By Bitcoin Περιοδικό - 2 χρόνια πριν - Χρόνος ανάγνωσης: 8 λεπτά
Framing Bitcoin For Progressives
Despite being consistently framed as right-wing, Bitcoin is all-inclusive and benefits all ideologies.
Τι είναι Bitcoin?
Στον πυρήνα του, Bitcoin is a digital store of value that enables everyone in the world to coalesce around a singular monetary system. For the first time, anyone in the world can send money to anyone else in the world, instantaneously, regardless of nationality, credit score or even access to a bank. No government owns it or sets its policies. This levels the playing field amid a global geopolitical environment prone to corruption, censorship and currency manipulation. No corporation owns it, either. Claws off, Zuckerburg (you too, Sandberg).
Bitcoin is governed by immutable code that is agnostic to human categorical markers and biases. Its network is secured by miners all over the world and επαληθεύεται by thousands to tens of thousands of nodes throughout the world. Nodes are servers that store all bitcoin transaction history and reinforce Bitcoin’s protocol. Nodes propagate new pending transactions throughout the network until they are received and processed by a miner.
Bitcoin mining is essentially the process of computers competing against other computers to solve complicated math problems to authenticate a time-based series of transactions called blocks. Known as Proof-of-work, miners earn bitcoin in exchange for their work securing the network. This process is what enables Bitcoin to function without central ownership, giving every person across the globe (with a smartphone) equal opportunity for financial inclusion.
Σκέφτομαι bitcoin as digital scarcity. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin, guaranteed by the protocol’s issuance algorithm. Bitcoin’s supply is coded to reduce in half every four years until a final halving reduces new supply to 0. Meanwhile, people, companies, institutional investors and governments are increasing their demand for bitcoin κάθε μέρα.
Scarcity drives value. This is true anywhere demand exceeds supply: oil, gold, toilet paper and single family homes on the West Coast. The internet of the 1990s enabled us to exchange information digitally. Bitcoin enables us to exchange value digitally. As society increasingly shifts online, how we measure value will increasingly move online, too. A digitally connected world will need a digital store of value that is sovereign, decentralized, censorship resistant, peer-to-peer, runs 24/7, secure and resistant to attack. Bitcoin is money for the digital world.
Central banks from China to the U.S. are adapting to the digital world by promoting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Unfortunately, merely transferring the current fiat system to the digital space replicates the same limitations we face now and exacerbates privacy concerns. For example, a limitation of the current system is that one nation, or a basket of nations, holds the world’s reserve currency. This positions one, or a few allied nations, to enforce monetary policy over the rest of the world, often leading to unsustainable debt and economic dependency. El Savador recently declared bitcoin legal tender in an attempt to circumvent this dynamic.
Ένα νέο πρόβλημα που θα προκαλούσαν τα CBDC είναι η πλήρης έλλειψη απορρήτου για όλες τις οικονομικές συναλλαγές. Ιδιαίτερα σε μέρη όπως η Ρωσία ή το Χονγκ Κονγκ, αλλά όλο και περισσότερο σε μέρη όπως το Τέξας, ο κίνδυνος της κυβέρνησης να παρακολουθεί την αγοραστική δραστηριότητα των πολιτών της πρέπει να ληφθεί σοβαρά υπόψη. Η κινεζική κυβέρνηση έχει ήδη πειραματιστεί με τον καθορισμό ημερομηνιών λήξης για τα χρήματα που παρείχε. Τα CBDC έχουν επίσης τη δυνατότητα να περιορίσουν τις αγορές που επιτρέπεται να κάνουν οι άνθρωποι. Αυτή είναι μια μορφή οικονομικού εξαναγκασμού που θα μπορούσε να παίξει με καταστροφικές συνέπειες σε όλο τον κόσμο.
Bitcoin enables privacy. Individuals take full ownership of their bitcoin, known as self custody. Identified only through a public key (think of it as a digital ID) the name of a person transacting on the Bitcoin network is not known. However, every transaction on the Bitcoin network is auditable.
You’ve probably heard the term blockchain. A blockchain is a digital ledger that gets distributed to every node in the network. It’s extremely difficult to hack or change. This provides a verifiable record of every transaction ever made on the blockchain that requires no trusted third parties. While private, Bitcoin είναι διαφανές.
You’ve probably also heard a lot about bitcoin being used for illicit activity. Ironically, the rate of illicit activity on the Bitcoin network is far less than the U.S. dollar. Έρευνα θέτει το ποσοστό σε λιγότερο από 1% του συνόλου των συναλλαγών.
Η εξόρυξη δεν βλάπτει το περιβάλλον;
A top area of concern for many progressives is bitcoin mining’s impact on the environment. Bad takes from the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian and elsewhere have done a disservice to their audience and is what prompted this article. Contrary to popular opinion, the bitcoin mining industry is already ushering in an era of renewable energy.
Εδώ είναι το πράγμα: Bitcoin uses energy. The mining rigs that secure the Bitcoin network — enabling its decentralized, sovereign nature — require electricity to run. In fact, electricity is the primary ongoing cost for miners. This incentivizes miners to find the cheapest source of electricity, which is often energy that would otherwise be wasted and subsequently flared into the atmosphere. Gas companies are increasingly converting their excess energy into bitcoin mining operations or selling it to mining companies that are happy to pay bottom dollar to repurpose it.
Η καινοτομία στο μεταλλευτικό χώρο ήταν βαθιά. Η υδροηλεκτρική ενέργεια αξιοποιείται όσο ποτέ από μεγάλες και μικρές οντότητες. Έγγραφα του Alex Gladstein how mining bitcoin with hydroelectric energy in the Congo is funding the preservation of a national park. His corresponding take on how Bitcoin transforms international development and humanitarian aide is worth reading in full.
Πιο κοντα σε home, the state of Texas is (among other more rage-inducing activities), leveraging its αιολική ενέργεια for bitcoin mining. Wyoming actively courts bitcoin miners, noting the state’s abundant natural resources and lower energy costs. Given its enormous potential for economic development, specifically for underserved communities located outside populated city centers, there’s ample incentive for all states to pursue bitcoin mining. It is short-sighted for states with abundant natural resources to restrict bitcoin mining in the name of environmental virtue signaling.
Είναι αλήθεια ότι bitcoin has historically had a heavier climate footprint. In the geopolitical gift of the century, China (after countless empty threats) cracked down on its bitcoin miners this year. The crackdown shut off about half of bitcoin’s mining operations, many of which have already, or are in the process of, relocating to North America. Coal-heavy Chinese mining operations are increasingly replaced with renewable alternatives as more mining infrastructure gets developed.
Η Bitcoin Mining Counsel estimates about half of all bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy. For comparison, the banking industry uses only about 25% renewable energy. Over time, mining is anticipated to become increasingly powered by renewables. If anything, the more pressing concern for progressive Bitcoiners is the corporatization of the mining industry. However, that corportization also scales the use of renewable energy beyond any other industry.
Additionally, it’s important to put Bitcoin’s energy usage in context. Pundits constantly note
ότι Bitcoin’s annual energy use exceeds the energy use of a small country. This is true. But so does the U.S.’s use of Christmas lights and they are only used a fraction of the year.
Είναι σημαντικό, Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, a layer 2 technology, enables exponentially more transactions without adding to the network’s energy usage. This was not taken into account in Dutch central banker Alex de Vries and MIT researcher Christian Stoll’s widely cited calculation of Bitcoin’s energy use. Clickbait headlines using pianos as a unit of measurement for Bitcoin’s waste must be disregarded accordingly (google it, if you must).
So, like a holiday tradition for some, Bitcoin does use energy. However, energy is being harvested in increasingly sustainable ways and on larger and larger scales. The innovation coming out of the bitcoin mining industry is astonishing. Current metrics on bitcoin’s energy usage are a lagging indicator.
What Social Problems Does Bitcoin Λύσει?
Στις ΗΠΑ, είμαστε σχετικά τυχεροί που (επίσημα) χάνουμε «μόνο» ένα μόνο τοις εκατό της αγοραστικής μας δύναμης στον πληθωρισμό κάθε χρόνο. Οι χαμηλόμισθοι μεταξύ μας πληγώνονται περισσότερο από ένα χρηματοπιστωτικό σύστημα που εξαρτάται από το κόστος που αυξάνεται κάθε χρόνο. Ωστόσο, οι πιο εύποροι επηρεάζονται μόνο οριακά ή ακόμη και επωφελούνται από την αύξηση των αξιών των περιουσιακών στοιχείων.
Σε άλλα μέρη του κόσμου όπου το νόμισμα είναι λιγότερο σταθερό ή καταρρέει, οι άνθρωποι μπορούν να χάσουν το μεγαλύτερο μέρος ή σχεδόν το σύνολο της αγοραστικής τους δύναμης μέσα σε μια νύχτα. Η Βενεζουέλα έχει το χειρότερο ποσοστό πληθωρισμού στον κόσμο, σχεδόν 10,000%. Bitcoin provides an alternative store of value, a lifeline for anyone facing hyperinflation.
Είναι επίσης ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμο για άτομα που ζουν κάτω από ασταθή καθεστώτα ή ασταθείς αλλαγές καθεστώτος. Ο Alex Gladstein γράφει εύγλωττα Σχετικά με εμάς Bitcoin’s efficacy in Cuba, Palestine and Afghanistan. Bitcoin’s utility as borderless, globally-recognized money cannot be understated.
Κρίσιμα, Bitcoin could also serve as an economic empowerment tool for victims and survivors of domestic violence. It’s widely cited that 98% of domestic violence victims experience economic abuse. Most cite financial dependence as a primary barrier to escaping. Bitcoin empowers survivors to buy, sell and store value without their abuser knowing or requiring permission. It’s not an exaggeration to say that access to money that cannot be monitored or confiscated may save some survivor’s lives.
Bitcoin also enables financial inclusion. It addresses an important access issue for the hundreds of millions of people who are unbanked, including 7 million in the U.S.. It’s also a much fairer system because it’s completely divorced from credit. Ο Bradley Rettler εξηγεί how exclusionary policies like redlining contributed to poorer credit within African American communities. Bitcoin is uniquely beneficial for anyone who faces increased barriers to wealth and housing due to a low credit score. Since the credit system disproportionately harms people of color, Bitcoin’s pivot out of a credit based system may promote more racially-just outcomes.
Κλείσιμο της σκέψης
This is not an exhaustive list of what progressives should know about Bitcoin. A comprehensive understanding of Bitcoin admittedly requires a significant time commitment. For example, this article barely touched upon Bitcoin’s layer 2 technology, or why it’s likely to revolutize online gaming. There was virtually no technical content, leaving readers to dig into other sources to learn about block sizes or hashrates.
What was hopefully made clear is that Bitcoin is not a niche “shadowy super coder” cyber world, as Senator Elizabeth Warren hopefully no longer believes. Nor is it a prominent threat to our planet. Bitcoin is humanity’s first opportunity to unify under a singular, global, peer-to-peer form of money. It cannot be debased. It is never closed for holidays. And it’s going to change the world.
Αυτή είναι μια ανάρτηση καλεσμένου της Nicole Dobrow. Οι απόψεις που εκφράζονται είναι εντελώς δικές τους και δεν αντικατοπτρίζουν απαραίτητα αυτές της BTC Inc ή Bitcoin περιοδικό.
Πρωτότυπη πηγή: Bitcoin περιοδικό