Listen to Foster Gamble talk about Bitcoin from the THRIVE perspective:

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Audio Transcription

Foster:

I just want to reiterate that Thrive has taken a stand for a free market in currency. People are constantly asking, “What’s the right currency? What’s the right financial system?” To me, that’s just not how nature works. I think people should be free to create the currencies or the banks or the financial systems that they want. In an honest, transparent world, the systems that are actually trustworthy, the currencies that are reliable, are going to remain, where the ones that are fake (the ones that are based on deception, the ones where your money isn’t still in the bank), they’re going to disappear very quickly when they’re not subsidized and protected by authoritarian governments.

When it comes to Bitcoin, obviously, Bitcoin is a very clever game that has applications in the real world in terms of going around a corrupt banking system and having an easy means of exchange in certain situations that people can benefit from. At the same time that I acknowledge that and recognize that a lot of good thinking has gone into it, I just want to also let people know that Bitcoin, as an electronic currency made up out of the “mining” of hardware and software programs, could disappear overnight, either through computer security problems, legislation from authoritarian governments, or just the collapse of or lack of confidence in a system which is basically made up.

When it comes to recommending Bitcoin, what I recommend is that people investigate Bitcoin and then see if it’s a good fit for your needs. Be aware of the benefit, be aware of the risk. We’re not set up yet at Thrive to use Bitcoin as a medium of transaction and it certainly would be an improvement on the Federal Reserve Note in a lot of ways. (You can’t get much less secure than that these days, given that it’s made up out of nothing and getting inflated really fast. But, it would also be inconvenient to only take payments or exchange in gold or silver and we don’t have a vast credit network set up.) I just recommend that people be very aware. Do your homework, like with anything else. If it makes sense for you, then go ahead and use it.

Furthermore, what I have seen is that there are many, many real zealots for Bitcoin and I appreciate their enthusiasm for an alternative currency. At the same time, I recognize that as with many other hopeful movements or innovations, a lot of people in this desperate world these days are really looking for a simple fix and if they think they have one, even if they haven’t done a whole lot of homework on it, it can be very offensive to them if somebody else isn’t enthusiastic about it or asks too many questions or asks for distinctions that may be too subtle.

Once again, I encourage people to get as educated as you can so that you're basing not only your financial well-being, but also your hope for change on as sound a basis as possible.