Bitcoin BTC/USD advocate Jeremy Kauffman criticized a culture shift in the Bitcoin community, blaming the “number go up culture” for driving out advocates of financial privacy.
What Happened: Kauffman took to X to expand on his bearish take on Bitcoin:
He sees the issues plaguing Bitcoin not as technological or regulatory, but cultural.
Kauffman pointed out that whenever Bitcoin has been challenged by the state, the Bitcoin community has capitulated. He cited the demise of Local Bitcoins and mixers and the elimination of ways for ordinary people to acquire non-KYC’ed coins.
He expressed his disappointment with Bitcoin’s inability to assist Canadian truckers who were denied access to banking. "Bitcoin couldn’t help the Canadian truckers. And the worst part of it was that basically no one even seemed to care,” he lamented.
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Kauffman’s critique highlights a shift in Bitcoin’s culture, which he believes is now more focused on increasing its value ("number go up") than promoting human freedom. He argued that the solution to government censorship of cryptocurrency is widespread adoption, comparing a potential ban on Bitcoin to the war on drugs.
However, he expressed concern that Bitcoin’s culture has been taken over by those who prioritize its monetary value over its potential as a free currency. "The Bitcoin culture has become completely dominated by the number-go-up people," he stated.
Kauffman concluded by expressing his disillusionment with the current state of Bitcoin, suggesting that he and other "freedom money people" are largely done with the cryptocurrency. "Maybe things will get better one day. If they do, I’ll be back. But at least for now, it's why the freedom money people like me are mostly done with Bitcoin," he stated.
What’s Next: The influence of Bitcoin as an institutional asset class is expected to be thoroughly explored at Benzinga’s upcoming Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.
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This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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