Oddbean new post about | logout
 I've been watching bitcoin since before Mt Gox collapsed. Stop telling me to study bitcoin. I've almost certainly been in this space longer than you, which is why I understand both its potential AND its limitations.

Again, companies got by without a money printer for centuries, and it never stopped them from acting extremely selfishly in the past, so removing it isn't suddenly going to make them altruistic. It's just going to bankrupt some of them. The money isn't even free for most of the businesses, it typically goes to banks who loan it out fully expecting to be repaid, and they won't throw bad money after the good forever. You only get free goodies if you don't fuck with another rich guy's profits.

Governments will be forced to act differently, true, but this will mainly be from inability to grow debt forever and, if forced to transact exclusively on chain, transparency. Even just using the lightning network as a government agency threatens the potential transparency gains. Plus, the government can't easily seize it, but they're still quite capable of coercing you to pay up. Again, I agree it will induce positive change, but I think you expect more than we'll get from it.