David Volodzko speaks with Jeff Booth about the nature of inflation, the inevitability of Bitcoin, why other cryptocurrencies are inferior, Bitcoin’s volatility, common criticisms of Bitcoin, global adoption, the possibility of a Bitcoin standard, the social benefits of Bitcoin, and more.
David, great interview. You are a really skilled interviewer. This was a joy to listen. I’ll bet you’d have an equally productive interview with Zeke Faux, who wrote Number Go Up.
I am not a bitcoin true believer partisan. When Jeff spoke of the high long term IRR for bitcoin, a lot of that was front loaded, and those days are never coming back. We are left with a high volatility asset class.
The exchanges have centralized the information of the transactions and used that to front run their customers or rip them off straight away. FTX, hello?
Bitcoin seems to have a significantly philosophical value to Jeff. However, fraudsters see a much more practical, immediate value. Can they both be accurate? Having the former greatly facilitates the latter.
I’m glad that we have arrested and shut down many frauds. We are still stopping them, and the job will never be over, in the securities market.
Regulators investigating crypto exchanges, which has yet to happen, will grant a new level of investor protection, safety and comfort with this asset class.
Thanks for the interview, David. Great conversation.
Do you ever feel that Bitcoin "true believers" are so wealthy from the 10+-year run that it’s easy for them to adopt an anarcho-capitalist worldview where technology is seen as the solution to all modern problems?
While I support many libertarian ideas, I can’t help but notice echoes of historical anarchists in the Bitcoin message—advocating decentralization and the belief that technology will free us from wage labor and, today, from government fiat currency model. But the hard reality is, like the anarchist before them, the current system has to collapse in order for it to possibly work.
In your conversations with folks like Jeff Booth, are there quiet moments when they are like... yeah... our thing is kind of a house of cards as well, but it better than nothing!?!... or do you get the sense they are in fact true believers?
I don't think they adopt an ancap worldview because tech has benefitted them, although that may reinforce such views. In my experience, ancaps are constitutionally cynical people, often highly intelligent and therefore prone to believe they know better. The mishandling of Covid, corruption in politics and finance, such things have only reinforced their position that government and perhaps even all institutions cannot be trusted. This falls into the same analytical fallacy as conspiratorial thinking. Namely, having a powerful lens for detecting narrative flaws but never turning that lens on one's own narrative. But Booth doesn't identify as an ancap and rejects all such labels. He's a true believer because he thinks Bitcoin is inevitable, not because he has some political position. But yes, I have spoken to ancaps who have all but admitted, our thing is kinda crazy but everything else is crazier.
David, great interview. You are a really skilled interviewer. This was a joy to listen. I’ll bet you’d have an equally productive interview with Zeke Faux, who wrote Number Go Up.
I am not a bitcoin true believer partisan. When Jeff spoke of the high long term IRR for bitcoin, a lot of that was front loaded, and those days are never coming back. We are left with a high volatility asset class.
The exchanges have centralized the information of the transactions and used that to front run their customers or rip them off straight away. FTX, hello?
Bitcoin seems to have a significantly philosophical value to Jeff. However, fraudsters see a much more practical, immediate value. Can they both be accurate? Having the former greatly facilitates the latter.
I’m glad that we have arrested and shut down many frauds. We are still stopping them, and the job will never be over, in the securities market.
Regulators investigating crypto exchanges, which has yet to happen, will grant a new level of investor protection, safety and comfort with this asset class.
Thank you. I'm not familiar with Faux but will look him up. I think the philosophers and fraudsters both have a point.
Thanks for the interview, David. Great conversation.
Do you ever feel that Bitcoin "true believers" are so wealthy from the 10+-year run that it’s easy for them to adopt an anarcho-capitalist worldview where technology is seen as the solution to all modern problems?
While I support many libertarian ideas, I can’t help but notice echoes of historical anarchists in the Bitcoin message—advocating decentralization and the belief that technology will free us from wage labor and, today, from government fiat currency model. But the hard reality is, like the anarchist before them, the current system has to collapse in order for it to possibly work.
In your conversations with folks like Jeff Booth, are there quiet moments when they are like... yeah... our thing is kind of a house of cards as well, but it better than nothing!?!... or do you get the sense they are in fact true believers?
I don't think they adopt an ancap worldview because tech has benefitted them, although that may reinforce such views. In my experience, ancaps are constitutionally cynical people, often highly intelligent and therefore prone to believe they know better. The mishandling of Covid, corruption in politics and finance, such things have only reinforced their position that government and perhaps even all institutions cannot be trusted. This falls into the same analytical fallacy as conspiratorial thinking. Namely, having a powerful lens for detecting narrative flaws but never turning that lens on one's own narrative. But Booth doesn't identify as an ancap and rejects all such labels. He's a true believer because he thinks Bitcoin is inevitable, not because he has some political position. But yes, I have spoken to ancaps who have all but admitted, our thing is kinda crazy but everything else is crazier.