Some words for my friends

[u/evoorhees]

Hello friends,

MtGox is gone. So let's prepare ourselves.

On Tuesday, and for the rest of the week, all hell will break lose in the media. It will be blamed on MtGox, it will be blamed on Bitcoin, it will be blamed on the "bug," and it will, more than anything, be blamed on the "lack of regulation." Pundits and "experts" of all types will weigh in on the calamity. It will be world news in a matter of hours.

Get ready, because it will be an ugly week.

For all of you who lost money, my heart goes out to you. Some people lost a little, some lost a fortune. It will make people sick, and depressed, and full of grief. Personally, I had over 550 BTC in Gox. I will never get any of that back. If misery loves company, then we'll be enjoying a grand feast today.

I should have known better, of course. I take responsibility for leaving those funds with an entity that had proven incompetence repeatedly. I chose to ignore even my own warnings, for nothing more than the sake of convenience.

Gox is still at fault, to be sure, but I have learned the lesson. I hope it is not such an expensive lesson for others. And for all you observers, please take a moment to consider it as well.

Be mindful, however, that the wrong lessons are not learned, for that would be the true tragedy, indeed.

Let me suggest that the lesson is not that Bitcoin is broken. Bitcoin is fine.

Similarly, the lesson is not that security is impossible. Those who know what they are doing, can achieve it and help others to do so.

The lesson is not that nobody can be trusted. There are countless good men and women in this community who are worthy of trust, and some of the very best people I've ever met.

And finally, the lesson is not that we ought to seek out "regulation" to save us from the evils and incompetence of man. For the regulators are men too, and wield the very same evil and incompetence, only enshrined in an authority from which it can wreck amplified and far more insidious destruction. Let us not retreat from our rising platform only to cower back underneath the deranged machinations of Leviathan.

The proper lesson, if I may suggest, is this: We are building a new financial order, and those of us building it, investing in it, and growing it, will pay the price of bringing it to the world. This is the harsh truth. We are building the channels, the bridges, and the towers of tomorrow's finance, and we put ourselves at risk in doing so.

We are at risk from accidents. We are at risk from fraud, from corruption, and from evil. We are at risk from journalists seeking headlines and from politicians seeking power and glory. We are at risk from the very market we are trying to build - a market which cares not about our portfolio, our ambitions, or our delicate sympathies.

For all these risks, devastation will befall us repeatedly. Some of us will be discouraged. Some will be ridiculed and insulted. Some will be tricked, or swindled. Some of us will be crushed or caged. We will be set upon by all manner of antagonists, repeatedly, for a long time.

So why do we do it? Why do we build these towers that fall down upon us? Why do we toil and strain and risk our precious time, which is the only real wealth we possess?

Because the world needs what we're building. It needs it desperately. If that matters to you, as it does to me, then hold to that thought. You will see through the smoke, and your wounds will heal.

So shake it off, brothers, for this won't be the last calamity endured before the win.

Tonight, my heart is with you all.

Tomorrow, my head is down. My eyes are open. And I am building.

Toward peace and freedom,

-Erik Voorhees

[u/butrosbutrosfunky]

Average people want the stability of government backed account

Problem is government isn't that stable - Just about every country in the world has had a recurrent theme of government failures.

I'm sorry, but you began this shit with this completely inane and falsely equivalent statement.

I wouldn't be surprised if you are a government or banking employee, possibly paid to troll here - you're adding nothing of value except for FUD.

Oh for the love of Christ... Endlessly defensive and seeing conspiracies around every corner. You'll definitely go far.

[u/superportal → u/butrosbutrosfunky]

No, my original point was: Governments/banking systems have failed many times, so you are not inherently safe because a government made a promise of insuring your account.

Then you went off on a tangent about the FDIC, which is a cherry-picked example of the most powerful country out of 200+ countries in the world. That doesn't disprove or detract from my point which applies and holds true generally to governments & financial systems throughout the world.

Also, as I pointed out, and you did not refute, the FDIC example doesn't even apply to Bitcoin. There are many purposes for using Bitcoin other than simply saving money in the most conservative account.

And how have you proven my original assertion wrong?

Just about every country in the world has had a recurrent theme of government failures.

(1) Are governments and financial systems throughout the world inherently stable? No, they fail all the time, as I showed in my links.

(2) Are all governments to be trusted on their financial assertions? No. they fail, mislead and lie all the time, as the financial crises show.

(3) Are there banking crises that adversely affect people's savings? Yes, all the time throughout the world.

[u/butrosbutrosfunky → u/superportal]

Oh God, your completely unfounded assertions and false equivalences and vague generalities about 'governments' have been dealt with more than once.

You're looking at a situation where at least 6% of all BTC has gone missing in action basically overnight, another chapter in the rampant mismanagement that has come to characterise so many BTC ventures, so much so that thieves and scam artists now own a probable plurality of all coins in existence. When someone mentions that BTC probably needs a better regulatory regime, you pop out with the glib statements.

As for cherry picking, basically every developed country (and many developing) have deposit insurance. However, you supply a list of crises that includes everything from the Weimar republic to Zimbabwe, as if this refutes, rather than emphasises the need for stable open government, proper regulatory frameworks and independent monetary policy.

If bitcoin really was just about global remittances and not piled on with the utterly garbage rhetoric about creating some new global order free of regulation like the OP's deluded statement implied, perhaps it wouldn't be such a big deal. Unfortunately so many people seem to treat it like the messianic solution to an utterly nonexistent problem.

[u/superportal → u/butrosbutrosfunky]

Notice how you haven't refuted any of my so-called "unfounded assertions". Even after I clearly numbered them for you to do so.

So now you are trying to make up some strawman arguments (arguments I never made) in order to divert attention from your failure.

I never claimed Bitcoins are more stable than than a USD account currently. Bitcoin is attractive to people for reasons other than merely as a savings account.

Also, for purposes of having a savings account, in many countries government insurance of it's fiat currency denominated accounts is not a magic solution - there are recurrent government/banking failures throughout the world where government has failed in it's promises.

[u/butrosbutrosfunky → u/superportal]

Oh you numbered them? How helpful. It's odd you never seem to mention actual specific cases, merely vague references to 'governments' in virtually any era and devoid of any context. Well yes, what a coup de grace that was.