Elon Musk has already done so much ! Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyperloop, The Boring Factory…
The first argument to prove my point : he’s already done so much ! why not add a small line to his curriculum !
The second argument is : he is the founder of Paypal. In “Zero To One”, Peter Thiel stated that everyone in Paypal was working to provide an alternative to the dollar… And they failed actually ! It was good business though. They all became very rich. Yet, the dollar is still alive and Paypal is closer to making some dollars (88 billions actually) than replacing it. And Elon is not the guy who likes to fail.
The third argument is : his life goal is “making mankind a multiplanetary species” and very notably bringing people to mars. Yet, there is an issue with that. Let’s assume I live on Mars. What property should have a currency on Mars ?
- trust : let’s say I work on Mars. Will I risk having all my earnings put at risk of an incident (asteroid on a planet with no atmosphere…) ? If I work several years on Mars, I want to have the opportunity to come back to Earth with the money of my hard work. In a multipolar planet Earth (USA, Europe, China, Africa…), it makes no sense to put your money in the currency of a single state, even the US (come on ! They elected Donald Trump !). Bitcoin solves that.
- sure : I need to trust the money I own will keep its worth and will not lose value over time. Or will even appreciate ! Bitcoin solves that.
- valuable on multiple planets / asteroids including on Earth : I should be able to travel back to any country on Earth and have the money accepted or go to a moon on Jupiter and have my money accepted. Bitcoin solves that.
- insensitive to time difference between planets : do I want to be dependent on a currency that I can only trade with at least 3 minutes delay (speed of light limit). With Bitcoin, being offline for a while is not an issue. I can still validate my transaction with certainty.
That’s why Elon Musk invented bitcoins. He needed a currency the first people to go to Mars would trust and use ! A currency that’s practical, that’s earning value over time, which can be more trusted than gold (I wonder which of you can recognize true gold…) and would make the information delay between Earth and Mars no disadvantage for marsians.
In addition to that, it has the benefits of making him the owner of one million bitcoins (enough to motivate people to go to Mars and finance it).
Then the question is : “Why is he hiding it ?” Because he sold Paypal to Ebay in 2002 and does not have the right to launch a competitor. That’s why he kept it a secret. And I have to say the secrecy of the launch makes it easier for the community to adopt the technology, without a leader and american billionaire to work on it. Would China have accepted Bitcoins, had it known it was a Silicon Valley new endeavour ?
Will Bitcoin survive ? Probably ! Anyway, its goal should be the one of its founder ! Making Bitcoin a multiplanetary currency !