The Sad Use of Bitcoin in the Developing Galt's Gulch Chile Saga

Libertarian bitcoin users are prime targets for bad investments.

As I have pointed out, libertarians need to be careful of all investment "opportunities," even if they are draped in libertarian or Austrian economic wrapping. If you do not know how to evaluate investment opportunities in detail, never put any serious money in a project just because it is labeled "libertarian" or somehow linked to Austrian economics. I don't care what Austrian genius is linked to the investment.

The same goes for "opportunities" linked to Bitcoin. If you have serious money in Bitcoin, that is a sign already that you are a mark. It's okay to play around with Bitcoin, the same way it is fine to go to Vegas, if you want. But you have a problem if you are using serious money in either case. And, there is no Bitcoin anonymous to turn to, to help you out.

In Wendy McElroy's interview at Daily Bell, she informs how Bitcoin users were lured in to GGC:

Everything I've learned in the intervening month has confirmed my assessment of GGC and Ken Johnson. True, some of the details revealed have been shocking. For example, bitcoin was accepted and encouraged as a purchasing currency. Meanwhile, Ken Johnson must have known that Chilean courts do not recognize bitcoin contracts and would not have allowed a land transfer based on bitcoin. Either he knew it or he is woefully ignorant. Personally, I think he does not care...

A scandal involving millions of dollars and high profile libertarians is bound to reverberate. Other libertarians (like me) are determined to spread the news in order to warn others who might be tempted to invest. Still other individuals and communities want to publicly distance themselves. At the April celebration, there was a presentation by three bitcoin gurus who were invited because GGC accepted bitcoin as payment for land. Now voices in the bitcoin community want distance. The bitcoin blog Ounce ran an article entitled "Libertarian Paradise Or Just Another Bitcoin Scam?"

It would be interesting to know what libertarians are now distancing themselves from GCC. Who were the three "bitcoin gurus" that spoke at the GCC "celebration" ? Why aren't they speaking out, the way heroic McElroy is doing?

-RW