Rise of Bitcoin Competitor Ripple Creates Wealth to Rival Zuckerberg
The thesis statement here is value itself is an arbitrary concept and is such because we say it is. It&#x27;s completely imaginary, often times irrational and a shared fiction. The fact that we have conventional billionaires at all is almost a ridiculous concept in and of itself, as any amount of tangible work is always done en masse, not by a singular person. Works can be created by individual contributors but it is the mass that gives them value. Put those people on an island and those works become meaningless.<p>In the case of cryptocurrency, the work here is being done, again, by many people. Economics is, as a fundamental matter, the study of choice. People are, for whatever reason, choosing to do both work and ascribe value to these systems, and it just so happens that these systems are designed in such a way to funnel that work into the hands of mostly a few. This is not owing to any revelation or discovery or intellectual pursuit, but represents pure greed and capitalism --- the selfish pursuit of benefit from fellow man.<p>Whoever says bitcoin and the other currencies are some kind of panacea that will free us from the shackles of government fiat, big corporations and stymied control of wealth need only look to stories like these, which, are proof that this is just a different and new kind of master.