If
you’re
looking
for
more
proof
of
the
gap
of
comprehension
between
“normies”
and
crypto
fanatics,
look
no
further
than
the
results
of
a
Deutsche
Bank
survey
of
2,000
retail
clients
last
week.
The
most
striking
result
wasn’t
even
that
a
third
of
respondents
saw
bitcoin
below
$20,000
by
year
end.
That’s
less
than
half
its
current
price,
and
well
shy
of
Anthony
Scaramucci’s
$170,000
price
target,
which,
like
other
bullish
predictions,
sees
ETF-spurred
demand
running
up
against
thinner
supply
after
the
next
“halving”
this
April.
You’re
reading
Money
Reimagined,
a
weekly
look
at
the
technological,
economic
and
social
events
and
trends
that
are
redefining
our
relationship
with
money
and
transforming
the
global
financial
system.
Subscribe
to
get
the
full
newsletter
here.
No,
what
jumped
out
at
me
was
the
answer
to
a
question
about
Bitcon’s
survivability:
more
people
said
Bitcoin
will
disappear
in
the
coming
years
than
those
who
believed
it
would
stick
around.
Knowing
my
readership,
I’m
sure
more
than
a
few
of
you
are
shaking
your
heads
right
now,
as
you
contemplate
the
return
of
the
“Bitcoin
is
dead”
meme.
As
this
famous
tracker
of
press
reports
predicting
Bitcoin’s
demise
cheekily
points
out,
Bitcoin
has
died
475
times
since
2010.
But,
really,
the
joke
is
on
us.
After
all
this
time,
after
so
many
revivals
proving
the
naysayers
wrong,
and
despite
a
13-year
track
record
that
makes
it
the
best
investment
of
the
post-financial
crisis
era,
that
people
still
think
Bitcoin
will
soon
go
away
represents
a
massive
failure
of
outreach
and
communication
for
this
industry.
We
have
not
explained
what
this
thing
is
–
not
well
enough
for
Joe
Six-Pack
to
understand.
Miscomprehension
I’m
as
guilty
as
the
next
person
in
this.
Because
it’s
easy
to
feel
derision
and
annoyance
at
this
lack
of
understanding,
an
attitude
that
makes
it
harder
to
earn
Joe’s
confidence
and
help
him
get
head
around
this
complicated,
unfamiliar
concept.
Here’s
the
retort
I
instinctively
thought
of
when
I
read
the
Deutsche
survey
results:
Oh
really,
people!
Bitcoin
is
going
to
die
this
year?
How
exactly
will
that
happen?
Who
is
going
to
shut
it
down?
There’s
no
person
or
company
with
a
kill
switch
for
Bitcoin’s
open-source
codebase;
so
you’re
suggesting
it
will
happen
organically,
via
the
collective
actions
of
everyone
involved
in
it?
You
think
every
single
one
of
the
tens
of
millions
of
people
who’ve
invested
time
and
effort
into
it
–
the
miners,
the
developers,
the
investors,
the
users
–
none
of
whom
has
any
way
of
coordinating
with
each
other
–
is
going
to
simultaneously
walk
away
from
it?
Okaaaaay…
One
reason
the
Bitcoin-is-dead
prediction
is
so
galling
is
because
it
is
explicitly
contradicted
by
the
one,
incontrovertible
feature
that
represents
Bitcoin’s
core
value
proposition:
that
it
cannot
be
shut
down.
In
a
world
where
everything
else
can
be
commandeered
by
a
government,
a
bank,
an
internet
platform
or
a
hacker,
unstoppability
is
a
powerful
idea.
We
have
an
incredible
invention
in
our
midst:
an
immutable,
math-based
system
for
tracking
our
conveyances
of
value
with
each
other,
predictably
ticking
over
a
new
block
of
records
every
ten
minutes
in
full
defiance
of
interference
or
censorship
by
anyone.
People
really
should
marvel
at
it.
But
most
don’t.
Joe
Six-Pack
is
not
impressed.
That
might
be
because
it’s
too
abstract
an
idea.
What
is
the
tangible
benefit
to
him?
He
has
dollars
and
they
work,
more
or
less.
While
he
might
not
be
happy
with
his
government,
he
accepts
its
monetary
system.
To
ponder
the
bigger
question
of
how
a
censorship-resistant,
depoliticized
form
of
value
exchange
can
underpin
the
sovereignty
of
human
beings
on
a
global
scale
that
transcends
nation-states’
systems
of
dependency
is
just
not
meaningful
to
his
day-to-day
existence.
Mistrust
What
Joe
Six-Pack
needs
is
to
trust
in
something.
And,
sadly,
he
doesn’t
get
that
from
the
crypto
community.
If
someone
is
selling
him
something
he
doesn’t
understand,
Joe
will
hold
that
person
to
a
higher
standard
before
he
trusts
them.
And
when
the
behavior
of
people
associated
with
that
thing
confirms
his
biases,
he
will
conclude
that
they
–
and
the
thing
they
are
selling
–
cannot
be
trusted.
All
of
the
noise,
the
bravado,
the
“to
the
moon”
and
“have
fun
staying
poor”
memes,
the
bling,
the
obsessiveness…
whether
justified
or
not,
it
just
makes
it
so
much
harder
for
Joe
to
believe
in
Bitcoin.
We
need
simple,
sympathetic
messages.
