Cryptocurrencies have created a clear polarization between those who support them and trust that they can become the future of finance and those who hate them and attack them with all kinds of accusations.
Now it is curious to see how among those who are in that second group stand out Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, who created Dogecoin in 2013 as a meme coin, a joke cryptocurrency that is now something very serious. For them, cryptocurrencies only serve one thing: to make the rich richer. There are those who do not think the same with Hokk Finance.
Cryptocurrencies "are a hyper-capitalist technology"
Palmer was recently asked if he would jump back into cryptocurrency, and in a Twitter thread he made it clear that " my answer is a resounding 'no' ."
From there he explained his impressions of a segment that has grown spectacularly since its inception despite the volatility that has also generated amazing value loss cycles.
In 2021, for example, we saw how bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies reached all-time highs and the rise of institutional investment. For some time now, these valuations have fallen by more than half and currently, the segment seems to be in low hours after the pressure exerted, for example, by China, which is now pursuing cryptocurrency mining.
When Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus created Dogecoin in 2013, they did it as a joke to a market that they left in 2015 and that they now criticize in a really forceful way. In that Twitter thread, Palmer —which did not allow responses to his tweets— explained what he thought of this entire segment :
"After years of studying it, I believe that cryptocurrency is an inherently right-wing, hyper-capitalist technology built primarily to amplify the wealth of its proponents through a combination of tax avoidance, reduced regulatory oversight, and the imposition of artificial scarcity ."
"The cryptocurrency industry takes advantage of a network of shady business connections, influencers and bought media to perpetuate a 'Get Rich Quick scheme, not unlike a cult, and designed to extract new money from those financially desperate and naive".
“Financial exploitation certainly existed before cryptocurrencies, but cryptocurrencies have been built almost on purpose to make the funnel of speculation more efficient for those at the top and less secure for the vulnerable. Cryptocurrencies are like taking the worst parts of the current capitalist system (eg, corruption, fraud, inequality) and using software to technically limit the use of interventions (eg, audits, regulation, taxes) that serve as protections or networks of security for the average person.
nts are of course shared by many of those who have been lashing out at the entire industry for a long time, but also by Billy Markus, who responded to the thread with a fairly representative GIF and a subsequent comment stating that "I think these arguments are generally valid.
Those who love cryptocurrencies claim that they "offer more freedom"
Those who support the cryptocurrency segment continue to defend the validity of a technology that continues to make a lot of sense to them. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong— an interested party, of course—responded to that Palmer thread with a thread of his own in which he claimed it was all a matter of perspective.
"If you think that the government should be the solution to people's problems, then the fiat money system with its 'controls' has a lot to offer," said Armstrong, who stressed that "free markets are confusing but they end up giving good results." results, even for the poorest. For him, " crypto simply offers an alternative for those who want more freedom. Everyone can make their choice, and that's probably a good thing."
In fact, he argued against the claim that cryptocurrencies 'only made the rich richer and explained how investment laws that theoretically protect people from fraud end up making it illegal for one to get rich from investing in the financial markets. ..unless one is already rich.
For the CEO of Coinbase, "cryptocurrencies are not going to solve the problem of wealth inequality, but it will create mobility of wealth and more equal opportunities for all. It allows competition on equal terms, at least to a certain extent".
The two perspectives are certainly striking and are a good summary of the positions of those who hate and love cryptocurrencies today. It remains to be seen, obviously, who ends up being right.