Granted, not all bitcoin clients are run in this fashion, but you mention the core developers, who are held accountable to the community by their reputations. There's something greatly liberating about being able to talk to the policy setters on IRC and have them treat you like any other person, rather than part of the rabble.
People will fight the government with all their might for not trying to put in regulations and policy when their own "good fortune" ends. They think it was bound to happen and possibly a consequence of the government's inability.
Most people are more like children than they'd like to admit. The evidence is there but they lack the willingness to understand it. They will fight you with all their might but when it does come tumbling down on them they will blame the parents for not doing more since they knew better.
How do you justify that despite the blockchain being decentralized - that at any time, a dozen different people could immediately or long term ruin or muck with bitcoin’s policies and directions?
I’ll also at this time point out it’s a commodity in effect, not a currency really, but different topic.
Your argument seems to be the idealized “it’s open and no one owns it man” and not the reality that the only part that’s “free” is the mathy database part.
If it is a commodity, then it's one that's awfully easy to spend on whatever random bullshit I come across on the internet.
The bitcoin forks you name have experts working on their development, true. But these developers represent a small fraction of the number of contributors to the bitcoin core client. As the number of people increases, so too does the difficulty of coming to consensus on the direction of development.
Any permissionless system must allow maliciously self-interested actors to act as they please, so long as the underlying soundness of the currency is not affected. The mass printing of tether has no effect on the usefulness of bitcoin as a transaction medium, just a temporary effect on its usefulness as a store of value (and personally, the value of bitcoin seems to be doing just fine). I'm still able to transfer bitcoin from my personal device anywhere in the world in seconds (at 0 confirmations, about an hour for the recommended 6), as opposed to waiting days for an ACH or wire transfer to clear.
Anyway, bad actors are the reason that we need the rule of law in this space. If Bitfinex is as shady as is claimed, they won't be able to get away with their schemes indefinitely.
Most central banks in developed countries have delivered reasonable moderate inflation over decades. Also, in most developed countries you're free to hold other (fiat) currencies or real assets.
Of course, some countries have huge problems, but if they introduce capital controls, they are just as likely to prohibit you from holding Bitcoin as from holding other currencies.
I still don't see what problem cryptocurrencies are solving here.
But I'm talking more about when central banks fail to react to crises, sometimes only acting months or years after action could be taken to prevent some of the worst aspects of these crashes. Plus the current pervasive distortion of markets due to quantitative easing (and now, the inverse) is seriously fucking with how we value companies. The P/E ratio of most large tech companies is absolutely crazeballs bonkers and we have monetary policy, in part, to thank for that.
As for inflation, the U.S. Federal Reserve can't seem to figure out why inflation is as low as it is with unemployment this low. They just don't know!
And if you think unregulated exchanges aren't mucking with the market then I have a bridge to sell you.
Bitcoin is deliberately unaccountable. Someone did something we all agree should not be done? That sucks, we decided to mathematically prevent preventions of that.
And remind me, what happened to Ethereum to create Ethereum Classic? And apparently they are going to (or have already) done it again! It's capitalism for the poor, communism for the rich all over again.
And if you think central banks are unaccountable then why haven't they literally stolen all the money? With Bitcoin everything that can be stolen is. Central banks don't literally have armies.
Central banks are audited to a borderline-silly level of redundancy in every major trading economy (i.e. the U.S., EU, Japan, UK, Canada and Switzerland).
Pentagon eats up trillions and no one has a clue. Trillions paid out in bank bailouts and no one questions. Billionaires take loans and declare bankruptcy...
Audits performed by those who are involved in the crime is hogwash.
For better or worse, America is the leading example of capitalism in practice. It undermines the whole brand of capitalism when they hand out 4 trillion to the banks then call it a day. Where does the integrity of the system come in to the debate?
That sort of thing was meant to be a hallmark of the communists, not first world nations.
Another basic capitalist concept is that politics should not influence capital but capital should influence politics. That's because who would know better how to make money and what's best: money makers or politicians? The idea is political interest can turn into unwise economic moves, but capitalist interest will always turn into wise economic moves. Why do you think lobbying isn't considered corruption? Because it's expected that politics needs a hand from business to make the right call.
In practice this turns out how you see it today. The premise was solid, the implementation not so much. In communism state dictates and the business is at its mercy. In capitalism capital dictates and the state is at its mercy. See the QE as quieting up an unruly child by giving him what he wants. What else can you do, get another child? Sink your economy? It's still your own people you hurt in the end.
Very few people actually understand what capitalism or communism are or what they were supposed to be, beyond what quick consumption TV or internet media tells them. Also very few people accept to change their opinions as the facts change. They'd rather fight it.
Good for them I guess... some things really are bliss.