Why Bitcoin Cannot Save Greece
By Chongchen Saelee
You can see the desperation in the eyes of Bitcoin’s cultish eloquent tragic hero Andreas Antonopolous who believes himself the savior of his beloved Greek peoples, having “inherited the Greek Drachma”. It seems Greece is victim to crooked banksters and politicians taking good chunks out of its citizens money, apparently to pay off national debts. How could Bitcoin possibly save anyone if it’s just a matter of replacing an exploited currency with another one? If those crooks can take the Drachmas, what’s stopping them from taking away the people’s Bitcoins?
Money only works when there is trust amongst the people using it. It’s an abstract concept. The farmer who raises the cattle for your hamburger is more valuable than you if you don’t know how to raise livestock. However, if you are a charismatic sociable person with resourceful friends who could possibly trade resources with you and the farmer, then you’ve got a little bartering ecosystem going for yourself. You may very well become very valuable to the cattle farmer if you have a friend that knows how to mend shoes, or grow a special crop, or give awesome haircuts. The value is relative to the people in the ecosystem.
So if Greeks want to stop their crooked government officials from taking their hard-earned money, then they gotta fix it themselves. Why do they owe so many people? How are they going to pay back their debt? You wouldn’t honor your debts if you’re not honorable people. And I think that’s the whole point behind politics. People are sometimes so honorable, they let others take advantage of them.
Without doing anything extreme, I’d say the best solution for Greeks feeling ripped off by their authorities is simply to move and stop using Drachma. People have picked up and moved in a heartbeat since the beginning of time. If you got the will and are a hardworker, you can make it. Now, whether or not Bitcoin is a suitable currency to replace Greece’s weakened financial system, that’s just not predictable. But I’d say to avoid it.
The only thing that can save Greece is its own people. No amount of money, even fake money can solve the fallacies of human dynamics.