I started watching this video on Tucker Carlson’s thoughts on Bitcoin. I studied cryptocurrency in 2015. I spent some time on the BitcoinTalk website studying it and I worked for some forms of crypto through that website. I enjoy the idea of being given cryptocurrency for my work. I do want us all to be able to move into a society where we are not dependent on fiat currency. I do hold cryptocurrency, not just Bitcoin. So although I’ve never written about it here, I do have that background and those interests.
Something came to me while I was listening to Tucker in the video and it relates to the Drama Triangle. So I thought I would write something about it here.
Choosing Credit Cards Over Cryptocurrency
People choose to use credit and debit cards, usually because they think they have to (like victims of our economic & banking system) or it’s because it’s better than using a check. But, there are a few reasons that I can think of why a regular person would choose to use a credit card instead of cryptocurrency to purchase something. These reasons may be why there is a reluctance to switch over and thus why Bitcoin hasn’t gone mainstream.
The regular person doesn’t understand cryptocurrency, how it works, how to get some, and how & where to pay with it.
Credit cards are tied to a more stable currency (in general) compared to the often volatile value of cryptocurrencies. In general, the regular person wants to know how much they can buy with their money and that’s more of a variable with crypto. To know the current value of crypto would take a little more work or the value may feel out of your control. With inflation, this comparison between the two of them may change.
Credit card transactions are processed instantly, whereas some cryptocurrency transactions can take longer to confirm, depending on the network congestion and the cryptocurrency used. With crypto, you’d have to know to plan ahead, which is more work.
Using a credit card responsibly can help build and improve credit history, which can be very important for obtaining loans and other financial products.
Many credit cards offer rewards programs, cashback, travel perks, and other benefits that are not typically available when using cryptocurrency. As a side note, some cryptocurrencies do offer “staking” which is a form of interest, but you can’t use your crypto if you’re staking it. It’s more like a savings plan, than a reward.
If your credit card is stolen, you can get your credit company to stop the payments so you don’t lose money. If someone has your private key for a cryptocurrency wallet, they can spend your money and you can’t do anything about it.
Many Reject Taking Personal Responsibility
Many people are not taking responsibility right now and certainly don’t want to be taking on more responsibility. No one wants to feel like a “victim” of credit card fraud, but there are easier steps to take to take some personal responsibility to protect yourself from it. There are companies out there that can warn you of breaches, and they can put alerts on your credit, and you can get money back that someone stole via a lost or compromised credit card number. All of that has happened to me, so I know how much easier it is with credit cards than with cryptocurrency.
You don’t have to search hard and long online to find tales of people losing their cryptocurrency. They may have thrown out or lost a flash or hard drive with the private keys to the wallet. They may have been hacked. They may have been sent to a phishing site that looked like a real site where they put in their private keys. They may have held it on an exchange that got hacked itself.
It takes a lot of work to know how to protect yourself from cryptocurrency theft. I was asked by my father to look into it to get him some, and I spent a lot of time researching it so that I would not lose it once I got it for him. Then, of course, I cared about protecting my own crypto when I started making some (via work).
People simply don’t want to take that responsibility. It takes time and energy. They want to continue on with their lives as is and look up to the credit and debit card companies as their “savior” who will take on the responsibility of protecting their funds from theft. If your money is in their wallet, it’s their responsibility to keep it safe, not yours.
If you don't own your private keys, you don't own that cryptocurrency
If you leave your cryptocurrency on an exchange, you’re leaving it in someone else’s wallet. It’s not yours until you know the private keys to spend it. Cryptocurrency exchanges have targets on them. People who want to steal cryptocurrency will go after them. Most people won’t trust them over a bank for multiple reasons. If you ever talk to someone who knows anything about crypto, they’ll tell you to never leave your crypto on an exchange.
But, it takes personal work to get cold storage, an offline wallet, somewhere to put your cryptocurrency and that’s just for saving it long term. If you actually want to spend it, you need some in a hot wallet. That will take more research, to trust a website or app to hold your cryptocurrency without them being hacked or downloading a compromised app.
On a personal note, to give more context of where I’m coming from, in 2015, I actually started to learn how to use Linux to create cold storage. I created paper wallets while the computer was offline on a fresh install to make sure it was secure. This is how far I went with my personal responsibility in this area.
The following video is for educational purposes only. I’m not suggesting you do this to store your crypto on it. You have to take personal responsibility and look up risks, etc.
Dealing w/Crypto Takes Loads of Responsibility
Understanding crypto, getting it, using it, and storing it all take time and energy if you don’t want to end up feeling like a “victim.” You have to take responsibility for your crypto if you don’t want to have it held in someone else’s wallet.
Cancel Culture & Banks
Now, we know that some banks and credit/debit companies have “canceled” people for their viewpoints. This means that those people could not utilize their income which was rightfully earned, or could no longer bring in funds that people freely wanted to give to them.
When the truckers protested in Canada they tried taking in cryptocurrency when the banks froze their accounts.
Canadian banks have begun freezing the accounts of people linked to the trucker protests in Canada and the federal government is promising to take more accounts offline in coming days in an attempt to clear demonstrators from Ottawa, which has been occupied for nearly a month.
On February 17, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a press conference that financial institutions have started freezing accounts and canceling credit cards in accordance with the Emergencies Act, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked earlier this week.
They tried to gain funds via the very untrustworthy website GoFundMe, and they were blocked as well.
Crypto fans of the Canadian truckers' anti-vax protest have raised more than $900,000 in bitcoin after donations via GoFundMe were blocked.
Trucks in the "Freedom Convoy" have clogged roads in Canada's capital Ottawa since late January to protest against the country's COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Supporters donated $10 million to the truckers on GoFundMe. But the crowdfunding platform blocked distribution of the funds to its organizers last weekend, saying the protest was not peaceful and that authorities had raised concerns.
In response, a Canadian bitcoiner group known as "HonkHonkHodl" started a campaign on crypto crowdfunding platform Tallycoin.
The Canadian government then tried to make it so the truckers would be unable to use the cryptocurrency that had been freely sent to them.
A total of 34 cryptocurrency wallets allegedly associated with the Canadian truckers protesting COVID-19 restrictions, which had been raising money with Bitcoin for the Freedom Convoy 2022 campaign have reportedly been blocked.
In particular, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Canada’s national police force has issued an order requiring all FINTRAC-regulated organizations in Canada to stop interacting with 34 crypto wallets, according to The Counter Signal.
It is still unknown whether or not this request from the police will result in a breakdown in the disbursement of the funds. The order comes after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act for the first time since 1988 in response to the continuing trucker protests on February 14.
I tried searching to see if this hindered the Trucker protest, but I couldn’t find that information. I’d appreciate it if you could leave a comment if you know more about that.
From what I understand this meant that the truckers who were given access to a wallet full of Bitcoin would not be able to trade (via FINTRAC-regulated exchanges or businesses) the raised Bitcoin for their currency of choice to actually spend it on anything.
I believe that they could still trade Bitcoin to another person (who had their own personal wallet) in a free exchange. If a bunch of people wanted to buy some cryptocurrency, they could have bought it from the truckers, helping them out. But this exchange would have been people-to-people, not people-to-exchange-to-people. They would be cutting out the middleman.
Without the use of cryptocurrency exchanges, this may have made it a more local issue, where people needed to meet in person to exchange cash for crypto. I wasn’t there, and don’t know much about how they actually handled this. Any information you have on it would be welcomed in the comment section.
Freedom Comes From Personal Responsibility
Being free to exchange cryptocurrency in that moment would come from people taking a bunch of personal responsibility to know about crypto, to use it, without a middleman. It takes plenty of research or guts to not fear the funds being stolen. But they had just had their funds stolen in a way, hadn’t they? The banks and charity site had frozen their accounts. What else did they have left to lose?
It often takes being backed into a corner, and hitting rock bottom before many people are willing to take the personal responsibility to fix their lives. But, when the responsibility is in your hands, not someone else’s, then you are free.
Sadly, I think it will take a lot more instances like this before cryptocurrency takes off. But there are plenty of people, like Andrew Torba (founder of Gab), who are doing the work to try to help us have a parallel economy. Those people who do this, often do it because they’ve been blacklisted (pushed to the limit where they had to do something).
Most people today are willing to give up a little freedom for safety.
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a
little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
Ben Franklin
I hope I was clear enough about cryptocurrency for those who know nothing about it. But you can feel free to leave a comment with any questions you have. Thanks for reading. If you found it useful or insightful, please give it a “like” and share it.
Edit: Here’s a good video with RFK Jr. talking about Bitcoin and the Trucker Protest (about 14 minutes into it):
BTC Donation Address: bc1q4s6h8rhyqawqlz46ppc3zc5v43duycp8m57h9p
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