Rapp Report episode 211

How to get started with Bitcoin is the topic of this episode. Welcome to Andrew Rappaport's Rapp Report, where we provide Biblical interpretation and application! The show is a ministry of Striving for Eternity and the Christian Podcast Community. In today’s episode, host Andrew Rappaport is joined by friend and Pastor Jim Osman of Kootenai Community Church in Idaho for part two of the conversation on bitcoin started in the last episode!  The hosts of the Bitcoin and the Bible podcast - Dave, Simon, and Will - join us again to discuss bitcoin, focusing today on the practical side of starting to use bitcoin.

 

Before turning to practical advice, though, Jim asks what will keep bitcoin from inflation or from dropping in value.  Will explains that people continue buying bitcoin because it's a superior form of money, and they will ultimately have the ability to consume all available bitcoin supply.  This dynamic, grounded in the fact that value is subjective and based on market needs, listeners can be assured that the value of bitcoin will not go to 0.  With regard to inflation, Will describes the way that bitcoin operates with a hard cap of 21 million, and how the bitcoin system is designed with a kind of self-regulation because it's in every bitcoin holder's best interest to hold others to the rules of the system.

 

Turning to some possible concerns and responses to them, the group first considers whether or not the bitcoin cap will pose a problem.  Even when the cap is reached, there will be plenty of bitcoin and sufficient divisibility to ensure global commerce can exist on a digital system.  And while some people are wary of bitcoin's fluctuations in market value, the current fiat system is over-engineered to avoid volatility.  Volatility, however, is a sign of life, and actually provides a reason for us to trust bitcoin!  The change in the bitcoin market is rooted in the fact that the market is free and open, and so at each moment, the dollar price of bitcoin is determined by willing buyers and sellers.  While the primary reason people put their money in banks is to be able to move it digitally, bitcoin facilitates this movement even better than banks; it allows for the transfer of money without bank control and with great speed.

 

As the conversation progresses, the group considers what bitcoin mining is.  At its most basic level, this mining involves grouping pending transactions into a block and finding the random number to make the block valid.  The process leaves a track of work that demonstrates the history of transactions and is done with a specially purposed computer.  The sort of computer required to mine (an ASIC miner) helps to bolster the security of the process, and some bitcoin users have also elected to study quantum computing, which is expected to protect bitcoin in the more technologically-advanced future.

 

Dave, Simon, and Will encourage listeners to lean into bitcoin rather than other cryptocurrencies, and the next topic of conversation is the rationale behind this selectivity.  Some cryptocurrencies are trying to be money, and others are not doing so, and in general, money wants to converge on a single best form of money.  At this point, bitcoin is the predominant form of digital money; the choice cycle pushes bitcoin value up and down, and the positioning of bitcoin at the pinnacle of the cryptocurrency world gives it a lot of security.  Other forms of cryptocurrency don't work well because the incentive behind them (the driver of crypto outcomes!) won't work, and some of them are even built of systems that allow the rich and powerful to rewrite the rules.

 

Now, assuming a person is convinced to give bitcoin a shot, the glaring question still remains: How can someone get set up on bitcoin?  Fortunately, there are great resources (including a Startup Guide and many others on BitcoinandtheBible.com!) to help lead the way, and though there are things to learn,