Blockchain Bait and Switch

Bait-and-switch Definition

"Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud used in retail sales, but also employed in other contexts ... The intention of the bait-and-switch is to encourage purchases of substituted goods, making consumers satisfied with the available stock offered, as an alternative to a disappointment or inconvenience of acquiring no goods (or bait) at all, and reckoning on a seemingly partial recovery of sunk costs expended trying to obtain the bait." - Wikipedia

The Bitcoin Bait-and-switch Scheme

The Digital Bait

The most popular application of blockchain technology is Bitcoin, which has been promoted as a payment system that is superior to the existing digital payments systems, because it supposedly has four key properties:

1. Decentralization, since it cannot be controlled and levied by the international banking cartel.
2. Safety, since it has a built-in public ledger of all transactions to prevent counterfeiting that is distributed among participating parties and is verified by volunteer timestampers called "miners" who hope to get some free bitcoins for their verification services.
3. Scarcity, since only 21 million bitcoins can possibly be mined.
4. Anonymity, since it is possible to send and receive bitcoins without giving any personally identifying information.

The Digital Switch

Although Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are indeed superior to traditional payment systems in many aspects, they still fall short of all the they have been hyped up to be. In fact the bait has been laid, and the switch is happening. Surprise! Cryptocurrencies are:

1. Not-so-decentralized, since every government has the power to regulate and co-opt every single cryptocurrency; Russia and China are even preparing too release their own Crypto Ruble and Cryppto Yuan, respectively, and there is speculation that the IMF will use the Asset Collection Chain (ACC or ACChain) to roll out new crypto special drawing rights (SDRs). (See The Digital Kingdom: China Shows Us What The IMF Planned For The Blockchain, Called ACCHAIN)
2. Not-so-safe, since there is a possibility 51% attacks, in which miners can secretly collude to control more than 50% of a cryptocurrency network's computing power and then preventt new transaction confirmations and reverse some completed transactions, enabling double-spending. Furthermore, criminals have already hacked and stolen crypto coins from exchanges, e.g., 850,000 bitcoins were stolen from the Mt. Gox exchange in 2014.
3. Not-so-scarce, since most crypto coins are now traded on exchanges, which often sell derivatives of crypto coins rather than the actual crypto coins. There is also talk about increasing the number of bitcoins,m since the supply is so small and the price has risen so much.
4. Not-so-anonymous, since the NSA and IRS can realistically implement blockchain analysis tools to track down fund transfers around the globe. (See Is Bitcoin Really Anonymous? IRS Moves To Track Cryptocurrencies With New Chain Analysis Tools.)

"Asset digitization, the greatest application of blockchain technology, is creating a new order in the digital age. ... ACCHAIN is ... the tool required by the age for asset digitization. ... Together, we can build the future, a shared economic community and a digital kingdom."

A Digital Trojan Horse

Furthermore, since Blockchain technology relies on cryptography for data security and data protection, it will open up doors for greater control. Several large banks are already working hard to create a digital currency known as Utility Settlement Coin (USC), which will allow financial institutions to save money in payment and settlements.

"In Essence, banks will be able to register, validate and share customer information – presumably with the customer’s consent – in an efficient, secure and instantaneous manner. In other words, in the mother of all ironies, a technology that has so far been geared at guaranteeing anonymity in transactions, or at least has been marketed on that basis, could soon be used by banks to keep much closer track of, and share data on identities, money flows, transactions, and spending habits." - Big Banks Are All Over Blockchain, by D. Quijones

A Digital Fence-painting Project

In Mark Twain's book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom tricks a bunch of boys into thinking that work – the thing that he doesn't want to do – is fun, so that he can spend the afternoon goofing off. He even get the boys to pay him for the "privilege" of painting. The inventor(s) of blockchain technology perhaps had this in mind. In any case, this is the reality of it today. Timestampers or "miners" are providing crowdsourced labor and computing resources at their own expense to build digital blocks in a system that uses ledgers that (supposedly) cannot be deleted.

"The blockchain is essentially a system solving problems. And every time it solves a problem, it gets a block, like a building block for a building. So essentially it's not really mining coins. It's building blocks for a digital reality ... The only reason cryptocurrency has a monetary value is to make it important to humans so they build the machines to mine it ... It's designed to do all that stuff and to get you, the consumer, to offer your computer to do it on behalf of the bank. There is ... the centralized platform that controls it, so if the platform were to get hacked, or if a developer were to create a coin that would have a pinhole back door that when it hits a certain market it opens it up, ... they can pull it all out and disappear. ... Blockchain, or cryptocurrency, is a transaction database that you can't delete from ... The Delete functionality quite possibly is one of the options for the back door in Bitcoin, because it's a database that doesn't have Delete, so if there's a super admin somewhere that can delete transactions and remove money, that would be a pretty good way to do it." - Q. Michaels on Outsource the Truth, 7 Nov. 2017

Summary

Blockchain technology is here to stay. Millions of people are embracing it and implementing it for a future digital world. Expect to hear more and more about it in the future. However, despite all the benefits it offers, it is not really as great as "experts" may say. In fact, it is basically about people donating their crowdsourced labor and computing resources to build digital blocks in a system that uses ledgers that (supposedly) cannot be deleted. Although big banks often talk negatively about cryptocurrencies, they love blockchain technology and are implementing it, since it can help them save transaction costs by allowing them to settle bank-to-bank transactions instantaneously without the need for a central operator. Thus, before you get too excited about all the possibilities blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies offer, keep in mind the long-term implications. It will not be as wonderful as some people say it is. In fact, it may be a means of global enslavement.

"Now this is the basis for the condemning, that the Light has come into the world, but the people loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were malignant." - Jesus Christ, John 3:19 SCS

"Further, there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything concealed that will not be made known and come into the open." - Jesus Christ, Luke 8:17 SCS

"People will get what they want, but they won't want what they got." - Brother Bob