> But these stem from a deeper divide: the degree to which a person has trust in the system. I fundamentally disagree with this premise, and the entire article

> But these stem from a deeper divide: the degree to which a person has trust in the system. I fundamentally disagree with this premise, and the entire article hinges on its veracity. The idea that "Banks = system" and "Bitcoin = anti-system" is as naive as it is superficial. I wouldn't consider myself part of any elite (being a 1.5 gen US immigrant), but I'm quite bearish on BTC for the same reason I was bearish on bit torrent back in the early 2000s: its primary use-case is to circumvent legality. Technically it's interesting, and even socially it might be interesting, but the bottom line is that most BTC these days is used either to (a) make money off of speculation (which isn't much different than options trading or gambling), or (b) buy illegal things (be it drugs, weapons, porn, ransoms, etc.). Ironically, the article doesn't even touch on where BTC could actually make a positive impact (countries with failing currencies, or out-of-control inflation). But really, in these specific scenarios, the US Dollar is just as good as BTC. In fact, I remember in post-Communist Europe, the de facto currency was US Dollars, as local currencies were a mess. Even when I last visited Romania, I remember having to bribe a government official (to prevent stonewalling our EU passport applications) with a bottle of wine and a few hundred bucks.