10 years ago, a “time traveler” warned about the future of Bitcoin

“I’m sending this message from the year 2025. Things look bleak here, and some of you will have blood on your hands.” With these words, a person identified as Luca Magnotta started a long message on the Reddit forum on May 10, 2013.

The character was self-described as a bringer News from the future (now the not-so-distant future) created a series of revelations about events to come. It described a world where Bitcoin would become the primary form of wealth.

The result is huge social inequality, as early adopters of Bitcoin have become multi-millionaires, while the rest of the population struggles to survive.

Magnotta said of those years:

“On average, every year so far, the value of bitcoin has increased tenfold. It was $0.1 in 2010, $1 in 2011, $10 in 2012, and $100 in 2013. Since then, the value has increased tenfold every two years, reaching USD 1,000 in 2015, with a slight slowdown in the USD. 10,000 in 2017, USD 100,000 in 2019 and USD 1,000,000 in 2021. There is no good way to express its value in dollars anymore because the dollar is no longer used, nor does any central bank issue currency for that matter. There are two main forms of wealth in the world today: land and cryptocurrency.

Luka Magnotta, Reddit user

While the text may seem concrete in 2013, it is clear that the situation is different in 2023. Those price predictions did not materialize. Another thing that hasn’t been accomplished is the appearance of “Bitcoiner’s citadels” (or, at least, not in the sense in which the author of the story describes them. As he describes it, “citadels” are cities of refuge where Bitcoiners protect themselves. From those without the currency:

What is Citadel? Once Bitcoin hit $1,000, services started popping up for the “bitcoin rich” to protect themselves and their wealth. It began with expensive security, then added bodyguards, and today “Chiefs” (our term for primary adopters), as well as wealthy survivors of the “transition” in closed, isolated cities called citadels. Automated work is concentrated. Most of these forts are born out of fortifications used to protect the locations of Bitcoin mining machines. A company called ASICminer for you Mr. Known as the city where Friedman reigns as king.

Luka Magnotta, Reddit user.

We asked artificial intelligence software Midjourney to imagine what a bitcoiner’s castle would look like based on the “time traveler’s” text, and this is what it drew:

The impact of this story on the community of bitcoiners, as described in a CryptoNotices report, led to the term “citadel” later being used to refer to bitcoin-based circular economies.

Other “time traveler” predictions

Among other things Magnotta announced in 2013 (as of 2025), none of which have yet come to fruition:

• By 2025 governments will be virtually non-existent.
• Bitcoin transactions are anonymous, and because of this, governments cannot continue to tax them.
• Governments secretly bought Bitcoin and inflated its value.
• People know that 0.01 BTC is enough to live a lifetime.
• The Winklevoss twins were “dead first.”
• The newly rich bitcoiners had to change their identities to protect themselves.

The story ends with the call To prevent this disaster from happening in the future. It will be a future that “leads to millions of deaths.” The solution for Magnotta is that readers of his message must “find a way to destroy this plan.” [bitcoin] Forgotten by God in childhood.

“You believed you were helping the world eliminate the central banking institution that managed economies. However, I saw where it ends.”

Luka Magnotta, Reddit user.

“Time Traveler” returns in 2019 with a new message

As the years passed, Magnotta’s predictions began to unravel. It was clear that they did not come true as the time traveler had predicted. Or perhaps space-time was split in two to create an alternate reality for that disaster?

The question was resolved in 2019 when the Reddit post was updated. A bucket of cold water for New Text believers: Magnotta admits it It was just a story he wrote for entertainment.

His goal, he said, is “to help identify some of the problems our society faces when Bitcoin or similar digital currencies are ever widely adopted.”

what Magnotta doesn’t like bitcoinThis is an obvious one. There he demonstrated against the network’s high energy consumption and, in his words, money “leakage” from the system.

He also dislikes altcoins. According to him, “Other cryptocurrencies share most of the shortcomings of Bitcoin (waste of resources, lack of protection against theft or loss, vulnerability to market manipulation), but the most important thing (…) these currencies do not create anything. ».

Bitcoin, the need of mankind

To conclude this anniversary, it is necessary to clarify it The claims in the Reddit user’s 2019 update are not true.

First, Bitcoin’s ecological damage is not only small, but does not depend on Bitcoin, but on the energy matrix. the world The mass adoption of electricity sources that do not involve burning carbon is enough to reduce this environmental impact to zero (not just Bitcoin, but any industry).

On the other hand, Bitcoin’s worthlessness is questionable. The existence of an independent, non-inflationary money of rulers (or “heads of government”, to use the words of the Mexican Ricardo Salinas Pleco) seems necessary, more and more, to anyone.

Next time a “time traveler” knocks on your door with his Bitcoin predictions, remember to be skeptical. and joking, Be suspicious of serial bitcoin haters with destructive zeal rather than good arguments. If you know the basics of this technology, you will be able to refute false claims.