{"id":58216,"date":"2022-02-22T10:43:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T08:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=58216"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:39:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:39:44","slug":"ruby-on-rails-creator-says-criticizing-bitcoin-was-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/ruby-on-rails-creator-says-criticizing-bitcoin-was-a-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruby on Rails creator says criticizing Bitcoin was a mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson says his previously negative stance toward Bitcoin was a mistake in light of the protests in Canada.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI still can\u2019t believe that this is the protest that would prove every Bitcoin crank a prophet. And for me to have to slice a piece of humble pie, and admit that I was wrong on crypto\u2019s fundamental necessity in Western democracies.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9smNKyabm0\">https:\/\/t.co\/9smNKyabm0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 DHH (@dhh) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dhh\/status\/1495727547472089093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI still can&#8217;t believe that this is the protest that would prove that every Bitcoin crank is a prophet. And I had to admit I was wrong about Bitcoin&#8217;s fundamental necessity in Western democracies,\u201d wrote the Danish programmer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Since late January, protests against anti\u2011Covid restrictions have unfolded in Canada, led by truckers. On February 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau<a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/canada-tightens-fundraising-in-cryptocurrencies-amid-protests\">invoked the 1988 Emergencies Act<\/a>, which gives the government broad powers to restore order and allows banks to freeze the personal accounts of everyone connected with or supporting the demonstrations without a court order.<\/p>\n<p>Canada&#8217;s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that the aforementioned law extends \u201cto crowdfunding platforms and payment service providers, \u2026 all forms of transactions, including digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a blog post Hansson recalled that since the early 2010s he has been skeptical of Bitcoin and the crypto industry more broadly. He said the main arguments against included \u201cenergy consumption in mining, transaction fees, lack of real decentralization, alleged fraud involving the stablecoin Tether (USDT)\u201d and other concerns.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cNow it\u2019s clear that I rushed to abandon cryptocurrencies altogether because of everything that is wrong with them at the moment. Rather than valuing the fundamental freedom to transact that we can now protect best,\u201d the programmer stressed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Crypto podcast host Neil Jacobs retweeted Hansson\u2019s post and noted that the article about Bitcoin contains \u201ctons of lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tons of falsehoods in this article about bitcoin. But still shows the situation in Canada is going to accelerate bitcoin adoption. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/bitcoin?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#bitcoin<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EylgpLCbEg\">https:\/\/t.co\/EylgpLCbEg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Neil Jacobs (@NeilJacobs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NeilJacobs\/status\/1495742157541552130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cBut it nonetheless shows that the situation in Canada will accelerate Bitcoin adoption,\u201d he conceded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On February 15, Morgan Creek Digital co\u2011founder Anthony Pompliano also noted that \u201cauthoritarian power is Bitcoin\u2019s marketing team.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Authoritarian governments are Bitcoin\u2019s marketing team.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pomp \ud83c\udf2a (@APompliano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/APompliano\/status\/1493407366712336388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 15, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Similar views were voiced by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. He said the measures by Canadian authorities<a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/vitalik-buterin-canadian-authorities-actions-illustrate-why-cryptocurrencies-are-needed\"> clearly illustrate why cryptocurrencies exist<\/a>. At the same time, he did not condone the protesters\u2019 actions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier, Kraken and Binance chiefs<a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/kraken-flags-possibility-of-pre-trial-asset-freezes\"> allowed for the possibility of asset blockages<\/a> at the request of law enforcement without a court order. Jesse Powell and Changpeng Zhao urged using non-custodial wallets and decentralized platforms. <\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog\u2019s channel on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCC9FnXTC8_ENzaNSO5cHQ6g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> YouTube<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson says his previously negative stance toward Bitcoin was a mistake in light of the protests in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[771,1138],"class_list":["post-58216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-canada","tag-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"30","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58218,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58216\/revisions\/58218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}