What if Bitcoin is a scam?

What if Bitcoin is a scam? Why are geniuses of finance like Jamie Dimon or renowned economists like Nouriel Roubini so critical about Bitcoin? Bitcoin itself is a hyped up fraud. Bitcoin has no unique value at all. It doesn't produce anything. Scam, criminal activity, total, really bubble Ponzi scheme is going burst. Maybe they don't really get the potential of this revolutionary technology. Are they just defending the interests of the traditional financial system? Or maybe there's some truth to what they're saying. We decided to find out in this video. We're going to dive into the five most common critiques surrounding Bitcoin and brace yourself for a spoiler. There's actually some truth to a few of them. Critique number Bitcoin doesn't have any intrinsic value Critics like Warren Buffet claim Bitcoin doesn't have any intrinsic value. They say it's not backed by any tangible asset and therefore its price is purely determined by speculation. It is true that unlike a stock, there is no company generating revenue behind Bitcoin. Unlike gold, you can't use Bitcoin to make jewelry. But what does intrinsic value actually mean? The term intrinsic value usually indicates an internal property that makes an asset valuable. Despite what some economists may say, Bitcoin has several such valuable properties. One of the most important ones is scarcity. There are just 21 million bitcoins that can ever be mined. This makes it different from regular money, the supply of which can be changed by governments and central banks, which means it's subject to devaluation. Economists would point out that scarcity is not enough to make something valuable. And they have a point. But Bitcoin has other properties. Bitcoin is a borderless and decentralized monetary network. No other form of money in the world can be moved across borders without the permission of a bank or a centralized authority. Everyone in the world with Internet access can get a Bitcoin wallet and use Bitcoin. That's incredibly valuable, especially for millions of people who still don't have access to traditional financial services. And that's not all. The Lightning Network, a layer two solution built on top of the Bitcoin network enables instant and affordable transactions. And thus Bitcoin can be utilized for small payments as a peer to peer digital cash system. Combining scarcity with these unique features, Bitcoin becomes like a modern day version of gold. Rare, easy to move around and not controlled by one central authority. That's what gives Bitcoin its intrinsic value. Critique number Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is a scam where early investors make money with with fresh capital brought in by new investors instead of with genuine profits. When the flow of new money stops, the scheme collapses and most investors will lose their funds. The crypto industry, especially in its infancy, was plagued by Ponzi schemes like this one. Billions of dollars of investors money ended up being lost in Ponzi like schemes such as Terra, Luna, Celsius or even ftx. But what does Bitcoin have to do with these projects? Like a Ponzi schem, Bitcoin does not produce any real cash flow. Early Bitcoin investors are profiting from money brought in by new investors. But here's the fundamental difference. There is no malevolent entity in charge of Bitcoin who is pocketing investors money. Unlike Ponzi schemes, Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network, depending on millions of computers to verify transactions. This distributed nature ensures that no single entity has control of the system. And the second difference is that unlike a Ponzi bit, Bitcoin has objective value. It provides the world's first censorship resistant digital form of money. Some people still tend to mix up Bitcoin with the shady crypto companies that have tarnished the industry's reputation. In reality, these projects have little in common with Bitcoin. Before we go further, we'd like to introduce the partner of this video, Gomining. Gomining is the Liquid Bitcoin Hash Rate protocol, expanding the stake narrative to Bitcoin. Nine data centers across the globe work around the clock. By purchasing Go Mining's nft, you obtain a portion of the power of these real machines. This is an easy way to earn every day. Find out more about the project at GMT IO now let's get back to the myths about Bitcoin. Critique number three. Bitcoin is bad for the environment. Bitcoin needs energy to function and that's undeniable. The Bitcoin network relies on a proof of work system where powerful computers solve mathematical puzzles using large amounts of electricity, much of which comes from fossil fuels. The energy used to mine Bitcoin and run the network is currently comparable to a country like Ukraine or Malaysia. That sounds like a lot. So the critics can say, aha, we were right. But on the other hand, Bitcoin's environmental footprint is very small compared to other industries. It's 4.45% that of finance and insurance, 5.1% that of shipping and 5.3% of aviation. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council. So it's all a matter of perspective and the main question boils down to does the value bitcoin brings to the world justify its impact on the environment? Proponents say yes it does, citing Bitcoin's unique features as a decentralized, censorship resistant and cross border form of money. Also, bitcoin mining doesn't have to come from fossil fuels. There are efforts to make bitcoin mining greener by transitioning to more renewable energy sources like solar or hydropower. Quantifying the share of renewables in bitcoin mining is challenging. Estimates vary widely. According to a Bitcoin Mining council report in Q2 2022, about 60% of Bitcoin mining operations use renewable energies. The report also suggests a growing shift towards renewable energy sources. Critics argue that even if bitcoin becomes fully green, it might limit these renewable sources for other needs like powering cars, factories or households. And this brings us back to the fundamental how much do we need Bitcoin? Is bitcoin more necessary to humanity than electric vehicles? There's not one answer to these questions, so I'll leave it here for you to reflect upon. Give us your thoughts in the comments. Critique Number Bitcoin is too volatile A lot of people hesitate to invest in Bitcoin due to concerns about its high volatility. They argue that this volatility makes bitcoin unsuitable as a currency and an unreliable store of value. High volatility is definitely one of the reasons why bitcoin hasn't reached mainstream adoption as a means of exchange. But when it comes to the store of value narrative, the issue is much more complex. Bitcoin's high volatility is a natural part of its maturation process. A decade ago its market cap was zero, and now it's worth billions of dollars. That appreciation is a product of bitcoin's high volatility. Despite the dramatic price moves, bitcoin has been among the best performing assets of the last decade. According to this matrix of asset class returns, Bitcoin returns dominate every other asset by orders of magnitude. Additionally, as bitcoin matures as an asset class, volatility has been decreasing over time. Analysts suggest that the potential influx of institutional capital, especially with the approval of a bitcoin etf, could further stabilize its volatility. Lastly, volatility isn't inherently bad. Volatility does not measure risk. If included in a conservative portfolio, a highly volatile asset like bitcoin can increase the potential for returns. The more volatile the asset, the higher the risk, but also the potential returns. It all depends on your risk tolerance. Critique Number five Bitcoin is used mainly for criminal purposes Bitcoin is outside of government control and is pseudonymous, which means transactions aren't linked to a name or a surname, but rather to a string of numbers. That's why criminals have been using it to avoid law enforcement scrutiny. Over a decade ago, bitcoin became popular as the main currency on the Silk Road, an online marketplace which facilitated illegal transaction, mostly drug trafficking. While the Silk Road was shut down in 2013, that wasn't the end of crypto crime. According to a Chainalysis report, crypto related crimes have been on the rise in recent years. Still, it's important to put things into perspective. Crypto crimes represent about 1% of overall cryptocurrency activity, according to the firm's estimate. Critics say that this is a conservative number based only on the transactions the company detected, and that the actual amount could be much higher. Despite this, bitcoin's role in illicit activities remains tiny when compared to that of fiat cash. According to some estimates, almost 40% of physical money in circulation is used by criminals. Unlike cash, bitcoin leaves a trace as every transaction is visible on the blockchain. This visibility means that illicit funds moved with Bitcoin can be traced and in some cases retrieved through collaboration between law enforcement agencies, crypto intelligence firms and exchanges. Finally, crypto regulation around the world is evolving. An increasing number of cryptocurrency exchanges are improving their KYC and terrorism finance checks. That's leaving criminals with fewer options to use Bitcoin as a source of funding. And if you still have any doubt on the legitimacy of Bitcoin, you're not following the news. The US SEC recently approved a spot Bitcoin ETF allowing your grandpa to include Bitcoin in his retirement plan plan. Basically, Bitcoin has never been more legit. Again, it's all a matter of perspective. Yes, Bitcoin can be used for illicit activity, but so can traditional cash. Like most technologies, Bitcoin is just an instrument and as such can be used for both good or evil. And that's it folks. That was the analysis of the most common critiques about Bitcoin. Hopefully it clarified any doubts that you might have on Bitcoin and even maybe strengthened your investment thesis. If that is the case, don't forget to like the video. It'll help it reach more people. Also, don't forget to stay tuned for more content like this. I'm Max, your host and see you next time.