What are your thoughts about cryptocurrency?
I never gave much thought to cryptocurrency itself, beyond noting the day of its launch—31 October 2008, Bitcoin’s Halloween birth date. That timing fuelled numerous online conspiracy theories and religious critiques: was it the “handiwork of the devil” or an instrument of absolute evil?
The general public assumed it was no more than a dog and pony show that couldn’t sustain itself. Reality has spoken: Bitcoin—A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System—has been gaining greater interest from people worldwide.
Investors, obviously, embrace it for its advantages: decentralisation, what they see as intrinsic value, and simple, secure transfers that require no trusted third party like a bank. Others reject it for a series of identified drawbacks: security risks, scams, and irreversibility. In major countries, however, legislation of cryptocurrency is now in place.
In the city where I live, cryptocurrency is treated as a virtual commodity rather than money. In other words, it is not mainstream—and hopefully never will be.
In many other countries, however, legislation is a two-edged sword: tightened regulatory controls do not shrink the industry, and legislative measures increase investors’ confidence and attract more new traders. The government’s control of cryptocurrency empowers rather than limits its spread and growth across the globe. Who, then, is truly the devil’s advocate?
The most prominent religious critique—such as Reddit’s r/Christianity—links Bitcoin to the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. Critics argue that a decentralised, purely digital system that could eventually replace physical cash is precisely the infrastructure needed to fulfil the prophecy’s “Mark of the Beast”—stripping humanity of financial privacy and control.
Following the invention of cryptocurrency, other digital assets have been on the rise. I cannot help asking: when will it stop? Or will virtuality replace reality entirely?
