I am sure you’ve heard that mantra, Bitcoin can’t be stopped. All regurgitated by a handful of those who have to benefit from it going mainstream. So they begin to ramble on about blockchain technology, wallets, nodes, revolution, etc. Yet, they always fail to mention that almost ALL cryptocurrencies rely on the internet being open and accessible. Ask a network engineer if they can block bitcoin traffic, “But, but it can’t be banned!”, ok buddy. It doesn’t necessarily need to be. As I’ve clearly stated in previous posts, what has made a reserve currency a viable option was security but ultimately its accessibility.
While cryptocurrency can offer accessibility, it cannot provide security… yet. Yes, it will work on a Mickey Mouse scale; it even creates an immutable log, cold storage mechanisms bla-bla-bla, so? Aside from cheaper ways to accomplish this, breaking network encryption for a true quantum computer will be like AI beating the first level of Tetris on its own… sinchy.
With the Snowden leaks (Vault 7 etc.), we learned quite a bit about network security at a nation-state level. Governments were actively weaponizing their networks; in some cases, some had already been at it for years. With the disclosure came the fallout; governments began internalizing their networks and software stacks. This also led first-world countries to up their electronic warfare capabilities, specifically EMP technology. An undisclosed EMP weapon was first used on the USS Donald Cook as it traveled through the Black Sea. On April 10, 2014, courtesy of a Russian SU-24, the USS Donald Cook’s entire weapon systems were disabled by a simple fly-by. With this in mind, how many detonations at an atmospheric altitude would it take to disable entire countries’ electronic and power systems? The answer would scare you. Do you know what would happen to metal? Nothing.
Aside from the obvious boring subject of electronic warfare, cyberwar is where all the fun is at. With absolute and unchecked power, like anonymity, cryptocurrency has no chance. When you own or have access to every network and power utility globally, with enough data from both datasets, you can quickly generate an algorithmic model to detect and pinpoint mining across multiple platforms. Just like financial data, your energy footprint says a lot about you. A few significant nodes coming down would cause massive network latency issues. The process could then be further weaponized to cause persistent network fragmentation resulting in wasted network resources and long network transaction times. Oh, but you want to mine a cryptographic network on solar, a cool story… Via satellite? You can’t successfully do it on land, you want to do it wirelessly? Who’s going to protect it? Do you think wireless signals are invisible? Even easier to find and destroy.
Most nation-states, with and who have insatiable budgets, are setting up multiple network sensors across global networks using various cloud providers, if they don’t already, to help map hidden/encrypted traffic—ever heard of supercookies? Imagine what other undisclosed headers/packet injection takes place at an ISP level, for “national security,” of course. They probably already do this for users who get flagged for using VPNs and Tor. It wouldn’t be hard to target central nodes and start causing massive fragmentation and chaos, or better yet, a few controlled power outages, and the men in black show up at your door and take you and all your equipment.
If it can be blocked, why haven’t governments banned Bitcoin then? One Word, Geopolitics. Can they block it? It depends on your definition of “block.” Again, do you have to block it to stop it? So why has no government done anything about it? Currently, governments around the world entertain the idea as it serves as a case study, hedge, and perfect tool to weaken the petro-dollar. No boogie man, no immediately identifiable group to blame, dress up, or call a terrorist, Bitcoin can’t be blamed, vilified, or assassinated. Don’t worry; governments connected with central banks will tell you that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are generally bad and contribute to crime. All while they make their own “safe” centralized versions (backdoored) in their dark closets. At the end of the day what ultimately makes Bitcoin bad to government institutions is it can’t be mandated to comply. A Decentralized cryptocurrency doesn’t care about opinion, only consensus.
Why do governments have an incentive to stop any trans-national rogue currency/currencies? Easy, who wants their local economies hijacked and manipulated by unknown foreigners? Kind of like how transnational corporations already do? Most importantly, how will governments fund their illegal freedom wars? This alone is the single greatest threat to government institutions, the ability to tax you arbitrarily. How do you fund any war without its people’s backing? This is why a rouge currency will never be allowed to become a world reserve currency. They will kill the internet, heck, some would say it already is.
Bitcoin is an idea, and if you ever watched V for Vendetta, you know that ideas are indestructible. I’ve always said who gives a rat’s ass about the currency aspect; it’s the protocol that matters. Although Bitcoin currently relies on digital networks, its true potential won’t be viable until two crucial technologies pass. The first and most important will be Quantum Networking, and the second, Zero Point Energy. These two, in conjunction, will make the concept genuinely unstoppable, unhindered by physical network constraints, censorship, and energy consumption.
If you still think Bitcoin today, as a reserve currency has a chance, you need to get off your non-binary unicorn and put the crack pipe down.
