை)

2. இருந்து வரும் (இரும்)


3.பிறவிப் பயணத்திலே ஆழ்த்துகின்ற (பிறவி சூழும்)

4.அறியாமையாகிய இடரை (தளை)

5.அகற்றி (நீக்கி),

6.அதன் விளைவால் சுகதுக்கமெனும் துயரங்கள் விலக (அல்லல் அறுத்து),

7.முழுநிறைவாய்த் தன்னுளே இறைவனை உணர்த்துவதே (ஆனந்த மாக்கியதே),

8.பிறந்து இறக்கும் காலவெளிகளில் (எல்லை)

9.பிணைக்காமல் (மருவா)

10.காக்கும் மெய்யறிவினைத் தருகின்ற (நெறியளிக்கும்),

11.என் தலைவனான மாணிக்க வாசகரின் (வாதவூரெங்கோன்)

12.திருவாசகம் எனும் தேன் (திருவா சகமென்னுந் தேன்)

முதல்வரி: பிறவி என்பது முன்வினை விதையால் முளைப்பதோர் பெருமரம். அந்த ‘முன்வினை’ எங்கு ஆரம்பித்தது எனச் சொல்ல இயலாது. ஆனால் ‘அறியாமை’ ஒன்றே ஆசைக்கும்,, அச்சத்துக்கும் காரணம் என்பதால், அவையே வினைகளை விளைவிப்பன என்பதால், தொடர்ந்து வரும் பிறவிகளுக்கு, ‘அறியாமையே’ காரணம்

அறியாமைக்கு ஆரம்பம் கிடையாது. நமக்கு ஒரு பொருளைப் பற்றிய அறிவு எப்போதிருந்து இல்லை? அதைச் சொல்ல முடியாது. அதனாலேதான் முதலடியில், ஆரம்பமில்லாத அஞ்ஞானத்தை பிறவிகளுக்குக் காரணமாகச் சொல்லியது. ஆனால் அறியாமை, அறிவின் எழுச்சியால், அப்போதே முடிந்து விடும்.
🌺श्री गरुड़ पुराण - संक्षिप्त वर्णन🌺

हिन्दु धर्म के 18 पुराणों में से एक गरुड़ पुराण का हिन्दु धर्म में बड़ा महत्व है। गरुड़ पुराण में मृत्यु के बाद सद्गती की व्याख्या मिलती है। इस पुराण के अधिष्ठातृ देव भगवान विष्णु हैं, इसलिए ये वैष्णव पुराण है।


गरुड़ पुराण के अनुसार हमारे कर्मों का फल हमें हमारे जीवन-काल में तो मिलता ही है परंतु मृत्यु के बाद भी अच्छे बुरे कार्यों का उनके अनुसार फल मिलता है। इस कारण इस पुराण में निहित ज्ञान को प्राप्त करने के लिए घर के किसी सदस्य की मृत्यु के बाद का समय निर्धारित किया गया है...

..ताकि उस समय हम जीवन-मरण से जुड़े सभी सत्य जान सकें और मृत्यु के कारण बिछडने वाले सदस्य का दुख कम हो सके।
गरुड़ पुराण में विष्णु की भक्ति व अवतारों का विस्तार से उसी प्रकार वर्णन मिलता है जिस प्रकार भगवत पुराण में।आरम्भ में मनु से सृष्टि की उत्पत्ति,ध्रुव चरित्र की कथा मिलती है।


तदुपरांत सुर्य व चंद्र ग्रहों के मंत्र, शिव-पार्वती मंत्र,इन्द्र सम्बंधित मंत्र,सरस्वती मंत्र और नौ शक्तियों के बारे में विस्तार से बताया गया है।
इस पुराण में उन्नीस हज़ार श्लोक बताए जाते हैं और इसे दो भागों में कहा जाता है।
प्रथम भाग में विष्णुभक्ति और पूजा विधियों का उल्लेख है।

मृत्यु के उपरांत गरुड़ पुराण के श्रवण का प्रावधान है ।
पुराण के द्वितीय भाग में 'प्रेतकल्प' का विस्तार से वर्णन और नरकों में जीव के पड़ने का वृत्तांत मिलता है। मरने के बाद मनुष्य की क्या गति होती है, उसका किस प्रकार की योनियों में जन्म होता है, प्रेत योनि से मुक्ति के उपाय...

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First update to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL since the challenge ended – Medium links!! Go add your Medium profile now 👀📝 (thanks @diannamallen for the suggestion 😁)


Just added Telegram links to
https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL too! Now you can provide a nice easy way for people to message you :)


Less than 1 hour since I started adding stuff to https://t.co/lDdqjtKTZL again, and profile pages are now responsive!!! 🥳 Check it out -> https://t.co/fVkEL4fu0L


Accounts page is now also responsive!! 📱✨


💪 I managed to make the whole site responsive in about an hour. On my roadmap I had it down as 4-5 hours!!! 🤘🤠🤘
And here they are...

THE WINNERS OF THE 24 HOUR STARTUP CHALLENGE

Remember, this money is just fun. If you launched a product (or even attempted a launch) - you did something worth MUCH more than $1,000.

#24hrstartup

The winners 👇

#10

Lattes For Change - Skip a latte and save a life.

https://t.co/M75RAirZzs

@frantzfries built a platform where you can see how skipping your morning latte could do for the world.

A great product for a great cause.

Congrats Chris on winning $250!


#9

Instaland - Create amazing landing pages for your followers.

https://t.co/5KkveJTAsy

A team project! @bpmct and @BaileyPumfleet built a tool for social media influencers to create simple "swipe up" landing pages for followers.

Really impressive for 24 hours. Congrats!


#8

SayHenlo - Chat without distractions

https://t.co/og0B7gmkW6

Built by @DaltonEdwards, it's a platform for combatting conversation overload. This product was also coded exclusively from an iPad 😲

Dalton is a beast. I'm so excited he placed in the top 10.


#7

CoderStory - Learn to code from developers across the globe!

https://t.co/86Ay6nF4AY

Built by @jesswallaceuk, the project is focused on highlighting the experience of developers and people learning to code.

I wish this existed when I learned to code! Congrats on $250!!