As Bitcoin straddles the $900 mark, now seems a good time to remember the naysayers who made it clear they thought the currency would never succeed – or was even already dead.
More FUD, Naysayers?
Bitcoin has faced its fair share of naysayers since its inception, but some are more vocal in their disdain than others. While there are far too many to mention by name, here are a few who will likely not be forgotten in a hurry.
Mike Hearn
Mike Hearn used to be firmly on the side of the Bitcoin community, but ended up – somewhat dramatically – losing faith. His post in January on his decision to ‘quit Bitcoin’ and resign as developer now reads like a notorious speech from history.
“But despite knowing that Bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly,” he wrote.
The fundamentals are broken and whatever happens to the price in the short term, the long term trend should probably be downwards.
While predictions of Bitcoin’s imminent doom are amusing to read, the comedy soon turns to heartbreak in Hearn’s post as he announces he’d sold off his entire Bitcoin holdings:
I will no longer be taking part in Bitcoin development and have sold all my coins. Why has Bitcoin failed? It has failed because the community has failed.
Professor Bitcorn
From the sublime to the ridiculous, and Professor Bitcorn was a leading light in denouncing Bitcoin until his abrupt silence earlier this year.
A Boston university lecturer by day, Mark T. Williams put the cat among the pigeons in 2013 as he brought his Bitcoin doom-mongering to the mainstream press.
“I predict that Bitcoin will trade for under $10 a share by the first half of 2014, single digit pricing reflecting its option value as a pure commodity play,” he wrote in an article for Business Insider.
His more recent reticence could well be a result of Bitcoin not going to $10 in any of the subsequent three years, as one Reddit user points out.
Jamie Dimon
Who could forget Jamie Dimon? It appears that Bitcoiners won’t have the luxury any time soon, as under its CEO JPMorgan Chase is experimenting more and more with the Blockchain.
On the topic of Bitcoin, however, Dimon was always ready to nay.
“Virtual currency, where it’s called a bitcoin vs. a U.S. dollar, that’s going to be stopped,” he told Fortune in 2015. “No government will ever support a virtual currency that goes around borders and doesn’t have the same controls. It’s not going to happen.”
Several legalizations of Bitcoin later, it appears all Dimon can do to save face is hide behind his Blockchain experiments along with the majority of global banks.
The ‘Blockchain Not Bitcoin’ Crowd
Dimon is a prime example of the corporate and financial reaction to disruptive fintech. Where it is taboo or financially undesirable to embrace Bitcoin, Blockchain is brought forward as the go-to compromise.
This camp includes a huge number of companies, not to mention banks, which continue to champion the virtues of Blockchain and play down Bitcoin’s inherent advantages over legacy finance. For us regular folks however, we can’t help but echo the tweet of International Blockchain Real Estate Association Founder, Ragnar Lifthrasir:
#Bitcoin is over $900 right now. What's the price of #blockchain? I heard that's more important, so I want to buy some.
— Ragnar Lifthrasir (@Ragnarly) December 23, 2016
Honorary Mention: r/Buttcoin
As the icing on the cake, r/Buttcoin is a hater mill that doesn’t stop turning. There is enough naysaying material to run to several volumes, but such is the comedy gold to be mined from reading it in present times that now is a great opportunity to get on board.
“Is this where the poor people hang out?” one post reads.
What would you like to say to the Bitcoin naysayers? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of businessinsider.com, genesismining, bbc.com, shutterstock