Cryptocurrencies are inherently fraudulent

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By Fay Voshell, Voice Contributor | Thursday, January 26, 2023An illustrative photo of several popular cryptocurrencies here, represented by physical coins, clockwise from top: ethereum, ripple, and bitcoin. | pixabay/make-someone-day

Famous investor Warren Buffett concluded that Bitcoin would meet a bad end. His business colleague, Charlie Munger, was even more blunt, stating that cryptocurrencies are rat poison and harm civilization.

Businessmen’s concerns are justified. Like fiat currencies backed only by government authority, crypto is created out of thin air.

As the Bitcoin site states, cryptocurrency is based on the properties of mathematics rather than physical properties (like gold and silver) or trust in central authorities (like fiat currencies). Sumit Gupta, co-founder and CEO of CoinDCX, said Bitcoin has no intrinsic value. Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency has no solid counterpart. It is purely digital in nature.

Cryptocurrency is real money only to the extent that Minecraft money is real. In the digital world of Minecraft, imaginary battles are fought, fictional civilizations are built and destroyed; and coined money is earned and spent. YouTube tutorials such as How to make money, buy and sell in Minecraft PE; and, if you build it, I will pay for it! give instructions.

The idea that self-created narratives translate realities, including wealth, into existence has always been appealing. The creation of a secret language and the creation of an imaginary world are characteristic of many children. Most children outgrow these fantasies, but some reach adulthood still clinging to the idea that a secret language can create an alternate reality that excludes the world of established, authoritative institutions such as family, governments and churches. The inventors of crypto-currencies speak the secret language of codes and algorithms.

The fact that algorithms are abstract intellectual inventions producing nothing material doesn’t seem to bother cryptocurrency creators, as mathematical logos are seen as a narrative creating an alternate universe. As an Abracadabra spokesperson said, sure, it’s going on in your head, but why on earth should that mean it’s not real?

Money’s complete detachment from its earthly moorings may be why the site Abracadabra talks about conjuring magic money on the internet, describing schemes on how to cast spells that unlock the keys to wealth. Interestingly, some scholars say that abracadabra is a distortion of the Hebrew ebrah k’dabri, which means I will create as I speak. In other words, the word will magically create new realities.

The metaphysics of fundamental crypto codes and algorithms has been succinctly summarized by Tyler Winklevoss, founder of cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. He states: We have chosen to place our money and our faith in a mathematical framework free from politics and human error.

Winklevoss, perhaps unwittingly, has pinpointed another major issue regarding the ontological mathematics of cryptocurrencies. No monetary system is free from human error.

The idea of ​​incorruptible money is a Gnostic attempt to place Mammon on a spiritual plane far removed from the supposedly inherent and irredeemably venal materiality of earthly institutions. Immutable blockchain technology will make money conduits sinless and ensure complete freedom and equality for all.

Where there is infallibility and freedom from human error, there is the divine attraction of a Promised Land or Kingdom of Peace. An incorruptible currency derived from an incorruptible mathematical foundation appeals to supranational organizations pushing claims of global significance.

But mathematics is not an incorruptible means of creating material reality. It is not the divine logos that announces anything into existence, including money.

On the contrary, as Emmanuel Kant pointed out in The Critique of Judgment, mathematics creates absolutely nothing. Mathematics simply points to material reality. It is human desire that crosses the bridge of pure mathematics, causing the object that mathematics designates as becoming real.

The investor/miner belief is that at the end of all this vast expenditure of time and energy is a pot of gold. Their strenuous efforts are reminiscent of attempts to find El Dorado by finding X on the top secret map; to discover the fountain of youth by traversing uncharted territory, or to obtain the Midas touch through secret alchemical formulas. Magical incantations of codes and algorithms are the open sesame opening the door leading to unimaginable treasures.

But claims of infallibility coupled with the requirement of absolute faith are commonly used by creators of fraudulent schemes that yield nothing of value. As the pragmatist Warren Buffet points out, it’s ingenious and blockchain is important but Bitcoin has no unique value, it produces nothing. You can watch it all day and no little Bitcoin comes out or anything like that. It is basically an illusion.

Crypto seeks to enable escape in a cybersphere establishing an illusory economy. But it is the currency of progressive nihilism, an ideology that seeks the collapse of all earthly institutions in favor of an unknown future utopia.

Church leaders may want to hesitate before embarking on yet another permutation of an ancient heresy. Political leaders may want to pause before embracing Gnostic economics.

Charlie Munger is right. Bitcoin and the computing behind it is a triumph of the mind and that is what captivates all these people. (But) I see a means of artificial speculation which has no intrinsic value. It is immoral. It has no desirable social purpose. It’s a combination of insanity and immorality and I think people pushing it are a disgrace.

Buffet and Munger understand the concept of real money. Money, like the people it serves as a means to efficiently transact goods and services, should be and is of and of the earth. Money should again be tied to material realities such as rare but producible and tangible materials like gold or silver. Fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies should be rejected as fake.

Fay Voshell holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded him the Distinguished Fellowship in Systematic Theology. His thoughts have been published in numerous online magazines, including National Review, American Thinker, Russia Insider, CNS, RealClearReligion, LifeSiteNews, and The Christian Post. She can be reached at [email protected].

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