Andreas Antonopoulos is a Bitcoin expert, host of Let's Talk Bitcoin and author of Mastering Bitcoin. The charismatic thought leader is known for his testimony at the Canadian Senate Hearing and for delivering a phenomenal introduction to Bitcoin.
Many people look to him for comments on current events in the Bitcoin space, so it's no surprise that Redditors flocked to his AMA on Thursday. Within, Antonopoulos described why Bitcoin is here to stay, expressed his interest in the Reddit cryptocurrency project, and explained how to “fight” a horse.
Here are our 10 favorite quotes:
1.
“Bitcoin will remain, in my opinion, a relentless anomaly that refuses to go away - a black swan that cannot be ignored or extinguished.”
2.
“Content creators now have a new way of financing their creativity, without depending on advertisers or media channels. Bitcoin can help with the evolution of kickstarter, indiegogo and other crowdfunding tools into global, borderless and massive systems for funding the arts and creative content. I can't wait!”
In response to a comment from a tiny production company in the middle of crowdfunding a horror film. They wanted to know Bitcoin might be applied in the arts world.
3.
“For the 'other 6 billion' who don't enjoy international, control-free banking as we do, bitcoin represents an opportunity to become part of a global economy which up till now did not exist. For those users, bitcoin is more than just a curiosity, it might be a doorway to connect to the world.”
4.
“Bitcoin's consensus algorithm requires a very conservative approach to change, so I certainly think it is best to solve problems when they are actually problems and not before.”
In a response to a question about long term Bitcoin scalability.
5.
“Most of the countries with large incoming remittances flows are also countries with severely restricted currency outflows (currency controls). In those countries, many wealthy people have the need to convert their money into foreign currencies. These are counter-flows but they are asymmetric. For example, a single wealthy person extracting 10,000 currency units a week could support 1000x poor people importing 10 currency units from immigrant workers abroad or contract work for foreign companies. Successful remittances depend on matching these two needs and creating balanced flows in both directions.”
6.
“Decentralized exchanges would be best, but despite hard work from many, such a system has not been built so far.”
7. One commenter asked: “Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses?” Antonopoulos replied thoughtfully:
“100 duck-sized horses. Ducks are aggressive and predatory and are used as livestock guards in farms in England because of their aggressive temperament. Horses are by nature docile prey animals that are easily spooked and risk averse. I wouldn't fight, I'd just go 'BOO!'”
8.
“Security is both the biggest issue in bitcoin and the biggest opportunity in bitcoin. Solve it and you may create a massive new industry. ”
9.
“Bitcoin is at the same stage as the Internet in 1992-1993. At that time, it took UNIX command-line skills to send email. No way near ready for mainstream adoption.”
10.
“Bitcoin has a tremendous 'network effect', in my opinion, which may give it an insurmountable early-mover advantage. In technology it is often not the best technology that "wins", but the one that achieves broad enough adoption and recognition early enough. Good enough beats best if deployed broadly.”
And finally, here is a bonus honorable mention:
11.
“The average user should pick up bitcoin: “To experience the future of money. To gain a glimpse into an exciting technology. To learn about how money could be in the future and also become aware of how limited money and banks are today.”
Did you enjoy this article? You may also be interested in reading these ones: