Last week, prominent Bitcoin developer, educator and entrepreneur Jimmy Song explained why he is not a fan of altcoins.
Song is the author of the book “Programming Bitcoin”, which is available on Amazon.
In an op-ed piece (titled “Bitcoin Songsheet: How Altcoiners Use Bitcoin To Rent Seek”) for Bitcoin Magazine that was published last Monday (September 19), Song said that altcoiners “criticize Bitcoin whenever they get a chance to build interest in their own coin” and that they “practice self-interested mental gymnastics worthy of the most partisan politician”. He also mentioned that their behavior should not be ignored because “they are causing tremendous amounts of harm”.
Song then went on to “explain how altcoins impede Bitcoin adoption, destroy value and create terrible habits”, i.e. why they are “unequivocally immoral”:
- Altcoin projects are “rent seekers”; by calling themselves “decentralized” cryptocurrencies, they associate themseleves with Bitcoin, which” legitimizes their project in the eyes of the public, or at least to the extent that Bitcoin is legitimate” and “absolves them of any responsibility should anything go wrong”.
- Altcoin projects hinder Bitcoin adoption by “the muddying of the waters”, creating “all sorts of confusion by saying things like ‘Decentralization is a spectrum,’ and ‘Blockchain technology has many use cases’.
- Since altcoins are “fiat money complete with a central bank, monetary machinations and control”, they “inherit all the moral problems of fiat money”.
- “Altcoins are based on trust that is easily abused for the benefit of the VCs”, which could lead to “destruction of value”.
- “Altcoins take advantage of the most basic instincts of people, which are to get something for nothing.”
- “Altcoiners are not only sowing confusion and co-opting Bitcoin’s legitimacy, but they actively attack Bitcoin. For example, they assert that proof-of-work is bad because it uses too much energy.”
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