Twenty-one years ago, Morpheus uttered the immortal line, "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." Ingesting a red pill, we are told, results in the revelation of a harsh, life-changing truth. Opting for a blue pill, on the other hand, allows one to remain in a state of blissful ignorance. Spoiler alert, Neo, played by the über-cool Keanu Reeves, chose the red pill, and the rest is Hollywood history.
Although we do not live in The Matrix (or do we?), the red pill-blue pill dilemma is a very real phenomenon. Some Bitcoin naysayers, for example, see themselves as the purveyors of truth, the red-pillers of society. They see what we, the so-called naïve idealists, fail to see. But, what is it that they seem to see, exactly?
In a recent interview, the economist Anatoly Aksakov, a vocal Bitcoin-critic, had this to say: “Bitcoin is not backed by anything as a cryptocurrency. This is a private currency, and its value is based on trust of the related data system. In this context Bitcoin provides a basis for a bubble on the crypto market, and I think this bubble should burst sooner or later.”
In Aksakov's opinion, the demise of Bitcoin is inevitable. Opinions, however, are like butt holes - everyone has them, and most of them stink. When it comes to Bitcoin's durability, the facts paint a very different picture. According to 99Bitcoins.com, Satoshi’s brainchild has died some 400 times since its inception. So, perhaps it is best to take Aksakov’s warnings with a generous helping of salt. Or, better yet, don’t bother listening to him at all.
After all, could it be that we, the Bitcoin believers, are in fact the purveyors of truth, and the naysayers are too colorblind to see that they are ingesting blue pills, not red? Akaskov was quick to point out that Bitcoin is not backed “by anything.” Ask yourself this, dear reader, what is fiat money backed by? Very little, it seems. In fact, fiat money is simply a currency without intrinsic value. As Raj Moore so accurately noted, “this means that our economic system is backed by “trust.” An emotion.” Of the basic emotions that we experience as humans, fear is the most suitable one to embrace if you happen to be a proponent of fiat money.
The world is drowning in debt, and the United States is drowning the fastest. The Paul Krugman’s of the world might say otherwise, but the sugar rush offered by Joe Biden’s stimulus checks will be short lived. Every action, sooner or later, has a reaction, and printing money with reckless abandon cannot continue. This, you see, is the real bubble. And this bubble is about to pop. When it does, the noise it makes will be earth shattering, bringing the American economy, and possibly the global economy, to its knees.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, we are told. The very same truth can be applied to those of us living in the most delicate of bubbles.
