{"id":6066,"date":"2022-11-14T19:51:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-14T19:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci02b05557a00025f0"},"modified":"2022-11-14T19:51:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T19:51:52","slug":"bitcoiners-warned-you-about-ftx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/bitcoiners-warned-you-about-ftx","title":{"rendered":"The Bitcoin Maxis Warned You About FTX"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is an opinion editorial by Aleks Svetski, author of \u201c<\/em>The UnCommunist Manifesto<\/em><\/a>,\u201d founder of The Bitcoin Times and Host of the \u201cWake Up Podcast with Svetski.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bitcoin Maximalists were right, again. Damn them. Damn them to hell. This entire thing is their fault<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Many a time, especially since 2020, I\u2019ve heard variations of the following from people all across the \u201ccrypto\u201d space:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook: a billion-dollar company isn\u2019t going to collapse overnight. That\u2019s impossible. They\u2019re sponsoring an entire stadium for God\u2019s sake \u2014 and you think their business model is to run off with your $2,000 worth of crypto? Don\u2019t be so stupid. It\u2019s safe enough to leave your bitcoin on there. Self custody is too complicated anyway. If we want mass adoption, custodians are important.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

These people\u2019s faith in VC-backed institutions is blinder than the most fundamentalist of religious zealots, only far-worse placed.<\/p>\n

And these people behind these institutions are glorified and revered in the media as eNtRePrEnEuRs<\/em>, while their opinions lead people directly to the slaughterhouse. Case in point with Mr. Wonderful below:<\/p>\n

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This proves much of what I discussed in my satirical article from October<\/a>. You know we\u2019re in late-stage fiat when the \u201csmartest in the room\u201d these days are about as dumb as the rest of the lemmings marching into the lava.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re so used to easy money via their obfuscated proximity to the money printer, that they have no idea<\/em> why something like Bitcoin exists, why it\u2019s important, or why it is different<\/em>. <\/em>They cannot see beyond the paradigm which has brought them success to date, and as such they are utterly unqualified to comment on something as paradigmatically different as Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

Toxic!!!<\/h2>\n

When Bitcoin Maximalists turn warnings into memes, e.g., \u201cnot your keys, not your coins,\u201d or proclaim the importance of \u201csound money,\u201d e.g., \u201cBitcoin fixes this,\u201d they are ignored as if they\u2019re a group of a) zealots, or b) boring and outdated.<\/p>\n

\u201cToxic\u201d is the blanket response given by the Mr. Wonderfuls, BitBoys and Vitaliks of the world.<\/p>\n

Well\u2026. here we are again.<\/p>\n

The reality of all Ponzi schemes is that they fall much quicker than they rise \u2014 and when their rise has been stellar, their fall is that much more meteoric. From Mt. Gox<\/a> to BitConnect<\/a> to Luna<\/a> to BlockFi<\/a> to Celsius<\/a> to Voyager<\/a> and now, to FTX<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They are all<\/em> the same, and they are no<\/em> different to every other cryptocurrency company on the market. Yes, I use the word \u201ccompany\u201d specifically because all of these so-called \u201cprojects\u201d are just that; companies no different to FTX, just playing pretend with numbers conjured up out of code. And yes, that includes Ethereum, Cardano, Hex, Solana, Chainlink and every single other cryptocurrency, NFT or DeFi stupidity out there.<\/p>\n

Only Bitcoin is different. Only Bitcoin lacks (and I say this as a positive attribute) \u201cleadership\u201d and a head of the snake to chop off or pressure. Only Bitcoin has an immaculate conception. Only Bitcoin had an organic, market-driven emergence. Only Bitcoin is fixed. Only Bitcoin is finite. Only Bitcoin matters.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin Maximalists who warned you of all of the above have also been warning you about all of the shitcoins as well. The time will come for each of those to either explode, implode or fizzle out of existence.<\/p>\n

The only question is: What will it take for you to heed those warnings?<\/p>\n

The Signs Were There, Not Only The Warnings<\/h2>\n

FTX was always fishy. I met its founder, Sam Bankman-Friend, or SBF, on a yacht during Bitcoin 2021 in Miami. It was a private, little sailing trip we went on with about 50 or 60 other people. <\/p>\n

I had no idea who he was, other than some really unhealthy looking dude with a distended gut and a bad hairdo. We exchanged a few awkward words and I proceeded to go speak to the waitresses while he remained in a corner eating hors d’oeuvres.<\/p>\n

One of the people on the boat told me that he ran a company called \u201cFTX,\u201d to which I responded, \u201cWhat the hell is that? Another shitcoin?\u201d His response was, \u201cNo, it\u2019s one of the fastest-growing exchanges in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was intrigued, so I asked SBF a little about it, to which he responded that he had run a crypto hedge fund beforehand, was very successful and put that money into building an exchange.<\/p>\n

At that point, I was running a Bitcoin-only app known as Amber, back in Australia, and I remember thinking to myself, \u201cGoddammit, these shitcoiners are literally printing money by feeding gambling addictions \u2014 and here I am trying to help people stack sats sensibly. What a clown world\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, I never heard or thought more about him after that, until I saw his \u201cHome Cooking With Beyond Meat\u201d tweets. The sickly physique made instant sense to me, and so did the shitcoinery.<\/p>\n