Ruby on Rails creator says that the current situation in Canada is terrifying and a wakeup call. He stressed that he would have doubted the credibility of a peaceful protest in Canada three weeks ago if he said it could have resulted in martial law, bank accounts being frozen, and terrorist financing laws being used to hunt down protest donors.
‘I Was Wrong, We Need Crypto’
David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails (DHH), admitted that he was wrong about cryptocurrency and bitcoin.
Ruby on Rails (or Rails) is a web-based server-side application framework written in Ruby and released under the MIT License. Hansson is a Danish programmer and also a partner in the web-based software company Basecamp.
Hansson explained why he has changed his mind on bitcoin and crypto in an opinion article titled “I was wrong. We need crypto”, published Monday.
“To say I’ve been skeptical about Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto universe would be an understatement of epic proportions,” Hansson began, noting that he has been condemning bitcoin since the early 2010s. He cited many reasons for his opposition, including “Bitcoin’s grotesque energy consumption, the ridiculous transaction fees and low throughput, the incessant pump ‘n’ dump schemes in shitcoins,” and the Tether “fraud.”
But he now admits:
My bigger beef was actually fueled by a lack of imagination.
The programmer said that although he could see the advantages of cryptocurrency and bitcoin in countries such as Venezuela, China or Iran, he believes the majority of bitcoin boosters live in stable Western democracies, governed by the rule .”
However, recent events in Canada have changed his mind, led by the Trudeau government invoking the Emergencies Act in order to end the Freedom Convoy trucker protest. One of the provisions afforded by the Act is allowing financial institutions and crypto exchanges to freeze bank accounts and crypto wallets tied to the protest with no consequences.
Hansson stated:
A few months ago, I would not have found it credible if you said a three-week peaceful protest in Canada could have led to martial law, frozen bank accounts, and terrorist-financing laws being used to hunt protest donors. It was unbelievable then and it is undisputed now.
” This is insane. It’s absolutely absurd. He described the situation as “terrifying”.
” Is France really so different from Canada? Austria? Is Denmark? He exclaimed, “This is a wake-up call.”
” I still don’t believe this is the protest that would make every Bitcoin crank a prophet. Hansson admitted that he was wrong about crypto’s essential necessity in Western democracies and had to cut a piece of humble pie.
It’s clear to me now that I was too hasty to completely dismiss crypto on the basis of all the things wrong with it at the moment. Instead of appreciating that crypto allows us to transact freely, we should be grateful for the best chance at protecting it.
This story contains tags
Canada, canada bitcoin, Canada cryptocurrency, canada emergencies act, David Heinemeiser Hansson, Emergencies Act, Emergencies Act canada, Freedom Convoy, Hansson, rails, rails creator, Ruby on Rails, ruby on rails creator
Does the situation in Canada change your mind about bitcoin and cryptocurrency?
Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests include Bitcoin security, open source systems, network effects, and the intersection of cryptography and economics.
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