Bitcoin and War

The Bitcoin Maxi’s Oversimplified World View

Is an oversimplified black-and-white world view still a thing? Since the Bitcoin quote “make war unaffordable” popped up on my LinkedIn timeline again, I guess so.

First of all, I find such statements unpleasant in light of current events.

Second, the quote seems to lack depth on so many levels.

📈 It ignores capital efficiency and the years of research that went into it. Companies want to make investments. An exceptionally high bitcoin reserve as safety net for unexpected emergencies or opportunities is not efficient.

💳 Wars and loans existed during the gold standard era as well. To what extent should it be different with a Bitcoin standard?

🛩️ When looking at Japan during World War II, the misconception of prolonging a war by printing money becomes evident. Resources were scarce and naval blockades further restricted Japan’s access to vital resources. The desperate situation in which Japan found itself led to the infamous Kamikaze fighters. Japan could have printed as much money as it wanted. It would have made no difference.

⚠️ The quote fails to consider unforeseeable changes in the collective behavior of warfare when adopting a Bitcoin standard. With Bitcoin as a highly valuable asset, states might engage in conflicts to acquire the bitcoin reserves of other states.

And the list goes on and on.

We could further explore whether it’s realistic for the global population to reach a consensus on a single platform, despite its associated drawbacks. We might also address that the simplistic assumption “money printing implies inflation” is inaccurate.

But I think, you get the point.

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” — H. L. Mencken

It’s always a good idea to dig deeper and challenge one’s own basic assumptions.

Conclusion

The world appears complicated, often unfair, and how we deal with it is up to us. Many people want to make sense of it all — and what could be more convincing than a simple answer to a sad truth?

Unfortunately, this is associated with a problem as it is directly connected to the spread of false narratives. One person who posted the Bitcoin quote has 19,000 followers. And that scares me.

One key takeaway: When something seems very obvious to you, think again.