It's a four year cycle
2024 being the year of the new narrative, we tend to see what we always see during this time. Bitcoiners breaking rank and vouching for new tech that may or may not fail going forward. Now we see it happening again with Thorchain in a big way.
Who TF is Jamie...
Literally Freddy Krueger?
People in crypto have the best self-explanatory names. First we get Sam fried bank man (just sentenced to 25 years) and now a maxipad's worst nightmare. This Krueger fella has been harping on Thorchain lending a lot lately. In fact it seems like he talks about it more because of all the pushback he's getting from the Bitcoin community. I guess that's what happens when all one's arguments against a thing are rooted in the celebration of ignorance.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS OR HOW IT WORKS BUT I HATE IT!
--- Every maxipad on Twitter.
At this point it's actually kind of funny how vehemently Bitcoiners oppose literally everything that isn't Bitcoin. The questions they ask are on par with a toddler walking into the middle of a movie after bedtime. It's ironic because they are the exact caliber of questions a no-coiner would ask about Bitcoin. "What gives it value?"
"How is this different than Celsius?"
To ask how Thorchain, a complicated decentralized node network that provides on-chain layer one swaps between networks without an intermediary... to ask how THAT is different from a Limited Liability Corporation... well that's just... it's just...
Babytown Frolics
So there are a couple of Bitcoiners that are starting to see the value in the Thorchain network, and of course this angers the cult of self-righteous toxic zealots that resides at the heart of BTC at the moment. Don't get me wrong: they have their reasons. Like getting burned every cycle rotating into alts at the top. I myself am becoming more and more of a Bitcoiner every day, but I do have my limits, just like the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin cannot do everything and it is foolish and even childish to think otherwise.
Bitcoin is a great network
In fact I've been learning more about it recently in a way I didn't even think was possible at this point. I'm currently running a test on UTXO consolidation. I downloaded the Sparrow wallet which is a badass Bitcoin-only wallet that has crazy features that normal crypto wallets wouldn't even attempt to provide to the end-user. I'm learning the finer details of transaction micromanagement including RBF (replace-by-fee) and child-pays-for-parent operations. I have plans to continue research on timelocks in an attempt to see if Hive-like account recovery is possible on the BTC network. I'm looking to buy an expensive Bitcoin-only air-gapped cold storage device called Coldcard. So on and so forth.
And sure Bitcoin is great and all but what happens when you actually go to spend it? First of all, the cultists are going to tell us we should never sell our Bitcoin under any circumstances. Wow, wouldn't it be nice if we could collateralize the Bitcoin and take out a tax-free loan? This is exactly what Thorchain is offering, and Bitcoiners that aren't married to the cult can see that and are trying to talk about it while getting drowned out by LaLaLaLaLa I'm-not-listening responses. It's like these people would rather pay taxes to the federal government and buy stock options rather than even think about using another chain. It's quite the sight to behold.
It's completely and utterly irrational.
Imagine buying stock in Tesla, MicroStrategy, Microsoft, Apple, or Facebook and then making the claim that these "shitcoins" could never possibly work because they're centralized. But Tesla can? MicroStrategy can? By way of magic perhaps? Make it make sense. The logic is self-contradictory in every way. Most things are centralized. Bitcoin is the exception not the rule. Have a little consistency.
Could he look like more of a scammer?
He really couldn't huh? It doesn't matter though. I've done my research. I understand the risks. Thorchain is shorting Bitcoin/Ethereum and longing Rune. They purposefully and openly dump all the collateral for Rune and write down on their balance sheet that they owe it back to user.
And that's a pretty damn good deal.
Guess who's taking the most risk here? Thorchain. They are shorting BTC/ETH so that we can go long on the other side of that trade. The only way we don't get our collateral back is if the entire system systemically fails. Guess who has a very high incentive to make sure that doesn't happen? You guessed it! Thorchain!
It's a damn good deal. 0% APR. 0% risk of liquidation. The only transparent and known risk outside of a bug in the system is the 500M hardcap on Rune that will automatically and intrinsically trigger a circuit breaker on redemption if these shorts dilute too much Rune.
Not only is something like this not going to happen during a bull market, it also won't happen during a bear market when loans are in the red and collateral is worth less than what is owed back to unlock it. It's the year after that (2027) that we need to be worried about. Even if this thing fails Bitcoiners are going to be talking trash for YEARS before it does. Years! During the biggest institutional rally we will ever see ever in the history of crypto. Couldn't be me.
Conclusion
Heretics and Blasphemers! The cult's nest has been stirred. Bitcoiners are going to be talking about Thorchain for a year straight. Why? Because it's awesome but they are conditioned to hate it out of blind principal.
It's the best deal anyone is offering in the entire world, but because it's "too good to be true" it must be a scam. Spoiler alert: that's exactly what no-coiners say about Bitcoin. It's a meaningless statement born of ignorance and fear. Those who have done the work can see that the risks are worth the reward, but also don't put all your eggs in one basket, degen.
It's interesting to see this kind of divide within the Bitcoin community at a time like this. There really are Bitcoiners out there looking for new tech that fills a niche and isn't a scam. Hell, maybe they find Hive one day. Dream big!