Chelsea Manning has always been a bitcoin fan, though she’s more into the technology rather than the actual coin itself. She believes that the blockchain technology supporting BTC can potentially ensure that information is stored securely, though she doesn’t think the currency has much economic promise, nor does she think it will endure widespread adoption as a payment method.
Chelsea Mannings Loves Blockchain, Not BTC
Manning, as many of us remember, was pardoned by former president Obama for her role in leaking information about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to Wikileaks in the year 2010. As a former military intelligence officer, Manning became a serious bitcoin fanatic many years ago and says that cryptography is one of her largest passions.
Manning has regularly been reading about bitcoin and initially saw it as “cute” and “gimmicky,” though eventually, she began to see it as more than something that could help people “get rich quick.”
She eventually became fascinated with the technology behind it and says that much of the world’s most private information can be shared and stored using this technology. She says that the great thing about blockchain is that it can potentially cut middlemen out and prevent people from garnering access to things they shouldn’t see. Despite this, she doesn’t think anyone will ever get wealthy from BTC, claiming in an interview:
I have a great interest in the technology [of blockchain], but the economic aspect, I’m a little bit more skeptical. I just don’t see how something [that] can switch from having some value to not having value very quickly as being a sustainable sort of system… I moved away from it because I realized that there’s a lot of people who don’t understand the technical aspects of this or the security and privacy implications of this technology, but they view this as a brand that’s cool… to be a part of.
She says that over time, she lost some of her interest in BTC given that so many people see it more as a revolutionary trading or financial tool. They are more concerned about making money through the asset rather than putting its technology to good use. She also says that there’s a huge overlap between the economic aspects of BTC and the privacy it presents.
What’s Wrong with the Process Surrounding It?
She commented:
People jump on board, they get super excited, and they cash in as soon as it starts to tumble, and I think that those kinds of things keep a lot of the more privacy-minded, more security-minded people away.
Right now, bitcoin is enduring one of its most bearish markets ever. The world’s number one digital currency by market cap was initially trading for roughly $68,000 per unit last November, though at press time, it has fallen to about $20K.
