Elon is not Tesla Motor Company. He is not SpaceX. He is not Cryptocurrency.
Elon is the guy with lots of money who get’s to stand in front of podiums and take all the credit for the legions of smart people who work for his companies in exchange for a massive slice of the pie. His job is relatively simple: 1) hire a bunch of business managers and 2) hire accountants to make sure that the business managers are making him money.
In between those duties, he is free to go on Joe Rogan and smoke weed, or spend a week rehearsing to host SNL. Elon Musk isn’t busy figuring out how to go to the moon. People who are busy doing that kind of shit are too damn busy to host SNL.
It is sickening that with a couple of Tweets, Elon Musk has been able to manipulate crypto markets with his bullshit, both by irrationally pumping the value of Doge, and then by crashing the value of Bitcoin with a simple tweet. So, if you ever Google yourself Elon and come across my humble little blog, let me educate you on a few things.
1) People buy and have bought Teslas with Bitcoin for a long time, regardless of whether you accept BTC directly. They just convert it to cash first. I think most people would prefer a Lambo though. So if you’re looking to shovel your customers in that direction, be my guest.
2) Yes BTC is not very environmentally friendly right now… however it is designed to become more environmentally friendly over time. In fact the equations that drive Bitcoin are naturally balanced to tie Bitcoin to the cost of generating it e.g. the cost of electricity. Why is it so power hungry? Because the people who mine it think it is too cheap right now and are willing to spend 10X it’s current value to get a single Bitcoin. Eventually however, as all the Bitcoins will be eventually found, the only thing miners will collect will be transaction fees, which will massively decrease demand for mining to almost nothing.
3) The only reason Doge is more environmentally friendly than Bitcoin, is because relatively few people want to Mine it, but it’s worth is tied, in the same way, to the cost of generating it. It is built upon the exact same technology as Bitcoin. In fact if you download the source from github, it has the word “bitcoin” all over it. All they really did was change a few constants in the code, e.g. the block time. Transactions are faster on Doge due to this, however the shorter the block time, the less secure it potentially becomes. This is because it increases the chance that TWO or more computers solve the block equation at the same time in the world, and when they happens (and it does) they create multiple block-chains that need to be resolved and may potentially conflict with each other. The network has consensus protocols in place to reconcile these splits, ultimately rejecting one chain while accepting the other, but for a brief moment in time they might not line up. It is supposed to be virtually impossible to steal coins in this way, but it is being tested constantly and who knows what computing power will be in the future?… maybe someone will crack it?
4) Yes Doge can be changed. So can Bitcoin. You can implement a proof-of-stake system tied to Doge or Bitcoin which will be way more power efficient. Both are the same technology and both have systems in place to allow for the eventual changing of the rules of the protocol. Being that it is a “Consensus Protocol”, a change of the protocol requires “consent” of the miners, however… and the various computers around the world literally vote on which version of the protocol they want to accept. This is how protocol upgrades such as “SegWit” have made it into the system. However, if you cannot get the miners to agree to the consensus, the new protocol changes will never activate and if you try to force the changes on them, you create a “split”… a fake, counterfeit, unrecognized coin, that the rest of the network will not accept. This is how Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, Ethereum Classic (although Ethereum Classic is actually the legit currency), and many others formed… from people trying to change/force new rules on the network without the consent of the network itself. Maybe since there are few miners of Doge, you can get new consensus easier… but you implied that you could just change the rules of Doge to make it more efficient by “talking to the devs”… that’s really not how it works. But true, maybe you can use your podium skills and charisma to get people to follow your new Doge.
5) There are plenty of concerns about Doge. Even if it is faster than BTC and the transaction fees are lower, it is still not fast enough to be a “currency”. Market equity is also a concern. If one person owns 70% of all the Doge in the world, if that person decided to bring it onto a public market and sell it… it would crash to 0 in an instant. By hodling Doge, you are inadvertently taking that risk. There are fewer volatility concerns with BTC.
Anyway… I’m sure I will eat my words, because if I’ve learned anything in life, it is that rich, powerful, and popular people will ruin the lives of the humble little guys. Have at it!
Brilliant dissection of the crypto market’s recent Musk-induced turbulence, mate. Your point 2) resonate’s a bunch with me. Bitcoin’s value proposition should be viewed against its seemingly high environmental costs. Over time, I see BTC becoming more efficient and sustainable as it transitions more towards transaction fees with reduced mining. I’m puzzled though – any idea why ‘ol Elon hasn’t pointed or at least considered this perspective? Also, your point 3) – are we to expect a greater security risk if more folks start mining Doge given the shorter block-time, or does technology already have a plan to handle this potential issue? Fascinated to hear your thoughts. Cheers!
Musk’s motives? Beats me—perhaps he aims for disruption, less about the in-depth debate on crypto sustainability. As for Doge, indeed, more miners could mean more security risks. However, the real crux lies in the consensus mechanisms—can they adapt swiftly to address potential vulnerabilities? Doubtful without significant structural changes. It’s like steering the Titanic with a canoe paddle—tedious and slow in the face of oncoming icebergs.
Musk’s words sway like the moon tides; reveal much, say little. As for Doge’s future, chaos brews beneath calm waves—security hangs by a thread.
Musk’s words are a blunt tool in a surgeon’s world. As for Doge, chaos might just be its middle name, eh?