My initial investigation led led me to make a comment that Bitcoin was a Hedge Fund. In retrospect I think I am right. It is a sophisticated form of Hedge system combined with a Ponzi scheme.
I spent most of what I consider a wasted day today investigating my hunches, because for some reason I went to bed thinking about it, and waking up decided that rather than have it niggling me any more I would invest some time following up my rather obscure thinking patterns.
The interesting thing is today that Russia has announced it will only licence accredited dealers, and treat crypto currencies especially Bitcoin in the same way a Hedge fund would be treated. They decided to classify Bitcoin as an asset not a currency.
meanwhile I got to following some of my vague thoughts. Crypto, as Bitcoin arrived on the scene in 2008, which intrigued me as this seemed a response to the big crash the banking system caused.
The system of banking that is still causing mayhem even now.
It occurred to me that Iceland was the only country to take the medicine, and within ten years has managed to change their own system they do not allow their own currency to be bought or traded as far as I remember.
However they are ideally placed with geothermal electric, and a cold climate to host blockchain mines. I see Russia has latched onto this as well! Perhaps Canada, Nepal, and a few other places might be good for massive computer plants that need to stay cool. Pipe all the heat back into exchangers and feed it back into the grid!
Anyway I suppose it's the type of brain I have that I got piqued by the name Satoshi Nakamoto. This is obviously something very simple yet complex in language terms. I suppose most of my day was spent enjoying the complexities and nuances of the word game.
Sa to shi nak am' roughly translates to 'You are welcome' oto I would read as 0+0 in this case. A recognition that currency as it is has no value other than the trust placed in it.
Another translation was 'Sitting in the rain', which was obviously a lead to look up various rain sayings. The one that made me laugh the most was that 'A banker lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining, and takes it away when it rains'..
There are various hints at Assyrian tablet keeping.
Some interesting hints to Cyrano de Bergerac, which smells of Jersey as the Bergerac series was filmed here.
there is Shinto to consider. Also the obvious Shaman's Iota. With Iota being the new fools gold.
I think for a long time I have felt the whole crypto thing has been a scam, and for the most part it seems so. However with the regulation and typifying the Russians have just given to Bitcoin, and the resulting acid comments by the devotees, I would also give it the status of a religious sect.
All in all I would sum up by saying this is an interesting development in world affairs. All the transactions are tagged, so it's also a sting.
I have decided today that it has some merits though, although not for bypassing soundly administered and regulated monetary systems.
I am Jersey after all, and when I made the connection between the Iron Bank and Crypto it was interesting to see others had come to the same conclusions.
Crypto is going to have to grow up. It has had a Nine year birthday, and now needs to become stable for it to be taken seriously. If it wasn't so volatile, it wouldn't be so attractive to gamblers and speculators.
The pseudo-idealism behind this innovation will just have to keep on cooking it for a while. Trying to convert crypto to usable funds seems as dodgy as trying to acces a sixty day account you don't get any interest on!
In the end it is probably going to be no more useful than an Oyster Card.