The Mirage of Bitcoin

Not a scam. Not salvation. Just the latest illusion in a long line of manias.

---

Consider the following:

This isn’t an anti-Bitcoin piece — it’s a call for intellectual honesty. If we’re going to talk about Bitcoin as “the future of money,” we need to be clear-eyed about what that actually means.

As long as Bitcoin’s value is measured in USD, it remains just another speculative asset. You’re not escaping fiat — you’re just flipping between currencies, hoping to sell higher in the same system you’re supposedly trying to leave. Many “forever holders” and pro-Bitcoin advocates claim they’ll never sell, yet cheer when the price in dollars goes up — because their real motivation is enrichment, whether through crypto, fiat, or both. That’s not a monetary revolution — it’s just avarice and a pump-and-dump scheme sugar-coated in misdirection.

In fact, the fastest-growing real-world use case for Bitcoin isn’t buying coffee or paying salaries — it’s gambling. The crypto gambling market has surged from $50 million in 2019 to $250 million in 2024, with crypto now making up nearly 30% of all online wagers. Bitcoin casino platforms are expanding over three times faster than traditional online casinos, and could capture nearly half the global gambling market by 2027. As Dr. Sarah Williams of Hivedit Research Labs puts it, “The bitcoin casino revolution signifies the most pivotal transformation in the gaming industry since the advent of online casinos.” This isn’t monetary innovation — it’s the hyper-derivatization of the casino economy, where financial speculation is the product.

Despite El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin, most goods remain priced in dollars. In countries like Argentina or Lebanon, where inflation has gutted the local currency, Bitcoin use is more common — but out of desperation, not revolution. Meanwhile, major economies like the US and UK are tightening crypto regulation to curb fraud, as seen in the FTX collapse. Bitcoin’s price surges have drawn comparisons to historic bubbles, underscoring persistent skepticism and regulatory caution.

No government would switch solely to Bitcoin as the dominant medium of exchange. The control of money is not incidental — it is a core function of the state. Through democratic systems, we empower governments to regulate currency, stabilize economies, and act as lender of last resort. Bitcoin was arguably designed to bypass taxation, avoid accountability, and escape monetary safety nets. That’s precisely why it cannot function as a national currency in any advanced society. Governments also carry a democratic mandate and duty to prevent fraud and ensure verifiable public records — that’s why we have receipts, audits, and transparent ledgers. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous-by-default design and lack of identity-level transparency run directly counter to this obligation.

Bitcoin also fails the “store of value” test. What it actually stores is perceived value, like every traded asset. Price is a function of supply and demand, and demand is driven by belief. That’s not stability — that’s sentiment. Bitcoin is not immune to the same forces that fueled financial manias of the past — Tulip Bulbs in the 1630s, South Sea shares in the 1720s, Railway Mania in the 1840s, the roaring twenties stock bubble, the dot-com frenzy of the late 1990s, or the meme-stock surges of recent years. It has become a house of cards built on the hope that someone will buy it later for more. That’s not sound money — that’s speculative storytelling.

Some might argue it’s just early — give it time. But revolutions don’t announce themselves decades in advance and then wait around for mass adoption. If anything, the moment already came — and passed.

This is not just a wake-up call — it’s also a word of caution. Full disclosure: I’ve made money trading Bitcoin — and a savvy investor can. But a wise investor only allocates a small fraction of their capital to ventures like these. Yes, you can currently trade Bitcoin safely on reputable platforms like eToro. But as history shows, trust is never guaranteed. Remember QuadrigaCX, the Canadian crypto exchange whose founder died suddenly in 2018, taking the passwords to over $200 million in customer funds to the grave. No asset is immune to human risk — especially one built on anonymity, decentralization, and hype.

Until the world starts pricing goods and services in Bitcoin — not Bitcoin in dollars — nothing fundamental has changed. For now, Bitcoin remains more speculation than revolution.