July 28, 2025 • 12 mins
The Bitcoin Series - Part 15: What If Bitcoin Fails?
Exit scenarios, vulnerabilities, and honest critique.
Bitcoin is often described as unstoppable. Immutable. Revolutionary.
But what if it isn’t?
In this episode, we explore the uncomfortable possibilities:
Could Bitcoin be co-opted by the very institutions it set out to disrupt?
Could it be broken by bugs, quantum computing, or internal fractures?
Could it simply be outcompeted by something faster, shinier, or easier to use?
And if it does fail — what lessons do we carry forward?
This isn’t an episode about fear. It’s an episode about clarity. Because understanding Bitcoin’s vulnerabilities might be the key to understanding its real strength — and its limits.
Stay curious. Stay grounded. Let’s build better.
Listen now and follow The Crypto 101 Show for more deep-dive episodes in this series.
Join the discord server - https://discord.gg/Y9CPnYm8C2
Looking for Crypto apparel? Crypto 101 swag, shirts and apparel available here. This episode is sponsered by Joe Ugly Apparel - www.joeuglyapparel.com
This week's episode was produced by The WIld 1 Media. If you or anyone you know is looking for podcast editing, podcast production, or any other podcast services please reach out to The WIld 1 Media at www.thewild1media.com. Thanks for listening.
FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook - @crypto101show or https://www.facebook.com/The-Crypto-101-Show-100158338867665
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/crypto101show/
Sign up for our newsletter - thecrypto101show@gmail.com
Produced by The Wild 1 Media - www.thewild1media.com
Check out our other podcasts-
https://darksidediaries.sounder.fm
https://anchor.fm/ttmygh
https://anchor.fm/morning-joe-rant-show
Show music provided by Doula Graves & The Down Sideup
#bitcoin #BTC #crypto #cryptocurrency #defi #coins #cryptocoins #blockchain #finance #governments #policyagnostic #inflation #centralbanks #technology #sats #dectralized
Exit scenarios, vulnerabilities, and honest critique.
Bitcoin is often described as unstoppable. Immutable. Revolutionary.
But what if it isn’t?
In this episode, we explore the uncomfortable possibilities:
Could Bitcoin be co-opted by the very institutions it set out to disrupt?
Could it be broken by bugs, quantum computing, or internal fractures?
Could it simply be outcompeted by something faster, shinier, or easier to use?
And if it does fail — what lessons do we carry forward?
This isn’t an episode about fear. It’s an episode about clarity. Because understanding Bitcoin’s vulnerabilities might be the key to understanding its real strength — and its limits.
Stay curious. Stay grounded. Let’s build better.
Listen now and follow The Crypto 101 Show for more deep-dive episodes in this series.
Join the discord server - https://discord.gg/Y9CPnYm8C2
Looking for Crypto apparel? Crypto 101 swag, shirts and apparel available here. This episode is sponsered by Joe Ugly Apparel - www.joeuglyapparel.com
This week's episode was produced by The WIld 1 Media. If you or anyone you know is looking for podcast editing, podcast production, or any other podcast services please reach out to The WIld 1 Media at www.thewild1media.com. Thanks for listening.
FOLLOW US ON:
Facebook - @crypto101show or https://www.facebook.com/The-Crypto-101-Show-100158338867665
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/crypto101show/
Sign up for our newsletter - thecrypto101show@gmail.com
Produced by The Wild 1 Media - www.thewild1media.com
Check out our other podcasts-
https://darksidediaries.sounder.fm
https://anchor.fm/ttmygh
https://anchor.fm/morning-joe-rant-show
Show music provided by Doula Graves & The Down Sideup
#bitcoin #BTC #crypto #cryptocurrency #defi #coins #cryptocoins #blockchain #finance #governments #policyagnostic #inflation #centralbanks #technology #sats #dectralized
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to the Crypto one on one Show, where we
dive into the world of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain, and all
the technology with it. Whether you're experienced or a beginner
to crypto, our goal is to break down complex concepts
and make it easy for you to understand the basics,
from Bitcoin to all coins. We'll cover it all in
a way that's easy to digest and provide listeners with
(00:30):
the knowledge and understanding they need to make informed decisions
and better critical thought. Sit back, relax, and let's simplify
your understanding of cryptocurrencies on the Crypto one on one Show,
(00:52):
Part fifteen. What if Bitcoin fails exist scenarios, vulnerabilities and
honest critique. I need to start off by saying this
is not financial advice, so if you are looking for that,
the show isn't for you. The content of this podcast
episode is for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed here
are not meant to be taken as financial investment or
(01:15):
any other advice. This episode is not about Bitcoin's promise.
It's about its limits, its vulnerabilities, and its possible failure.
If we're going to take bitcoin seriously, we have to
ask the uncomfortable questions, not just the optimistic ones. What
could break it? What could replace it? And if it
all falls apart, what do we take with us. Let's
(01:38):
dive in question one. What are Bitcoin's biggest existential threats?
Quantum regulation? Apathy? There are few answers to this question,
some technical, some political, and some are human related. Let's
break them down. First up, maybe the biggest threat to
all of bitcoin apathy or lack of interest in it.
(02:01):
Not a government, not a hack, just a collective shrug.
If enough people stop caring, stop maintaining the code, stop
running nodes, stop educating others, Bitcoin doesn't need to be banned.
It just becomes irrelevant. Think about how many promising technologies
fizzled out, not because they failed technically, but because people
moved on. Bitcoin's immune to a lot of things, but
(02:24):
it's not immune to being forgotten. The next potential threat
is government regulation. No, governments can't kill bitcoin directly, but
they can suffocate it. Imagine a scenario where self custody
is criminalized, mining is banned, and exchanges are choked with
red tape or tax than to extinction. Bitcoin might still exist,
(02:46):
but only a background or the shadows. What If using
bitcoin becomes as suspicious as offshore money laundering, mainstream adoption
could potentially collapse. And remember, the most powerful governments don't
just care control laws, they control narratives. This next one
is more of a tech threat that's slowly becoming real
(03:07):
quantum computing. Bitcoin security depends on elliptic curve cryptography, a
system that in theory could be broken by powerful enough
quantum computer, primarily impacting the digital signatures used to spend
bitcoin from existing addresses. Right now, that threat is still
decades away. But if a nation state develops a working
(03:28):
quantum system before Bitcoin upgrades its protocol, suddenly the security
model collapses. That's why developers are already talking about quantum
resistant upgrades. But the question is what we get there
in time. Lastly, there are other threats that don't make headlines,
but they do linger a critical software bug. We've seen
(03:50):
it before, like the inflation bug in twenty ten. Centralization.
If mining development or node operation becomes too top heavy,
it betrays big cooin's core and energy. The narrative war
over bitcoin's energy usage could dry up institutional support and
green light regulation. In the end, Bitcoin probably won't die
(04:12):
from a single bullet. It would die from a thousand cuts,
a mix of neglect, political pressure, social indifference, and maybe
something we can't yet predict. While these threats are real,
the flip side is these are not inevitable. As long
as people care, build, protect, and educate, Bitcoin remains alive, resilient,
(04:33):
and relentless. Question two, Could it be co opted, broken,
or out competed. Here's the question no one in the
bitcoin community wants to ask, but we have to. What
if Bitcoin isn't defeated by an outside force, but absorbed, broken,
or quietly replaced. Let's start with co opted. Some fear
(04:54):
that Bitcoin could be domesticated or turned into a tool
of that very system it set out to escape. Regulators
add so much compliance that it's no longer permissionless. Banks
off for custody, but only a few play by their rules,
KYC surveillance, asset reporting, tax penalties, et cetera. Suddenly Bitcoin
(05:15):
is no longer a rebellion. It's a spreadsheet asset with
a ticker symbol. Already we're seeing it with ETF's, big
banks and centralized exchanges. Wall Street didn't kill bitcoin, It
bought it, packaged it, and sold it back to us
in pieces. Is that progress or a soft take over,
(05:35):
then there's broken. Bitcoin's code is strong, but it's still code,
and code can fail. All it takes is one undiscovered bug,
a flaw in mining, consensus of vulnerability in wallet software,
a quantum computing leap that cracks private keys wide open.
The protocol has held strong for over a decade, but
(05:57):
the higher the stakes, the bigger the target. And if
something breaks at the wrong time with too much value
on the line, that's not just a tech issue. That's
a crisis of confidence, and confidence is everything, and finally,
may be the most likely scenario outcompeted. Bitcoin was first,
but it might not be final. Newer protocols offer speed, scalability, privacy, programmability.
(06:24):
Ethereum has smart contracts, Manero has privacy, Solana has speed.
Some of them are centralized, but that doesn't stop people
from using them. If a new system emerges that feels smoother, cheaper,
more modern people might not care about purity. They might
just switch and being honest and up front, Bitcoin is
(06:45):
still hard to use. Self custody is intimidating, and lightning
is powerful but clunky. There's no clear UX path for
the average person. If convenience wins, Bitcoin could lose not
to a hostile enemy, but to consumer preference. Bitcoin's design
is intentional. It doesn't try to be fast, it doesn't
(07:06):
try to be flashy. It tries to be money, hard, incorruptible,
decentralized money, and in that lane, no one else really compares.
But if the public doesn't understand that, if the mission
gets blurred, if we trade trustlessness for ease, then Bitcoin
could succeed in adoption but fail in purpose. So can
(07:28):
Bitcoin be co opted, broken, or outcompeted. Yes, and maybe
more easily than we'd like to admit. The real question
isn't whether it happens, it's weather. We'll notice it before
it's too late. Question three. If bitcoin isn't the answer,
what have we learned? Some may not want to think
about this, but being honest, there's always a chance this
(07:50):
could happen. For all the hype and headlines, there's still
a chance that bitcoin doesn't make it, that it never
goes mainstream, that it gets regulated into irrelevance, that it
loses its narrative, that it fades. And if that happens,
we're left with a question that's bigger than price charts
or hash rates. What have we learned? Maybe the first
(08:12):
lesson people are hungry for an alternative. The moment Bitcoin emerged,
millions of people said, yes, this makes more sense than
what we have. Even if they didn't understand the code,
they understood the feeling that money should be fair, that
systems should be open, that no one, not a central bank,
not a billionaire, not a politician, should have the power
(08:35):
to silently steal your time and energy through inflation or manipulation.
That's a powerful idea, and the idea is not going away.
The second lesson is trust is broken, not just in currencies,
but in institutions, in governments, in media, and in the
economy itself. Bitcoin may not fix that, but it exposed it.
(08:58):
It showed us that if you give people the tools
to opt out, some will take it, even if it's hard,
and even if it's risky, because what they're leaving behind
already feels worse. And that tells us something about the
world we're living in. The third lesson is that decentralization
is messy but necessary. Bitcoin taught us that building systems
(09:19):
without a central point of failure is possible. It's slow,
it's inefficient, and it's frustrating at times, but it's honest.
It's not at all perfect, but it's transparent. There's no ceo,
no kill switch, and no bailout, just code, consensus and time.
That model, even if bitcoin fails, will shape the future
(09:42):
of technology, governance, and finance, because once you see that
it's possible, you can't unsee it. And maybe the biggest
lesson is value isn't just economic. Bitcoin wasn't just about
making money. It was about rethinking what money is. It
was about sovereignty, It was about aligning incentives. It was
(10:02):
about giving people control over something they never truly owned,
their time, their labor, and their future. Even if bitcoin fails,
the idea succeeded and it's not just going to go
back in the box. So if bitcoin isn't the answer,
we've still asked the right questions and that might be
the greatest contribution, not fixing the system, but making millions
(10:24):
of people start questioning it. Because once the seed is planted,
the next solution doesn't start from scratch. It starts with
the fire already lit. So if bitcoin fails, maybe it
gets absorbed, maybe it gets outlawed, maybe it gets forgotten,
or maybe it just becomes something else, something less pure,
more compromised, or a ghost of what it's set out
(10:45):
to be. But even if that happens, this movement, this moment,
and this spark won't have been for nothing, because now
millions of people have seen behind the curtain, they've questioned
the system, they've imagined a different way of A spark
doesn't just die with a failed protocol. Thanks for listening.
This is the Bitcoin Series, and I'll see you in
(11:07):
part sixteen, where we explore what if the US adopt
a bitcoin as a reserve. Until then, stay curious, stay grounded.
I want to be extremely upfront that I'll try my
best to leave all of my opinions out of this.
I know this is very condensed and simplified, but I
want you to gain your own understanding and beliefs and
not be persuaded by me. I hope this helps you
(11:27):
gain a better grasp of it. Please remember to share, follow,
and subscribe to our mailing list and to your favorite
podcast app for future episodes so you can gain more
with your crypto knowledge. If this sparks something in you
or made you question what's possible, I'd love to hear
about it. And if you've found this valuable, share it,
tag someone who needs to hear it or just sit
(11:48):
with it. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this
episode of The Crypto One on one Show. If you
would like to join our email list, email us at
the Crypto One on One Show at gmail dot com
(12:09):
For more helpful tips, subscribe in your favorite podcast app
and leave a review so that you don't miss our
next episode. See you next time.
Welcome to the Crypto one on one Show, where we
dive into the world of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin, blockchain, and all
the technology with it. Whether you're experienced or a beginner
to crypto, our goal is to break down complex concepts
and make it easy for you to understand the basics,
from Bitcoin to all coins. We'll cover it all in
a way that's easy to digest and provide listeners with
(00:30):
the knowledge and understanding they need to make informed decisions
and better critical thought. Sit back, relax, and let's simplify
your understanding of cryptocurrencies on the Crypto one on one Show,
(00:52):
Part fifteen. What if Bitcoin fails exist scenarios, vulnerabilities and
honest critique. I need to start off by saying this
is not financial advice, so if you are looking for that,
the show isn't for you. The content of this podcast
episode is for informational purposes only. The opinions expressed here
are not meant to be taken as financial investment or
(01:15):
any other advice. This episode is not about Bitcoin's promise.
It's about its limits, its vulnerabilities, and its possible failure.
If we're going to take bitcoin seriously, we have to
ask the uncomfortable questions, not just the optimistic ones. What
could break it? What could replace it? And if it
all falls apart, what do we take with us. Let's
(01:38):
dive in question one. What are Bitcoin's biggest existential threats?
Quantum regulation? Apathy? There are few answers to this question,
some technical, some political, and some are human related. Let's
break them down. First up, maybe the biggest threat to
all of bitcoin apathy or lack of interest in it.
(02:01):
Not a government, not a hack, just a collective shrug.
If enough people stop caring, stop maintaining the code, stop
running nodes, stop educating others, Bitcoin doesn't need to be banned.
It just becomes irrelevant. Think about how many promising technologies
fizzled out, not because they failed technically, but because people
moved on. Bitcoin's immune to a lot of things, but
(02:24):
it's not immune to being forgotten. The next potential threat
is government regulation. No, governments can't kill bitcoin directly, but
they can suffocate it. Imagine a scenario where self custody
is criminalized, mining is banned, and exchanges are choked with
red tape or tax than to extinction. Bitcoin might still exist,
(02:46):
but only a background or the shadows. What If using
bitcoin becomes as suspicious as offshore money laundering, mainstream adoption
could potentially collapse. And remember, the most powerful governments don't
just care control laws, they control narratives. This next one
is more of a tech threat that's slowly becoming real
(03:07):
quantum computing. Bitcoin security depends on elliptic curve cryptography, a
system that in theory could be broken by powerful enough
quantum computer, primarily impacting the digital signatures used to spend
bitcoin from existing addresses. Right now, that threat is still
decades away. But if a nation state develops a working
(03:28):
quantum system before Bitcoin upgrades its protocol, suddenly the security
model collapses. That's why developers are already talking about quantum
resistant upgrades. But the question is what we get there
in time. Lastly, there are other threats that don't make headlines,
but they do linger a critical software bug. We've seen
(03:50):
it before, like the inflation bug in twenty ten. Centralization.
If mining development or node operation becomes too top heavy,
it betrays big cooin's core and energy. The narrative war
over bitcoin's energy usage could dry up institutional support and
green light regulation. In the end, Bitcoin probably won't die
(04:12):
from a single bullet. It would die from a thousand cuts,
a mix of neglect, political pressure, social indifference, and maybe
something we can't yet predict. While these threats are real,
the flip side is these are not inevitable. As long
as people care, build, protect, and educate, Bitcoin remains alive, resilient,
(04:33):
and relentless. Question two, Could it be co opted, broken,
or out competed. Here's the question no one in the
bitcoin community wants to ask, but we have to. What
if Bitcoin isn't defeated by an outside force, but absorbed, broken,
or quietly replaced. Let's start with co opted. Some fear
(04:54):
that Bitcoin could be domesticated or turned into a tool
of that very system it set out to escape. Regulators
add so much compliance that it's no longer permissionless. Banks
off for custody, but only a few play by their rules,
KYC surveillance, asset reporting, tax penalties, et cetera. Suddenly Bitcoin
(05:15):
is no longer a rebellion. It's a spreadsheet asset with
a ticker symbol. Already we're seeing it with ETF's, big
banks and centralized exchanges. Wall Street didn't kill bitcoin, It
bought it, packaged it, and sold it back to us
in pieces. Is that progress or a soft take over,
(05:35):
then there's broken. Bitcoin's code is strong, but it's still code,
and code can fail. All it takes is one undiscovered bug,
a flaw in mining, consensus of vulnerability in wallet software,
a quantum computing leap that cracks private keys wide open.
The protocol has held strong for over a decade, but
(05:57):
the higher the stakes, the bigger the target. And if
something breaks at the wrong time with too much value
on the line, that's not just a tech issue. That's
a crisis of confidence, and confidence is everything, and finally,
may be the most likely scenario outcompeted. Bitcoin was first,
but it might not be final. Newer protocols offer speed, scalability, privacy, programmability.
(06:24):
Ethereum has smart contracts, Manero has privacy, Solana has speed.
Some of them are centralized, but that doesn't stop people
from using them. If a new system emerges that feels smoother, cheaper,
more modern people might not care about purity. They might
just switch and being honest and up front, Bitcoin is
(06:45):
still hard to use. Self custody is intimidating, and lightning
is powerful but clunky. There's no clear UX path for
the average person. If convenience wins, Bitcoin could lose not
to a hostile enemy, but to consumer preference. Bitcoin's design
is intentional. It doesn't try to be fast, it doesn't
(07:06):
try to be flashy. It tries to be money, hard, incorruptible,
decentralized money, and in that lane, no one else really compares.
But if the public doesn't understand that, if the mission
gets blurred, if we trade trustlessness for ease, then Bitcoin
could succeed in adoption but fail in purpose. So can
(07:28):
Bitcoin be co opted, broken, or outcompeted. Yes, and maybe
more easily than we'd like to admit. The real question
isn't whether it happens, it's weather. We'll notice it before
it's too late. Question three. If bitcoin isn't the answer,
what have we learned? Some may not want to think
about this, but being honest, there's always a chance this
(07:50):
could happen. For all the hype and headlines, there's still
a chance that bitcoin doesn't make it, that it never
goes mainstream, that it gets regulated into irrelevance, that it
loses its narrative, that it fades. And if that happens,
we're left with a question that's bigger than price charts
or hash rates. What have we learned? Maybe the first
(08:12):
lesson people are hungry for an alternative. The moment Bitcoin emerged,
millions of people said, yes, this makes more sense than
what we have. Even if they didn't understand the code,
they understood the feeling that money should be fair, that
systems should be open, that no one, not a central bank,
not a billionaire, not a politician, should have the power
(08:35):
to silently steal your time and energy through inflation or manipulation.
That's a powerful idea, and the idea is not going away.
The second lesson is trust is broken, not just in currencies,
but in institutions, in governments, in media, and in the
economy itself. Bitcoin may not fix that, but it exposed it.
(08:58):
It showed us that if you give people the tools
to opt out, some will take it, even if it's hard,
and even if it's risky, because what they're leaving behind
already feels worse. And that tells us something about the
world we're living in. The third lesson is that decentralization
is messy but necessary. Bitcoin taught us that building systems
(09:19):
without a central point of failure is possible. It's slow,
it's inefficient, and it's frustrating at times, but it's honest.
It's not at all perfect, but it's transparent. There's no ceo,
no kill switch, and no bailout, just code, consensus and time.
That model, even if bitcoin fails, will shape the future
(09:42):
of technology, governance, and finance, because once you see that
it's possible, you can't unsee it. And maybe the biggest
lesson is value isn't just economic. Bitcoin wasn't just about
making money. It was about rethinking what money is. It
was about sovereignty, It was about aligning incentives. It was
(10:02):
about giving people control over something they never truly owned,
their time, their labor, and their future. Even if bitcoin fails,
the idea succeeded and it's not just going to go
back in the box. So if bitcoin isn't the answer,
we've still asked the right questions and that might be
the greatest contribution, not fixing the system, but making millions
(10:24):
of people start questioning it. Because once the seed is planted,
the next solution doesn't start from scratch. It starts with
the fire already lit. So if bitcoin fails, maybe it
gets absorbed, maybe it gets outlawed, maybe it gets forgotten,
or maybe it just becomes something else, something less pure,
more compromised, or a ghost of what it's set out
(10:45):
to be. But even if that happens, this movement, this moment,
and this spark won't have been for nothing, because now
millions of people have seen behind the curtain, they've questioned
the system, they've imagined a different way of A spark
doesn't just die with a failed protocol. Thanks for listening.
This is the Bitcoin Series, and I'll see you in
(11:07):
part sixteen, where we explore what if the US adopt
a bitcoin as a reserve. Until then, stay curious, stay grounded.
I want to be extremely upfront that I'll try my
best to leave all of my opinions out of this.
I know this is very condensed and simplified, but I
want you to gain your own understanding and beliefs and
not be persuaded by me. I hope this helps you
(11:27):
gain a better grasp of it. Please remember to share, follow,
and subscribe to our mailing list and to your favorite
podcast app for future episodes so you can gain more
with your crypto knowledge. If this sparks something in you
or made you question what's possible, I'd love to hear
about it. And if you've found this valuable, share it,
tag someone who needs to hear it or just sit
(11:48):
with it. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening to this
episode of The Crypto One on one Show. If you
would like to join our email list, email us at
the Crypto One on One Show at gmail dot com
(12:09):
For more helpful tips, subscribe in your favorite podcast app
and leave a review so that you don't miss our
next episode. See you next time.
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