Panorama Bitcoin Portrayal Skewed

I watched the #BBC #Panorama programme on #Bitcoin last night and thought it was a shame that it was such populist twaddle driven by the BBC’s insufferable bias.

The reporter simply concentrated on the negatives associated with cryptocurrency in general and Bitcoin in particular. The number of “grey accountants” trotted out to call for regulation simply to keep them in a job unbalanced the programme to such an extent that it became embarrassing and while the use of the masked extras to signify the anonymity of the blockchain was innovative it added to the feeling that it was all a bit shady.

In the past, border controls in Europe meant that criminal gangs and terrorists found it hard to shift product whether that product is drugs, arms or people between countries. Now with the advent of the EU, the authorities job is that much more difficult. It means they must deal with solving the problem in a different way.

That is the same with Bitcoin and criminality. The fact that criminals found it difficult to bridge the gap between illegal and legal movement of funds has or will disappear means that police forces globally will have to do something other than chase the money.

That is not intended to sound glib or fatuous, it is merely progress.

The other major benefit of Bitcoin and more importantly other cryptocurrencies which, by the way got an exceptionally raw deal last night, was not even mentioned. The ability to raise capital for start-ups in a tech driven environment at least rivals dot com and look where that seeming bubble is today. ICO’s were labelled as bad but there is no difference between an ICO, IPO or any other offering from a business to raise capital.

Yes of course there are scammers but there are also hard-working tech-savvy young entrepreneurs who have lost faith in banks and the FIAT system and are willing to try something else.

Banks have lost all credibility. HSBC for example has a judgement hanging over it which means it could lose its license at any time. It however continuesto flout rules and seemingly treats fines as a cost of doing business. Barclays apparently shouldn’t even be around today. The SFO believes that it took a loan from Qatar in 2008 which it used to buy its own shares to avoid collapse.

These are just two examples but the Panorama presenter on held them up as paragons to be trusted with the worlds finances.

Maybe forty years ago but not anymore!