Sound money. Lol. What is a bitcoin? It's the answer to a digital math problem, cryptographically locked up with a password, of which their is a total set of 21,000,000. Nothing about that is money.
The analog equivalent is a 4th grade teacher assigning a set of math problems to her class and making it a race to solve each one. When the problem is solved, the teacher stamps the paper with the correct answer and the student locks it in their desk.
The teacher can make a new set of math problems the next day.
Unless you tokenize something of real value, and peg the token to represent the tangible asset, it's just a stamp from the teacher saying good job Jimmy, you got the correct answer.
There are protocols vastly more efficient, faster, and allow for tokenization, escrow, automatic execution of contracts, auditability, KYC, etc. Some of these protocol and tokens will be adopted and have value in one of two ways.
1. The token and network solve a business problem and do so in a more economical manner than current systems. (What Ethereuum claims to do but does not)
2. The token is pegged to sovereign currencies and assigned a value much like gold used to be pegged to the dollar.
Why most will go to zero? Survival of the fittest. Most aren't purpose built to solve any problem and are just a programmer in a garage throwing crap at the wall, or just scams, including scams run by financial institutions in the shadows. Many have exploitable problems in their code, structure, or security. Many aren't easy to upgrade the cipher if it becomes economical to attack it. Proof of work and even proof of stake consensus has inherent drawbacks.
Bitcoin has first mover advantage, and tremendous dark money behind it. It's not anything what the Twitter influencers and YouTube stars say it is. You're getting sold a bill of goods that has served a sinister purpose since inception, but that usefulness is running it's course.
This post will mostly fall on deaf ears.
Some great points here! I actually agree with quite a bit of it.
A few thoughts:
1. You can disagree all you want, but by some definitions bitcoin absolutely meets the criteria for sound money.
2. I recognize you are downplaying the mining process with your example. However, you fail to appreciate the genius of the self regulating system. The difficulty level to "guess" adjusts based primarily on network node participation. Nodes only participate in the network if the block reward is profitable. This ensures competition and the reason you will see a shift toward more and more renewable energy for mining companies. Much like a military, the miners protect the network from 51% attack. The point it, the mining process serves a purpose and isn't ridiculous as you suggest.
3. Your dark money assertion is rubbish and decade old narrative. Here is a supporting article. If you are concerned about nefarious activity you would support bitcoin as a global currency. It's far easier to track than dollars. Dollars have a much higher percentage of suspected illicit transactions than bitcoin.
The False Narrative Of Bitcoin’s Role In Illicit Activity
The majority of cryptocurrency is not used for criminal activity. According to an excerpt from Chainalysis’ 2021 report, in 2020, criminal activity only represented .34% of all cryptocurrency transaction volume.
www.forbes.com
Bottom line:
I am interested in holding an asset with a known supply, is fungible, can be easily transferred, is trustless, and outside central control and manipulation.
I don't really care if you call if money or an investment. It doesn't really matter. Those are the properties bitcoin investors are interested in. If you can suggest something else that meets this criteria, or even comes close, I would be happy to drop my case for BTC.