“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.” Helen Keller
In a recent piece for CoinGeek titled “The BTC bubble will pop soon,” Patrick Thompson writes,
“The digital currency market bubble is coming to an end; some believe that the markets have one pump left before a major decline, but regardless, the end is near.”
You heard it here, folks. The end is near. But wait, haven’t we heard this all before? Yes, hundreds of times. In fact, as I have written elsewhere, Satoshi’s brainchild has died some 400 times since its inception. Jesus supposedly rose from the dead once, but the man from Nazareth has got nothing on Bitcoin.
You see, Bitcoin is not a bubble it’s a pin.
Then again, it is a bubble. In fact, it’s both a bubble and a pin. I call this the Bitcoin Paradox. Let me explain.
Firstly, it’s not a bubble. 2020 was the year Bitcoin went institutional. In November, for example, Ruffer, the British-based juggernaut, declared that it had invested more than $700 million in Bitcoin. The move, according to Ruffer statement, was a “protective” one, a hedge against monetary inflation.
More recently, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, joined the world of crypto, authorizing two of its most valued funds to invest in Bitcoin futures. With more than $7.8 trillion under management, the BlackRock move may very well help elevate Bitcoin to the next level. So, as you can see, 2021 is very different to 2017, when cries of bubble, though wholly unjustified, were more understandable.
In 2021, however, cries of bubble are still reasonable. You see, Bitcoin is a bubble; not an economic one but an epistemic one.
Epistemic bubbles involve individuals accessing information in a heavily biased manner, greedily accepting what they want to hear and ignoring anything distasteful, no matter how accurate the evidence may be.
In a nutshell, inhabitants of bubbles are only interested in accessing information that helps confirm existing beliefs. Although Ethereum is superior to Bitcoin in many ways, prominent Satoshi devotees or Satoshees, refuse to accept this very fact.
As this author, C. Thi Nguyen, warns,
“Epistemic bubbles can be damaging. The people we surround ourselves with tend to be like-minded, so our world gets highly filtered and falsely appears to confirm everything we believe. This in turn causes us to raise our confidence in our beliefs each time others around us express agreement. … But it shouldn’t.”
It’s easy to see why. After all, we are in the midst of Bitcoin mania a cultural phenomenon, not necessarily a psychological one.
Nevertheless, can the psychological definition of “mania” be applied to the world of Bitcoin? I think so. After all, mania involves unreasonable levels of euphoria, volatile moods (thus reflecting the crypto market), hyperactivity (again, reflecting the crypto market) and delusions (sometimes reflecting the crypto market).
Jesus (yes, another Jesus reference) warned us to beware of false prophets. Though he never commented on crypto, one assumes that the bearded guru would warn against misplaced confidence.
Right now, Bitcoin is in a real position of power, but power is intoxicating and intoxication can impair judgement. If in doubt, just ask Mel Gibson.
A king, no matter how powerful, must always be aware of one simple fact others are always vying for his seat. As George R.R. Martin wrote, “The Iron Throne will go to the man who has the strength to seize it.”
That “man” appears to be Ethereum. Of course, many a Satoshee will scoff at such a statement. However, contrary to popular opinion, ignorance is not bliss. Competition exists. A rational Bitcoiner will remove themselves from the bubble, at least temporarily, and examine the situation.
There is every possibility that Ethereum and Bitcoin can co-exist, like one of those YouTube videos in which a bulldog and a kitten can be seen cuddling.
Then again, the bulldog might get hungry. Epistemic ignorance never ends well.
John Mac Ghlionn
I am an experienced writer, a competent researcher and totally committed to the crypto-infused revolution taking place.
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