🔊 [Analysis] Unpacking Bitcoin’s assurances - Nic Carter

Nic Carter defines the various guarantees that give Bitcoin ($BTC) value and the threats leveled against it from personal acquisition to exit of Bitcoin. Carter selects five points: open access, seizure resistance, censorship resistant, counterfeit resistance, and free exit. Of the five, three have serious threats from government interventionism: access, censorship, and exit. Accessing and exiting Bitcoin is dependent on the method of choice: using a well known exchange can result in third parties knowing more information about your purchase than you would otherwise care to tell. For censorship, Carter notes that state action against decentralized systems like Bitcoin come at tremendous cost to the attacking party. Cutting the internet is often the only solution for the state, which bears a hefty price. Looking back at all five, Carter labels direct threats and entrepreneurial innovations or real features of Bitcoin that prevent hostile takeover: new wallets like Wasabi or Samourai, P2P exchanges like HodlHodl or Localbitcoins, and Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work and mining difficulty adjuster. His analysis, though, does leave room for doubts: third parties have impressive methods, and only a well informed user can use Bitcoin's assurances in their favor.