In this day and age, it is pretty much impossible to have respect for any mainstream media outlet that reports on Bitcoin and digital currency. None of these so-called journalists bother to do any research on the topic, and will just write anything down to put Bitcoin is a most negative spotlight. The Washington Post is no exception in this regard, as their recent Bitcoin article has more holes than the average cheese.
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Bitcoin Fact-Checking Is Hard For A Journalist
Let’s cut to the chase and start poking holes in the recent Bitcoin story posted by Vivek Wadhwa, a so-called journalist for The Washington Post. While it is not uncommon to see articles where Bitcoin is declared dead whenever a major event happens, this story takes the crown in term of biased, under-researched and utterly wrong BS.
First of all. Wadhwa touches upon the subject of Mike Hearn’s announcement, similar to how other mainstream media outlets tend to go about things. Rather than reading through the full post, he just quoted the most obvious sentence about how Hearn declared Bitcoin to be dead. While it remains to be seen whether or not any of his coins was actually sold, the journalist in question goes along with the story.
Furthermore. Wadhwa goes on talking about how Bitcoin has serious flaws: the digital currency is anonymous – no it isn’t – and unregulated – once again, not entirely correct – and became a safe haven for criminal activity. Has this person ever used fiat currency in his life? The most anonymous form of money is cash, and money-laundering is occurring on a daily basis in traditional finance. Not to mention, funding wars, terrorism, human trafficking, drug trade, and who knows what else.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Wadhwa goes on to make a comparison between Bitcoin and a Ponzi scheme. Last time anyone looked up the word Ponzi scheme, there is no one referring people to the network and directly benefiting from doing so. Furthermore, the total coin supply of Bitcoin has not been reached yet, so what would be there to Ponzi in the first place? Maybe try picking up a dictionary on your way out, you might learn a thing or two, good sir.
Granted, Bitcoin exchanges have seen their fair share of issues along the way, which was to be expected. Banks have been around for decades, yet their online services get hacked or shut down on a whim’s notice. No one is reporting on those events anymore, as they have become so standard, they border on the edge of boring. Bitcoin exchanges have seen far fewer issues, and security has been stepped up tremendously over the past few years. A little bit of research would have Wadhwa that as well.
Last but not least, journalist Wadhwa feels that Bitcoin should be scrapped, and a new version will need to take its place. Had this person done any research, he would know that several changes will be coming to the Bitcoin ecosystem in the near future, including an increased block size to allow for more transactions. Also, digital ledgers can be hijacked apparently? Perhaps this Washington Post journalist should sign up to become a blockchain developer, as he can achieve things no one else has been able to over the past seven years.
Source: The Washington Post
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