Robert Breedlove: Like the Constitution, Bitcoin 'Will Change the Way We Treat One Another'
The self-described "freedom maximalist" and former hedge fund manager talks "incorruptible money," Austrian economics, and why Satoshi Nakamoto's invention is unstoppable.
HD DownloadIf the recent slide in the price of bitcoin has sent many speculators scrambling back to fiat currency, it's done nothing to cool the fervor of Robert Breedlove, a self-proclaimed freedom maximalist whose Twitter feed is filled with encomia for the inflation-proof monetary system that has a supply fixed via the consensus of a decentralized, global software network.
"Unlike the US Constitution," he writes, "#Bitcoin cannot be amended—that's why incorruptible money is a greater instrument of freedom than the US Constitution." "#Bitcoin," he predicts, "will prove to be history's ultimate example of the old adage 'when you can't beat them, join them.'"
The 36-year-old accountant-by-training and former hedge fund manager is a leading thinker and writer in the bitcoin space, where he publishes The Freedom Analects and hosts The "What is Money?" Show podcast and video series.
Reason's Nick Gillespie talked with Breedlove at the Bitcoin 2022 conference in Miami this April about why bitcoin is the best hedge against hyperinflation, how Austrian economics informs his worldview, and why he believes that bitcoin will inevitably become the basis of the global economy. "No one's figured out how to stop bitcoin, basically meaning turn it off," he says. "And so, if you can't turn it off, that effectively operates as this vortex of incentives. It's just incentivizing people to interact with it, to hold it, to save and build businesses on it."
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Oh absolutely. It already is. I mean, everyone being involved in some sort of scam from pump and dumps to rug pulls, trying to screw over their fellows is certainly a change in behavior.
Nothing about the issues with the current monetary system have anything to do with *banks*. They are systems of behavior and just because they now take place in places that don't have 'bank' written on the building doesn't change the basic incentives - it only removes what little restrictions on aggressive behavior we have in place.
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Like the Constitution, Bitcoin 'Will Change the Way We Treat One Another'
No grasshopper, it will not.
Did anyone ever think the the assumed devaluing of bitcoin is like sea levels -- relative to some standard, such as BidenBucks?
I should think it would go the other way.
Or, perhaps enough people need to withdraw the funds to pay rent (oh wait, I guess that isn't actually a problem at the moment) that it's hitting the price. *shrug*
"The 36-year-old accountant-by-training and former hedge fund manager is a leading thinker and writer in the bitcoin space,"
That is a little bit much. The best thing about Breedlove is that he brings deep thinkers onto his show. But he is rarely the deep thinker on that podcast- it is usually the other people, with him inartfully trying to make up analogies for the complicated things they are saying.
But, that doesn't change the fact that he really has done a lot for the medium. Not only has he provided these forums for discussion in long formats- much like Rogan does. But over the past few years, he has synthesized all of this thinking into pretty good overviews of the topic. You can watch him on Jordan Peterson's youtube episode about Bitcoin and understand that he doesn't quite get all the theory, but it is better than 80% of the people out there.
Breedlove? Sounds homophobic to me...
Sounds like the mayor of San Francisco. Mayor BreedLove
and just as irrelevant as AM's comment - tho' fortunately not really ad-hominem, as AM's is.
what an irrelevant, ad-hominem remark!
You seem to have a strong interest in the issue, regardless of never posting here before under that handle.
Further (below) you point out in rather strong terms why Breedlove's comments are not likely to be reliable.
Care to comment on your obvious bias?
I find Breedlove's work always interesting and thought-provoking. I read or listen to everything he produces, and am always encountering new or deeper perspectives. I also point out that none other than Jordan Peterson had a wonderful conversation with Robert during the Bitcoin 2022 Conference last April in Miami Beach. It was a separate paid-attendance event, and a full house as far as I could see. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlA-I7PXf0
Robert definitely is definitely regarded as one of the (many) best and brightest in Bitcoin, among the most active, strongly-committed Bitcoiners.
"Robert definitely is definitely regarded as one of the (many) best and brightest in Bitcoin, among the most active, strongly-committed Bitcoiners."
So probably not anything like a disinterested agent and someone whose views should be taken with a healthy dose of salt.
Remember when Dean Kamen made the claim regarding "Ginger"?
"It's going to change the world!".
I do.
If there is anything rational in Mr. Breedlove's comments, would somebody please point it out?
Have no idea.
In a manuscript, it is possible to scan and select that which is of value, read those, and reject the rest.
The jacket seems to assume I'm to waste time listening to his drivel in a vid in the hopes there IS something of value.
Until it is offered as a manuscript; it will get responses to what is printed here; no desire to listen to Gillespie bloviate.
And what about Bitcoin changes things?
Let's look at this rationally. You have a limited currency that has experienced absurd deflation over the past several years. The main advantage is full traceability.
The disadvantages are the absurd cost of entry, the insane energy expenditure, the ease of theft, and the complete loss of privacy.
None of the problems of our financial systems are even addressed.
Please explain to me how bitcoin is better trading gold bars or some other physical good instead of a fiat currency. I really don't see it.
Essentially, Ben, you are asking: "How is BC a better medium of exchange (money) than currency?" I add, If BC is so superior a money, why hasn't it been adopted? It's not illegal. And, where its been accepted officially (El Salvador), what is the big deal?
What is Reason's motivation for pushing BitCoin? It's absolutely absurd.
The music is stopping and they still don't have a seat.
Very nice analogy.
Supposedly it leads to a libertarian paradise ... whereas all its seemed to have done is facilitate the worst aspects of the philosophy, scams, pump and dumps, while all of the "honest" operators openly work with the government to undermine anything positive.
Ok, the above paragraph is somewhat more cynical than my actual views, but I have grown much more cynical about all this crypto stuff as time has gone on. Silk road WAS the use case. Now everyones like oh we will never repeat that ... then what are you trying to accomplish exactly?
He's right in a way. Bitcoin will create yet another but very different means by which people "privatize gains while socializing losses."
When tens of thousands of Bitcoin speculators lose their fortunes and run to Mommy Gov't to save them from their own mistakes, gov't will step in, take money by force from taxpayers to bail these fools out, then use the whole fiasco as an excuse to heavily regulate all cryptocurrencies.
The very different part is that in order to heavily regulate cryptos, unprecedented even-more-invasive state surveillance of personal computers and network traffic will be instituted.