Is it ethical to participate in the Bitcoin network?
Many people wonder whether to take an interest in Bitcoin seriously? Which means, not only interest and education, but most importantly, owning Bitcoin. Some people immediately wonder if, years later, they will have to be ashamed of having participated in the Bitcoin network? Won't it be something like a new Ponzi scheme or some other scam? Won't they lose money?
For such people, I have one answer that I am already fully convinced of after many years.
Yes, Bitcoin is ethical. It is not a scam. But it is a technology that may develop very slowly, because it will continue to be either not understood or actively fought against. Therefore, it may not succeed in fulfilling all the hopes placed in it. It may not be a way to make easy money. That is why I am not urging you to buy Bitcoin.
But at the same time, I do not advise against it. I know of no reason to advise against it. It's not gambling, or some kind of financial pyramid (Bitcoin is not those notorious "cryptocurrencies", each of which depends on the decision of their creators). Bitcoin came first. Cryptocurrencies are simply attempts to imitate it. Repeats of its success or outright criminal actions to extract savings from the naive on the wave of actual benefits that Bitcoin offers. Showing the historical increases in the value of Bitcoin, they say, "invest in our cryptocurrencies, this is a new form of Bitcoin, faster and even better."
Bitcoin is so old now that it has become completely independent from the influence of its creators (Bitcoin Core), and its founder disappeared right at the beginning. There is no centralized authority in Bitcoin, which can make bad decisions or, as in the case of financial pyramids, decide that it has accumulated enough money from the naive and will now try to steal it by harvesting.
Bitcoin is controlled by its users, with observers (who can become anyone) of the transaction register (called “nodes”) and miners having voting rights. But it is not the miners who control Bitcoin. The "blockchain wars" have proven this.
Even the common people doing the transactions (those who only keep their savings in it) have more collective influence on the Bitcoin network than the bank's customers have on its management. Collectively, it is a huge mass of people who mainly care about the success of the network, because the fate of their savings depends on it. No single person represents Bitcoin. No one speaks for the Bitcoin network. What will happen to this network I have no idea, but I wish it the best.
Is Bitcoin moral?
Everyone must decide for themselves about the purchase of Bitcoin. This is for the best, because it is self-reliance and responsibility for one's own destiny that functioning on the Bitcoin network teaches.
But by doing so, are we changing the world for the better?
Some people make interesting arguments that this is indeed the case.
Bitcoin teaches the use of cryptographic tools, thus enabling the individual to maintain privacy and control over his own life in the digital society of the future. It teaches us to protect our identity with private keys and to protect our documents from forgery with cryptographic signatures.
Bitcoin makes it possible to securely store and transfer large amounts of money without going through banks, without having to trust anyone - anyone. Bitcoin makes it possible to have a better negotiating position with a bank, since we are no longer coerced into using their services.
Bitcoin deprives central banks of their monopoly on issuing money. This was the reason why in almost the entire 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century, we had such frequent cases of hyperinflation.
Power attracts the morally corrupt. So when we give the morally weak the ability to extract value from citizens' savings, then it's hard for them to stop. And that is what money printing is, which causes inflation. In the long term, the availability of raw materials and the ability to produce energy increases, so on a scale of a few years, the only cause of inflation is the greed of a country's authorities. It collects by issuing money, which is an additional tax, about which it does not report (treating inflation as a natural phenomenon, not artificially induced), and its amount is not written in the law. Average people learn about how much value has been extracted from their savings after the fact, and this information is incomplete anyway (through manipulation of the so-called inflation basket).
Bitcoin gives war refugees the ability to flee the danger zone with their possessions. The ability of authorities to confiscate all physical possessions does not deprive a person of the ability to pass through checkpoints with a memorized bitcoin wallet. This is also true for all other physically persecuted and abused people. Even if the naked flee to a safe place, they will be able to recreate their life savings there using only the knowledge stored in their minds.
Bitcoin develops and expands the understanding of the idea of inheritance. When not passed on to a specific person (or group of people) the entire value of Bitcoin is distributed among all Bitcoin holders in the world. This is an amazing mechanism by which once accumulated value is never lost. It becomes the property of everyone and thus expands the savings and financial opportunities of the others who hold their money in it.
Bitcoin is mathematically predictable. How much bitcoin will be put into circulation is known in advance. How people divide it up is up to them, of course. Who will have how much is the result of the market, i.e. buying and selling. However, the total amount of Bitcoins is fixed and cannot be changed. Therefore, it is the safest financial network in the world from inflation.
Bitcoin gives us the opportunity to build additional services on top of it that could not be launched before because of the high cost of transferring value on the Internet. A bank transfer sometimes takes a few minutes, but the final approval of the transaction in a traditional bank takes place only once a month. That's why you may have to wait tens of days for the final confirmation, along with subsequent confirmations. In the Bitcoin network, such a transaction takes a few hours, up to two days in the case of heavy traffic. Accelerating financial settlements, and doing so at a lower cost of transfer (as a percentage of transaction volume), opens up new opportunities for the economy, which will contribute to higher incomes for all.
Bitcoin is just beginning to develop (two countries have already adopted it as their national currency), and it is only at the beginning of its journey. However, it has been useful since its inception. It allowed quick transfers of any amount, even when its price was less than a dollar and its volatility was even greater than it is today. At that time, it was not suitable for short-term savings. However, it made transfers the cheapest and most efficient of all financial services offered commercially by banks.
Bitcoin is a new possibility. It is only a proposal, and no one is forcing it on us. We will decide for ourselves if we want to use it. The freedom of this choice is why, in my opinion, Bitcoin can be considered moral.
Zbigniew Galar, PhD
Post Scriptum
This is not investment advice. The author does not encourage the purchase of Bitcoin, nor does he discourage the purchase of Bitcoin; instead, he encourages education about Bitcoin and strongly discourages the purchase of any other non-decentralized cryptocurrency.