Posted on 07/27/2024 1:35:32 AM PDT by Oscar in Batangas
The former National Security Agency contractor did not name any particular US or international lawmakers but warned many didn’t belong to the “tribe” of Bitcoiners.
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has been in exile in Russia since 2013, warned attendees at the Bitcoin 2024 conference about politicians trying to woo them over crypto.
In a July 26 speech held virtually at the crypto conference, Snowden said many lawmakers were trying to earn the “love” of Bitcoiners, hinting at those attending the Nashville event. He did not explicitly refer to United States or international politicians, though US Senators Bill Hagerty, Cynthia Lummis and Tim Scott addressed attendees in different panels shortly before Snowden spoke.
“Cast a vote, but don’t join a cult,” said Snowden. “They are not our tribe. They are not your personality. They have their own interests, their own values, their own things they’re chasing. Try to get what you need from them, but don’t give yourself to them, even if you have to vote for them.”
Related: NSA ’just days from taking over the internet’ warns Edward Snowden
From exile in Russia, Snowden has often spoken virtually at crypto-related events and through social media to express his opinions on Bitcoin BTC and financial privacy. Though many supporters have called for US Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden to pardon the NSA whistleblower while they were in office, as of July 2024, there was no plan to do so.
Trump, who won the Republican nomination for US president in 2024, is expected to speak at the Bitcoin conference on July 27. In 2020 during his last year in office, he said he would “start looking at” pardoning Snowden, but he did not follow through before leaving in January 2021.
(Considering all that has been disclosed about the deep state, I'd be at least 75% in favor of it.)
Dick Cheney called Snowden a traitor back in 2012. Snowden’s cool with me if he’s an enemy of Dick Cheney.
Tell us, Snowy, where you make your money.
Don’t like BitC, don’t make money.
He’s made a life by now over there, so I don’t think he would come home if pardoned. A pardon probably wouldn’t protect him any way, because they would just kill him and make it look like an accident.
He’s got a life now, so he doesn’t need to come home.
Dick Cheney called Snowden a traitor back in 2012. Snowden’s cool with me if he’s an enemy of Dick Cheney.
There is a huge list of liberal Republicans whom we all came to loathe, not just the Cheneys and Bushes.
They are not liberals. They are globalists happy to make deals with Marxists for their own gain.
Cheney conflates the Deep State with the country and the Constitution. As we know (and Cheney doesn't), they are not the same thing.
Currency is a token of barter. Nothing more, nothing less. Like a generally accepted IOU.
Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is a recorded digital currency, but the value and purpose of such recording is specious. And as a stable medium of exchange, it isn't. Its value is all over the place.
You are not wrong to be skeptical.
I have made a little money trading a Bitcoin ETF lately. It’s definitely an asset to be played with gambling money only, but someone I know turned a small ‘bet’ into a big return. I just cautioned him to cash in some of his winnings from time to time.
That kind of digging is what saved me from the dotcom bubble (and I was a very early investor in Amazon and a few other relatively solid dotcoms and could have gotten trapped if I hadn't luckily been very honest with myself about what I saw in the weeds).
Tesla is a little bit like that. It has some incredible technology and produces a great product (the cars), but it is heavily dependent on artificial demand (created by the media/culture and made affordable by the government).
As you probably know, when you get way down in the weeds on any subject, you start to wonder if you haven't missed something. Ergo, I might be missing the intrinsic value of cryptocurrency just because there is a massive amount of detail down in those weeds.;-)
“Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is a recorded digital currency, but the value and purpose of such recording is specious. And as a stable medium of exchange, it isn’t. Its value is all over the place.”
Is the value of Bitcoin pegged to anything? Such as gold? I looked at a chart of Bitcoin expressed in dollars. It has gone up and down but generally up. However, there are many stocks that have done better.
By the way, Bidenflation is real. In the last four years we started going to the grocery store with a $100 bill getting cash back, as an alternative to going to the ATM for cash. Now we need two $100 bills. We need deflation to get back to where we were. I think DJT can do that at the pump, which should help generally.
You are making some good points.
In Russia he probably has ultimate protection from assassins. In the USA he’s a sitting duck.
The things he made public were actually made public in bits and pieces here and there well before he did it. Today just about any digital smart device is a surveillance and tracking device and the people are just eating this stuff up like manna from Heaven. The J6 people were mostly rounded up due to their cell phones.
Americans aren’t just stupid because of voting.
Edward Snowden’s Bitcoin Nashville keynote address is on YouTube:
Speaking of inflation, it is not stabilizing or going down as the dims say. The various brands of 100 box of K cups at Costco just went to 75 cups for the same price. (in unison)
Every bitcoin critic reads from the same battle card, and just below “tulip bulbs” and “ponzi” you’ll always find the “no intrinsic value” catchphrase instead of a real argument.
Reading bitcoin threads over the past few years on FreeRepublic, I can safely say that large amounts of Freepers hold beliefs about Bitcoin that are exactly the same as the DU and woke crowd.
You’d think that now that Trump finally gets it, Freepers would too. But I’m not holding my breath.
Too many people just can’t stand admitting that they’re wrong, and will continue to pimp fiat bankruptcy until the end of time.
I think it’s a generational thing. A lot of older folks simply need government to give a currency value because that’s what was drilled into them for four to five decades. They don’t understand digital assets, don’t want to understand them, become angry, and start spouting catchphrases rather than embracing the chance to learn something new and exciting.
I examined bitcoin from the POV of someone who was trained in security analysis and spent most of my career in this business. BTW, I admitted that I might be missing the intrinsic value of cryptocurrency.
You smear people who disagree with your bias as old, confused, and possibly Woke instead of explaining why there is "real" fundamental value in bitcoin.
As you probably know, ad hominem (which describes your smearing people who disagree with you) is a logical fallacy typically used by people who don't have a good argument for their position.
As an aside, as a former New Yorker, I have followed Trump's career since the late 1970s. While I have supported him for president since 2015, I realize that he has limited experienced in investments outside of real estate, casinos, and golf courses. I wouldn't bet on his having a deep understanding of bitcoin. Same for Elon. Love Elon, but he makes mistakes from time to time.
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