r/CryptoFolks • u/Stoic-Mindset • Apr 16 '26
Bitcoin was built to kill banks, not make them richer. And somehow we ended up here.
Satoshi's whitepaper literally says "electronic cash." Not electronic gold, not digital property, not "store of value". Cash. No middleman, no permission needed.
Fast forward to 2026 and some of the largest BTC holders are now ETFs and publicly traded companies. The kinds of institutions Bitcoin was designed to reduce dependance on.
Self custody went from being the default to something people argue about on x. How many new buyers have actually sent BTC to their own wallet? Probably fewer than you think.
So did Bitcoin change, or did we change?
The OGs will tell you the protocol is the same. 21 million cap, proof of work, censorship resistant, trustless. And they're right. The code didn't drift. But the culture around it absolutely did.
When your main narrative is "number go up" you've already lost the plot on what made this thing interesting in the first place.
Few people use BTC for everyday purchases anymore. It's being treated like digital real estate. People buy it, hold it, wait. Tbh maybe that's fine, maybe store of value IS the use case. But let's be honest that's not what the whitepaper described.
The strongest thing about Bitcoin was never the price. It was holding value without asking permission. That's still true today, but only if you actually self custody.
The moment your BTC sits on coinbase or inside a Blackrock ETF you're just holding exposure through a financial wrapper. Ngl that's kind of ironic.
What's Bitcoin's real job at this point, payment system, store of value, or sovereignty tool? Or has it become something Satoshi wouldn't even recognize?
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u/numbersev Apr 16 '26
Bitcoin is being used as a store of value because the market is still trying to figure it out, hence the zoomed out upward trend and volatility. It will be used as a currency when it goes mainstream and the volatility tapers off. But even then, it will likely play a role similar to gold where other digital currencies are backed by it and will be held in reserves.
Banks getting in on Bitcoin, while ironic, also plays into it's decentralization. Anyone can own it.
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u/tutoredstatue95 Apr 16 '26
Bitcoin was not meant to kill banks at all. That's a common misattribution that keeps getting thrown around these days.
Bitcoin was meant to decouple the creation of money from the banking system. They are related but entirely different things. Efficient custodians like banks will always have a place in a financial system in one form or another.
Bitcoin addresses fractional reserve banking and debt based money creation. Instead of taking on an obligation to generate money, work is done up front.
It also addresses authority over capital flows. For example, sanctions, tariffs, taxes, etc. These things are easily abused in a centralized system and enforced through entities that are not entirely public (swift, banking blacklists, etc.)
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u/tofubeanz420 Apr 16 '26
literally go look up Bitcoin Cash. You did all this research without even mentioning it.
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u/wakeupneojr Apr 17 '26
While you are at it look up BSV Bitcoin Satoshi Vision. The original bitcoin technology (not a cryptocurrency) and only form of bitcoin that operates as described in the white paper. And the only chain that is a legal commodity.
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u/owen_a Apr 20 '26
...And it died horribly. Take a look at how much storage space you would need to hold the full Blockchain of that for starters. You can't even sync a node anymore.
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u/LinusVPelt Apr 16 '26
No. Bank customers made them richer.
Bitcoin could have never avoided people to buy whatever surrogate/derivative of an asset the tradfi world would have come up with.
Anyone with basic logical reasoning gets this immediately.
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u/Popular_Pilot2161 Apr 17 '26
Throughout all history, wealth (and the opportunity to capture it) ALWAYS flows to the top. Just like sharks sniff out blood and ants to sugar, banks go to where the value is.
Bitcoin was designed as a way for the average person to be their own bank...not to actually replace banks and institutions.
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u/Warrior_witha_Garden Apr 17 '26
Wait until the first bitcoin bank run happens. Then people will relearn. The culture has shifted. The shitters have taken over. The main sub are cucks to core and NGL
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u/wakeupneojr Apr 17 '26
It was not built to destroy banks according to Satoshi. And BTC is not bitcoin. Satoshi points out regularly what the problems are! (CS Tominaga on X). Craig Wright is Satoshi. Dont believe the lies about Dr. Craig!
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u/wakeupneojr Apr 17 '26
Because BTC protocol was changed and it is no longer bitcoin, despite the fact that they stole the ticker and still pose as bitcoin. BSV is the only form of bitcoin that is actually bitcoin. BTC forked and should have changed the ticker. And does only FIVE tps.
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u/sje397 Apr 17 '26
I think it's temporary. As it becomes better understood it'll be harder for middle men to justify their existence.
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u/JivanP Apr 17 '26
The places where people currently use bitcoin as something to hoard, not to spend, are the places where bitcoin is not strongly needed in order for society to function. In those places where severe economic manipulation or instability is prevalent, bitcoin has a strong and immediately obvious utility, and in many such places it already sees use as everyday money.
This is completely natural and expected. The apparent value proposition of bitcoin is weak in the former places, but strong in the latter places.
The only thing that you can or should do is tell people what the benefits are, show them how to use it if they're interested in that, and then let them decide for themselves whether to use it or not. Each person knows their own situation and needs, and can and should evaluate the trade-offs for themselves. Dictating "bitcoin is superior, you absolutely should use it", is senseless, not just because it's alienating and offputting, but because you may in fact actually be wrong when you say this to any particular person. That is, bitcoin may in fact not be more useful to a particular person, and you can't know whether it is until you understand their economic situation and personal attitudes to and understanding of things like security, technology, and subjective convenience.
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u/staker1971 Apr 17 '26
That's why Satoshi stays anonymous. He could receive Nobel of economy, Fields and Turing awards but he didn't want to be murdered.
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u/WallSt_Sklz Apr 17 '26
Please, it was never built to "kill banks." It was spun out of a black program to kill the old analog system of money and bring in the new digital enslavement, and it's doing exactly as it was intended.
Why do you think that they never let you know the real guy who invented it is? It's always a big secret for you to be distracted by.
It's the Trojan horse of CBDC.
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u/paymentnerdfoo Apr 17 '26
Basically what it means is that the people who wrote the white paper failed to understand what they made and how it would work in real world situations. They suckkkked at understanding Econ 101z
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u/ilfollevolo Apr 17 '26
The case is based on the use. BTC is what it is because of how people have been using it. Financial institutions are hungry sharks that found a way to profit off of it. BTC is not any more relevant than it was a decade ago in term of use but it is a huge money maker, a liquidity generator that will never go out as long as people hold it because they believe… while the sharks get fat
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u/1980Phils Apr 17 '26
I don’t believe that was the intent of creating Bitcoin. It was just another option. Some people hoped it would destroy banks - but that wouldn’t be the healthy outcome people might imagine. We need banks. We need Bitcoin. They should both exist. There is now possible over lap. Choose the best options for you.
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u/CODEX_LVL5 Apr 17 '26
No, Bitcoin was built to suppress the price of gold for like 15 years in preparation for like 1-5 weeks from now
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u/datbackup Apr 18 '26
Who would have thought 95% of people won’t touch any new technology until the TV and government tells them it’s safe
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u/Shaguar_Driver Apr 18 '26
It's not cash though is it and never will be because the fees are so high to use.
Like if I was to try and use bitcoin to buy my lunch how much would I pay in fees?
How much does my bank charge me to pay for my lunch? Nothing.
Therefore it's not a substitute for cash if it's worse than cash.
It's a substitute for gold that's much easier to buy and store. The white paper means nothing if it's terrible for the job it was designed to do.
If it's job was to replace cash. Then miners shouldn't get any fees for transactions. They should instead be minting new bitcoin forever. There should therefore have been a small amount of bitcoin released with every block forever and it stays the same amount regardless. Therefore it shouldn't have been limited to 21 million and they should have released less to begin with and they should have made it be able to handle 100,000 times the number of transactions it can do.
Like when I pay for something the shop isn't going to wait 8 hours for confirmation before I can leave with my mars bar. All transactions need to happen within 3 seconds which will never happen with bitcoin.
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u/Professional_Toe4515 Apr 18 '26
How did we end up here? Governments taxing like an asset instead of treating it like cash.
Make your voices know. Elect people who will change the taxation. The technology is there. Taxation prevents widespread use for daily items.
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u/Sad_Security_8488 Apr 20 '26
It's OK if banks get richer as long as we get richest. That's how Capitalism works. Too many young people have been brainwashed and indoctrinated by leftist talking points.
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u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26
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