r/BitcoinDiscussion • u/Full-Atmosphere-4818 • Jun 01 '26
Struggling To See How Bitcoin Is An Escape From Mandatory CBDCs.
I was watching a great video by Matthew Kratter on YouTube and he talked about how Bitcoin is a way out of forced government bail-ins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) if they ever come to exist. Well, I struggle to see how it would be any escape at all. So I was hoping someone could explain to me what I might be missing.
If the EU, USA, oil states, Japan and China governments all decided to convert to CBDCs around the same time, then of course the governments would also pass a law dictating they are the only currency that may be used in any legal transaction and that it would be a crime to use any other currency, including Bitcoin. So although Bitcoin cannot be confiscated directly by the government if you have a cold wallet, what good is Bitcoin on your cold wallet if you need to buy food or pay rent or a mortgage? If you convert your Bitcoin to CBDC to in order to live and buy things, then the government knows you have Bitcoin and the game is up. You are a counterfeiter and off to prison you go. Also, no retailer will risk going to jail so they will not take Bitcoin for goods or services. The ETFs will simply convert their coins back to dollars and hand over the coins to the government. Why? Because they want to stay in business, not take a stand against a government than can simply put them out of business with the stroke of a pen.
All the government needs to do is make CBDCs the only legal tender, then make using anything other than CBDC a crime. Specifically, make it a crime for retailers to accept it. This essentially locks up the hodled Bitcoin as unusable. And I find it unlikely that the answer is to fly to some other third world island country and this magically fixes the problem. The small nations will likely not rebel against the rest of the world and be excluded from the global economy just to curry favor from the less than 1% that holds out with their Bitcoin.
Interested in anyone who has a rational response to this, especially if they can show historical precedent. Thanks!
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u/OrangePillar Jun 03 '26
First of all, stop listening to Kratter.
Second of all, do you think the CBDC scenario you imagine would make gold and silver similarly unusable in P2P transactions?
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u/Full-Atmosphere-4818 Jun 03 '26
It mostly worked in 1932, didn't it. First off, 80% of all Bitcoin is owned in a third party context. So that means most people are out. Next, you can keep the Bitcoin yes, but how will you ever spend it? Who will take it on? Another person with their own private wallet? How many people is that?
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u/LucSr Jun 03 '26
Any law enforcement has cost. If there are mass users of something illegal so that a mass enforcement is lack of government budget, then that thing becomes legal. A law is violated by a lot of people and is thus left unenforced instead.
The only way out for bitcoin is stated in the subject of its white paper already for average Joe, not for institutions or for the rich. People who disagree this obvious corollary simply ignore your question, or simply want to replace the old elites, who can always have methods to ignore laws than average Joe, in a new society.
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u/lexicon_riot Jun 01 '26
Kratter is a grifting shill, first of all. He sells overpriced courses. He defames one of the most prolific Bitcoin devs by calling her a whore, who only got her position by sleeping with someone. He uses scare tactics and sensationalism to trick the dumbest Bitcoiners into supporting the most pointless soft fork.
They can say Bitcoin is illegal, but that doesn't actually stop people from using Bitcoin as money.
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u/IInsulince Jun 01 '26
Anti BIP-110 sentiments that don’t actually address it should be taken with a grain of salt.
The same is true for those speaking in favor of it.
You’ve effectively just insulted Kratter without addressing his arguments. Put up or shut up, because OP isn’t even asking about BIP-110, so your shilling for or against it isn’t needed here.
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u/lexicon_riot Jun 01 '26
You're right, OP didn't mention BIP-110. They mentioned Kratter, who is a lying grifter, guilty of defaming an innocent person for the sake of engagement. This type of unapologetic behavior is absolutely disgusting.
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u/IInsulince Jun 01 '26
They mentioned Kratter in passing, they are asking about CBDCs, not if Kratter is a reputable or ethical figure or not.
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u/lexicon_riot Jun 01 '26
He's still a POS, IDK why you feel the need to white knight for him
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u/IInsulince Jun 01 '26
I’m not white knighting for him. I’ve seen his content as well, and also his treatment of who I assume you are referring to, Gloria, and largely agree with your outlook. What I’m saying is, Kratter isn’t BIP-110, and this post isn’t even about either of those things, so why are you hijacking it? Feels like someone wanted to ask if a Tesla is a good car and someone interjects a whole “Elon bad” rant.
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u/lexicon_riot Jun 01 '26
If I know people are getting information from a compromised source, I'm going to call it out.
Kratter's lack of integrity directly influences the content he produces. The Elon comparison doesn't hold up, but if someone lets it slip they're buying a car from Matilda's dad I'd let them know he's a con artist.
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u/never_safe_for_life Jun 01 '26
You’re talking North Korea levels of financial repression. Imprisoning citizens for exercising their right to transact via any means they choose. Will the government outlaw swap meets at the same time? Gold? This would be an unprecedented grab for power in any liberal democracy and would fail.
0
u/Prize-Support-9351 Jun 01 '26
It’s simply mental ping pong. They somehow have to sell it for cash to use it but yeah be sure to keep those things and hope one day you can sell them for “more” cash lol yet they keep getting hacked and getting their supposed impenetrable codes bypassed by hacks and bogus text messages and that kind of crap losing millions per month that disappears into the ether forever, it’s truly insane dude
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u/hblok Jun 01 '26
All the government needs to do is make CBDCs the only legal tender, then make using anything other than CBDC a crime. Specifically, make it a crime for retailers to accept it. This essentially locks up the hodled Bitcoin as unusable.
Although I wouldn't put it past clueless politicians to attempt this, it seems highly unlikely.
Rather, the way the industry is going, is through heavy regulation. Know Your Customer, Anti Money Laundering detection. It takes years and years to establish a business which can trade in crypto.
The days of BTC as a underworld currency is long gone. Every sat can be traced, and virtually every transaction will have user identifying details attached. The "travel rule" is by regulation.
They only leniency I've seen, is some level of history to the transactions. So if you get coins from a blacklisted account, you're in trouble. However, if you're six hops down the line (or whatever the number is), that's most likely not on you. Provided the flow has been diluted along the way.
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u/Realistic_Fee_00001 Jun 30 '26
This is why Bitcoin needs more throughput. P2p cash transactions cannot be stopped.