Consequences of the Bitcoin FUD*

5 min readJan 21, 2022

* FUD is the acronym for fear, uncertainty and doubt. Enemies use FUD as a weapon of communication to create a bad public opinion about Bitcoin.

My last post was about the challenge of uniting the two sides of money: prosperity and asociality. Should you have come up with this idea before me, I would like to congratulate you. You are using your rare spare time to research topics that most people don‘t (or can‘t) take the time for. Like you, I have understood that Do(ing)-Your-Own-Research (DYOR) is necessary to figure out the truth about the influence of money on our society.

Time is luxury

However, you are in a luxurious position if you can take time for such research. Nearly 50% of the world population have less than 5.50 USD per day at their disposal [1]. Up to 3.9 billion people have to think about where their next meal will be coming from or how they might afford the occasional touch of luxury in their lives. They simply can‘t afford to spend time thinking about the influence of money.

Even in Germany, 20 million people don‘t have time for further education concerning money. 24% of the population live in poverty or social exclusion [2]. They are either looking for jobs or have to hold several jobs at once, leaving them little to no time to concern themselves with more than their survival. Unfortunately the statistics suggest that this is the preliminary peak of a rising tendency [3].

Those only barely living above the poverty line have similarly little time for research into new topics. Their actual number world-wide can only be speculated about. What can be said with confidence, however, is that these people make up for the majority of the 7 billion people having less than 100,000 USD in savings [4].

But it is even more important to look at how most people’s lack of time relates to the use of the Bitcoin community’s educational programs. Of course, idols like Andreas Antonopoulos, Roman Reher or the Einundzwanzig Community can help people who can afford spending time on them. However, compared to those who don’t have that time, bitcoin users remain in the minority.

Lack of time promotes the distribution of FUD

To save time, people follow the opinions of others without being aware of that. Who doesn’t take time to check these opinions and their senders’ motivations can’t know how much they can be trusted. Thus, FUD about Bitcoin is spread due to ignorance or maybe even willfulness. The majority has no time to do their own research, or is too gullible.

But the worst is that misleading opinions about Bitcoin are hard or even impossible to correct. If you have ever tried to change someone’s mind, you’ll understand what I‘m talking about. Now you only need to imagine this for billions of people who don’t have time to listen. A mammoth task.

Thanks to the community’s support, I was able to set the record straight on some points for friends and acquaintances. Even so, the least of the converts save a part of their wealth in Bitcoin. Interestingly, even some interlocutors conceded that their reasons were null and void without my bringing it up. They are content with watching Bitcoin from the edge of its rabbit hole [5].

Wait a minute, you might be thinking. The amount of Bitcoin hodlers is increasing. The number of participants of Bitcoin conferences and of followers of Bitcoin channels in social media are rising too. Because of covid-19, many people have more time to explore Bitcoin.

As an aware reader, you remember the dangers of FUD that beginners of the crypto space are confronted with. To make things easier on themselves, they abandon DYOR, discover altcoins and hope to get rich quickly. In short, only a part of the crypto beginners are actually getting into Bitcoin. Considering the market capitalization of all crypto currencies, Bitcoin takes less than 40% (as of 01/14/2022) — not to mention the altcoin-only supporters who reject Bitcoin.

Crypto coins compete in the same ballpark as fiat currencies do. Now, Bitcoin competes with both fiat currencies and altcoins [6]. The same goes for the arguments from the fiat and altcoin world, fighting for our attention. These arguments pave the road to new beliefs. Driving down that road, facts act like cobblestones that shake us up. Facts are inconvenient. In contrast, riding down the FUD autobahn is a convenient journey. Signposted opinions show directions that appear familiar and seem to be correct. To believe oneself on the right path feels nice. Thus reduces the need to challenge such information [7].

FUD may deny Bitcoin the throne as world currency

FUD’s quick sham plausibility defies reality. Those - of the 7 billion people - with a lack of time run the risk of falling for FUD and rejecting Bitcoin in the future as well. This buys its opponents time to establish appropriate countermeasures.

Assuming the Bitcoin network finds an answer to every countermeasure, it still doesn’t reach the people who don’t (can’t) take the time for it. The mixture of FUD and lack of time may deny Bitcoin the throne as world currency for a long time or even forever.

Outlook

To me, it is out of the question that Bitcoin offers the best prerequisites for being the leading currency world-wide. In the words of Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin:

„If you don’t believe it or don’t get it, I don’t have the time to try to convince you, sorry [DYOR].“

Instead of repeating the smart thoughts of the Bitcoin community, I would like to use my next post to describe why Bitcoin needs the largest user base possible to make our future better.

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