> Bitcoin, which emerged out of the ashes of the 2008 financial crisis, first caught on among libertarians and anti-establishment activists who saw it as the co

> Bitcoin, which emerged out of the ashes of the 2008 financial crisis, first caught on among libertarians and anti-establishment activists who saw it as the cornerstone of a new, incorruptible monetary system > you’ll find a bottomless well of weird, interesting and thought-provoking projects I hope comment-think pieces like this aren't a norm going forward, as that was pretty brutal to read... "Molly White: so brave." This comes off as Twitter-zens getting together to criticize an insular, tribal world not too different from their own. The worst part of online culture is the snark. For what it is worth, much of the debate on crypto comes from people new to the space, and the long standing critics. For a lot of folks in it for longer, they've given up on the debate as the same arguments get recycled every several years. That aside, those two quotes "get it," and I was surprised to see them. Crypto has turned into meme culture by and large. But, the tech and design considerations behind btc comes out of one of the most impactful techno-ideological groups out there - the cypherpunks, with a strong helping of post-2008 anger included. btc and notable other parts of crypto, and supporting technology codifies that group's view of the world: permissionless, trustless, private digital action. This is the area to understand when studying crypto. They viewed it as critical to build three capabilities in digital interactions: private browsing, private comms, private spending. Well, they slowly built all three - Tor, PGP/consumer encryption, and then BTC. Tor and consumer access to encryption has had a tremendous effect, even beyond intense privacy circles. BTC is newer, but what are the odds it won't do the same? Judging by history and cypherpunk movement, it seems silly to ignore it. '08 wasn't too long ago, and not much has changed in the practices that caused the crash. BTC still remains a/the only warts-and-all viable way out of that system. For what it's worth, here is how I place a value crypto[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30439891#30441946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30439891#30441946