The former guy declares that 'Bitcoin is a scam' whilst anonymous commentator replies that 'it takes one to know one!'
Without offering any proof whatsoever, former US President Donald Trump has declared that he believes that Bitcoin is a scam against the Dollar! Potentially the most significant issue here is that anyone is listening and that mainstream news picked up the story after the interview on Fox Business.
And like it or not, totally uninformed opinion can have an impact on the target in question, in this case, Bitcoin. Zero understanding of what Bitcoin is and can be but plenty to say about, well, nothing and here we are! (The fall in the BTC vs Dollar price since will no doubt inspire the 'former guy' into thinking that he is a) all knowing and b) omni-influential).
Of course, he is not alone with some genuinely influential people capable of 'moving the dial' whether well intended or just ill-informed. In recent weeks, we've seen Elon Musk playing all sorts of mind games with his suggestions that given the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining (which still passes most people by) was incompatible with his Tesla vision whilst CNN's Chris Cuomo weighed in with his opinion that ransomware attacks were basically only possible because of cryptocurrencies, this following the Capital Pipeline case.
The greater concern is that this type of commentary can lead to the kind of legislation that will delay or even derail the adoption of Bitcoin and associated technologies and projects. I have often stated that there are three key threats to the success of the new currencies, one is legislation (nothing against it but needs to be measured and appropriate), second is its use for criminality (blaming bitcoin for ransonware payments is a stretch...hostage taking isn't new and way more crimes involve cash!) and the third is scams generated internally (pump & dumps etc.)...well, when it comes to scams, it takes one to know one and here we are...back to the former guy!
I really don't care if this comes off as overly partisan...people need to recognize the damage ignorant people do to the rest of us...I thought we were getting past this, guess there are a ways to go yet!
