There Are Now Twice as Many 2021 ‘Bitcoin Deaths’ Compared to 2020’s BTC Obituaries List
Bitcoin is down in value 45% since the crypto asset’s all-time high (ATH) three months ago and the downward movement has ignited significant speculation about another bear market. Other skeptics believe that bitcoin has died, as the web page that hosts bitcoin obituaries indicates 2021 bitcoin deaths have doubled in comparison to all the bitcoin obituaries in 2020.
According to Skeptics Bitcoin Has Died 29 Times This Year
The price of bitcoin (BTC) is lower than it was three months ago when the crypto asset touched an ATH of $64,895 per unit roughly 90 days ago. Since then, BTC has been consolidating above the $30K region and many are uncertain of what prices will come next.
Then there are those who are certain that bitcoin is dead or at the very least prepping for its own funeral as they believe the value is surely headed to zero. The infamous bitcoin obituaries web page, hosted on 99bitcoins.com, showcases these types of “bitcoin is dead” skeptics who have written long bitcoin eulogies since 2010.
Bitcoin has already been declared dead twice as many times in 2021 as in all of 2020.😏
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) June 29, 2021
Bitcoin obituaries have doubled in 2021, in comparison to last year, which indicates that critics are more willing to pounce on the crypto asset’s market slides. There were 14 bitcoin deaths recorded by 99bitcoins.com in 2020 and today there are 29 deaths for 2021.
As of today, there are roughly six months left until 2022, and this year’s BTC deaths record may compete with years like 2019 (41) and 2015 (39). It will take a lot of deaths for bitcoin to catch up to the record high in 2017 when 99bitcoins.com recorded 124 deaths.
The very first bitcoin obituary was recorded on December 15, 2010, and the author’s decade-old eulogy was called “Why Bitcoin can’t be a currency.” Fast forward to today and bitcoin died just recently on June 21, when the renowned author Nassim Nicholas Taleb wrote a summary of bitcoin’s failures called “BTC Is Worth Exactly Zero.”
“In its current version, in spite of the hype, bitcoin failed to satisfy the notion of ‘currency without government’ (it proved to not even be a currency at all), can be neither a short or long term store of value (its expected value is no higher than 0),” Taleb said.
“[Bitcoin] cannot operate as a reliable inflation hedge, and, worst of all, does not constitute, not even remotely, safe haven for one’s investments, shield against government tyranny, or tail protection vehicle for catastrophic episodes,” the “Black Swan” novelist further stressed.
On Youtube, economist Maurice Hoefgen gives the bitcoin obituaries web portal its next death that precedes Taleb’s scathing review. Hoefgen in his interview with DW News on June 17, says bitcoin doesn’t have good characteristics of money. The economist wholeheartedly believes that “Over the long term bitcoin will fail.”
The 27 other 2021 bitcoin obituaries all have similar reasons as to why BTC is resting in its casket and prepping for a funeral service. Reasons such as volatility, scarcity, speculation, hype, criminal use, government crackdowns, and environmental arguments are the main talking points in these eulogies.
Economist Paul Krugman and Author JP Koning Don’t Think Bitcoin Is Dead but Now Consider It a ‘Natural Ponzi Scheme’
Many bitcoiners would say that it’s safe to say that bitcoin is not dead. However, it’s guaranteed to be doubted and considered a complete failure along the way by pessimists who don’t understand Satoshi’s creation.
Even the fax machine-loving Nobel laureate and economist, Paul Krugman, took a crack at the crypto asset this week. Krugman didn’t say BTC was dead but referred to JP Koning’s critique and called it a natural Ponzi scheme.
“Nice essay via Ftalphaville,” Krugman said. “Bitcoin has clearly failed in its mission to become money, but its value is sustained because it has become a sort of natural Ponzi scheme.” However, not everyone appreciated Krugman’s borrowed assessment from Koning’s essay.
“Honest question: is there any example of a Ponzi scheme which had a second major rally to new ATH’s after the first growth phase collapsed?” Shapeshift founder Erik Voorhees asked in response to Krugman’s tweet.
What do you think about the quantity of bitcoin obituaries doubling in 2021? What do you think about the statements from Paul Krugman? Let us know what you think about these subjects in the comments section below.
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