3rd Compass -> Group News and Articles -> What does God say about cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and blockchain technology like NFTs?

What does God say about cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and blockchain technology like NFTs?
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Minister Ty Alexander
(Ty Huynh)
  3/1/2022
I feel I’m overdue in talking about cryptocurrency or virtual currency, so I will share what the Lord has guided me on it. It was in March 2014, that Bitcoin, the first major cryptocurrency was becoming popular, but I thought it strange they would be pitching it with infomercials (10 to 60 minute TV advertising programs), like a latest and greatest consumer product.

Soon after, I was guided to connect Bitcoin with...
part of a documentary called “More Than Honey.” The documentary was about bee research, and I especially noted them talking about replacing honey in beehives with sugar water. They gave the historical analogy of it being a worthless replacement, like when New World explorers gave indigenous peoples worthless beads for their gold or other valuable items.

I understood this guidance to say, cryptocurrency is a worthless and dangerous substitute for the real thing, and that was further reinforced by a Bitcoin infomercial where they said it was “not worthless beads.”

God says otherwise, and so I stayed away from using any cryptocurrency, which today there are hundreds of varieties. I have also spent most of my life as a computer software systems developer, so despite claims by creators of “block chains” and cryptocurrency that it is “hack-proof” and absolutely secure, I know that any computer system can be compromised, either by its designers or by programmers who know enough about the system to break it.

So my knowledge about computers, also kept me from taking any cryptocurrency or block chain technology seriously. This has proved true as millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies have been stolen through system hacks[1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4].

And over the years, God’s guidance has proven to be true, as well, since cryptocurrencies are often used by criminals and have been a part of many new scams and investment schemes to swindle people out of money – truly giving people worthless beads for their real money[1.5, 1.6, 1.7].

People have speculated that cryptocurrency would be a system used by the final antichrist when he has authority over the world, when he decrees that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name (Revelation 13:17).

A recent patent by Bill Gates and his company, Microsoft, has been suggested to be a “mark of the beast,” since its patent number, W0/2020/060606, does contain 666, and it is designed to be used with cryptocurrency. However, it is not a microchip that is injected into people or some other “marking” device for people[1.8]. Whatever the actual mark of the beast is and whether or not cryptocurrency is used, I’m sure the Lord will guide in His timing.


References
[1.1] "Crypto.com Admits $35 Million Hack". Forbes. 2022 Jan. 20. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/01/20/cryptocom-admits-35-million-hack/?sh=f6147f175133>

[1.2] Collier, Kevin. "Crypto exchanges keep getting hacked, and there's little anyone can do". NBC News. 2021 Dec. 17. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/bitcoin-crypto-exchange-hacks-little-anyone-can-do-rcna7870>

[1.3] "North Korean Hackers Have Prolific Year as Their Unlaundered Cryptocurrency Holdings Reach All-time High". Chainalysis. 2022 Jan. 13. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/north-korean-hackers-have-prolific-year-as-their-total-unlaundered-cryptocurrency-holdings-reach-all-time-high>

[1.4] Lau, Yvonne. "Crypto.com says ‘all funds are safe’ after alleged hack, but analysis shows $15 million of Ether is gone". Fortune. 2022 Jan. 18. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://fortune.com/2022/01/18/crypto-com-alleged-hacking-15-million-ether-may-be-gone>

[1.5] "Investor ALert - Ponzi schemes Using virtual Currencies". SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://www.sec.gov/files/ia_virtualcurrencies.pdf>


[1.6] "Consumer Alert: Cryptocurrency Pyramid Scheme". Tennessee Attorney General &amp; Reporter. 2021 Sep. 28. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/news/2021/9/28/pr21-38.html>

[1.7] "Another 2 leading Israeli blockchain pioneers named as suspects in vast crypto scam". The Times of Israel. 2022 Mar. 1. Retrieved 2022 Mar. 1.
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/another-2-leading-israeli-blockchain-pioneers-named-as-suspects-in-vast-crypto-scam>

[1.8] “Patent application 060606 does not mention inserting microchips into the body”. Full Fact. 2020 May 28. Retrieved 2021 Sep. 14.
<https://fullfact.org/online/bill-gates-patent-microchips>


How Valuable Are NFT's? 9/12/2022
I feel it is time I talk about NFT’s in this thread because they are based on the same “blockchain” technology as cryptocurrencies. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which is basically a digital or virtual certificate of ownership for any kind of asset, either real, physical ones or virtual digital ones.

There has been a lot of hype with NFT’s, just as there was with cryptocurrencies...
, but if you read the first post, you know how God guided me on the actual value of cryptocurrencies – they are worthless substitutes for the real thing.

Now I want to talk about NFT’s since they are being marketed as another completely secure and unbreakable technology, just like cryptocurrencies are hyped, since they are based on the same blockchain technology.

NFT’s are linked to assets, mostly of the digital kind, like video, image files, and other computer assets, such as video game add-ons, to show ownership, just like a paper title or deed shows ownership of an automobile or house. More things are being offered for sale in connection with NFT’s to make them more legitimate or valuable. Physical assets, like traditionally sold at high value auctions, such as for rare works of art, are also now being sold with NFT’s.

But what kind of value do NFT’s really add to an asset? They are basically digital certificates of ownership, so the value they add to an asset is the same as having a paper certificate of ownership or authenticity. NFT’s are hyped as making something authentic or of a limited edition, so they are also similar to special stickers that companies put on a product to ensure they are buying an authentic product and not a stolen copy or fake. You might have seen holographic stickers on some products to prove authenticity.

However, like stickers and paper certificates and titles, NFT’s can be “faked” or hacked, and they are not permanently attached to an asset, so they don’t really offer any more security for something. A digital asset with an NFT is simply a computer file with no actual connection to the NFT, which is also just another computer file, just like a paper certificate is separate from the asset it authenticates, so if the file is put in a public place, for example, if an image that is connected to an NFT is posted on the Internet for anyone to see, there is no protection for the image. Anyone can save the image file and use it. The NFT only shows who owns the original image file.

Because NFT’s store their information in a blockchain database in the same way as cryptocurrencies do, they claim the information cannot be modified or changed without it being noticeable. But as I said before with cryptocurrencies in the first post, any computer system can be compromised and hacked if you know enough about the system. I gave references of cryptocurrencies being hacked before and have recently seen more instances in the news, such as actor comedian Bill Murray had $200,000 in cryptocurrency stolen from his fundraiser[2.1].

Obviously, the blockchain technology that cryptocurrencies and NFT’s are based on are not tamperproof or unbreakable, yet the organizations and people promoting them keep making those claims. They’re hyped up to make consumers more likely to buy into the products.

Another problem with them is because they traditionally use enormous amounts of computing power to continuously authenticate the blockchains (to validate if new additions to the databases can be made), they are not “green” technologies because they use up so much electricity to run them.

A change in how blockchains are maintained might fix the energy problem with the technology, but from a computer engineer’s viewpoint, I still cannot see the value in the technology. They can still be broken into and hacked, just like any other computer system, so God’s assessment of the technology being a useless substitute for the real thing remains valid. I would not invest in NFT assets or give them any more value than other methods of authentication.


References
[2.1] Cheyenne DeVan. "Bill Murray raised nearly $200,000 worth of crypto for charity—a hacker stole it almost immediately". CNBC. 2022 Sep. 9. Retrieved 2022 Sep. 12.
<https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/09/bill-murray-loses-nearly-200k-worth-of-crypto-to-hacker.html>




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