Ep 47. Is Bitcoin religion?

Weekly rant: Is Bitcoin religion?<br/><br/>The crescent moon was spotted. Ramadan is here. <br/><br/>This is a particularly holy time for the 4.5 billion Muslims, Jews and Christians around the world. Muslims are fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month. Jews are preparing for Passover. Catholics are giving up vices to observe Lent as all Christians gear up for Easter. <br/><br/>But the world is losing religion. Mosque, synagogue and church attendance have been falling in the West. Is Bitcoin the new religion? <br/><br/>The similarities are eerie. <br/><br/>Bitcoin maxis seek to evangelize and orange-pill non-believers much in the same way a missionary might seek to convert a pagan. The Bitcoin crowd flocks to Twitter Bitcoin celebrities like the faithful grasp on to every word uttered by televangelists. The plebs tweeting condemnation at Ethereum enthusiasts are reminiscent of the fundamentalist ferociously yelling that all sinners are going to hell. Some tout Bitcoin as the solution to all the sorts of problems just as the devout look to God. But I guess the difference is that we have not had any Bitcoin holy wars&#8230;.so much blood has been shed in the name of religion. Hopefully Bitcoin does not add to the tally. <br/><br/>This week, Miami will host Bitcoin 2022 - the single largest crypto conference in the world. Brace yourself. It&#8217;s going to be an eventful week. Many of the speeches will likely be a rehash of content one can already find online but I expect some major announcements. Controversially, President Bukele of El Salvador is set to give a speech. I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, I admire a technology-forward leader. At the same time, I&#8217;m disturbed by reports of human rights abuses and corruption. Sigh. This reminds me of the early days when Bitcoin was adopted by Silk Road and other unsavory characters. I hope mass media focuses on the underlying technology not the cast of early adopters. The reality is that savvy criminals adopt new technology to evade police tacti