The other side: A Bitcoin trader’s unflattering views on cryptocurrencies

This week marked the 13th anniversary of what had sown the seeds of the crypto revolution that the world is currently witnessing, the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It was released on October 31st, 2008, in the aftermath of the economic catastrophe that had overtaken the world the previous year.

The original cryptocurrency was visualized as a new form of money outside the authority of any central issuer, as many people during the time had lost huge amounts of their savings due to financial risks taken by traditional banks and their subsequent bailouts. While Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer electronic cash narrative has been mostly overlooked, millions of investors of all proportions have onboarded its market to either use it as a safe haven or speculate and bet on its price.

This has also been accompanied by the institutionalization of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by traditional financial institutions, which now offer an array of varied investment products. Even with this diversion from Satoshi’s original vision, many proponents still place their faith in the promises of change that many decentralized platforms offer.

However, prominent crypto trader Alex Good believes the industry is not the “utopian dream” that millennials are being fed. In a recent Twitter thread detailing an impending economic “battle”, he stated,

“Bitcoin which started as a rejection of bailout capitalism has become part of it.”

Rather, the analyst opined that the novel technology was being used by the governments to increase their hold over their subjects, along with traditional institutions using it as a way to circumvent increasing taxes. He said,

“Bitcoin and crypto more broadly is an officially sanctioned way for the ruling class to get their money out of the system before a barrage of financial repression comes into effect via CBDCs.”

He went on to state that since the traditional drivers of “bailout capitalism” such as big tech and commodities investment were only transitory, crypto was being used by institutions to off-ramp “before policymakers have to raise taxes aggressively to fund giant fiscal programs.”

He concluded that,

“The metaverse and the growing surveillance state will be further tools to quell social unrest and monitor citizens.”

Good’s concerns about government surveillance through CBDCs have been shared by a few others in the past too, most notably by American CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The CIA sub-contractor had recently called CBDCs “cryptofascist currencies” because they could provide the government with power, along with restricting freedom and financial privacy.