Joe Weisenthal, the executive editor of news for Bloomberg Digital, said that blockchains are essentially inefficient and that “Bitcoin is for making transactions The Man is against.”

The Man

The comments come from Bloomberg’s Markets newsletter, which Weisenthal reproduced in a tweet on Oct. 17. He elaborated that transactions would not be possible without individuals willing to pay fiat money for Bitcoin (BTC), with blockchains being “inherently inefficient, computationally costly systems,” which only have value when using them for transactions.

Weisenthal urged regulators and lawmakers to consider if it is really reasonable to pour money into the system and to make it easier for transactors to purchase things law enforcement authorities are against. Weisenthal continued:

“If you're in the business of creating institutional onramps to crypto, you have to be cognizant of the risk that one day regulators wake up and ask: Wait, why did we provide a gateway to provide liquidity into a space, whose express purpose is to let people evade The Man?”

“Nonsense & misinformation”

The post turned into a heated discussion, with the participation of leading industry players. Anthony Pompliano, the founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets, argued:

“This is wildly inaccurate. You're claiming that non-censorship is the only value prop of Bitcoin. What about the non-seizure element? What about the disinflationary monetary supply? Or the sound money element? Or pseudonymity? Please stop writing nonsense & misinformation.”

Co-founder of Gemini crypto exchange, Cameron Winklevoss noted that the liquidity of gold markets enables “transactors,” while it is a store of value and not a medium of exchange. Winklevoss further asked Weisenthal to reason his “tortured argument” to Bitcoin.

Weisenthal parried, saying: “There's no question that liquidity in the gold market helps transactors. But it's extremely hard to use gold online in an censorship free manner, so that's not part of the selling point,” to which Winklevoss questioned who exactly is transacting in gold.