Ever wonder why marijuana (i.e. cannabis, pot, weed, herbal essence) is considered illegal? Even though it has many positive attributes such as pain control, muscle relaxant, relief of PTSD in veterans, and makes jokes hilarious.
According to a 1994 interview, a Nixon advisor explained how the Nixon white house had two enemies: black people and the antiwar hippies. Knowing they couldn't make it illegal to be black or against the war, the government swayed the public's opinion on marijuana and associated it with hippies and black people through the news media. This allowed the government justification to disrupt those communities under the guise of protecting the public from drug users.
Public opinion on bitcoin:
The same is happening with the public's opinion on bitcoin. We've all heard the same negative stories in the mass media:
#1. Bitcoin is a bubble like the tulip bubble
Yet, bitcoin has crash several times, and has come back stronger and the technology being created for bitcoin continues to grow (i.e. lightning network). Tulips do not upgrade.
#2. Banks are banning purchases of bitcoin with credit cards for our protection
Yet, where was that protection during the 2008 housing crisis? Was eliminating the need to verify income, job or assets before a mortgage loan for our protection as well? Banks are not here to protect us.
#3. Bitcoin is used for illegal activities
Yet, guns are legal and also used for illegal activities. What about the other uses for bitcoin? You can transfer your money ANYWHERE in the world without paying bank fees, buy Dallas Maverick tickets, buy real estate, buy airline tickets, ... and acceptance continues to grow.
Why is public opinion important for bitcoin?
Bitcoin is only a currency, if people trust it can be used as a currency. The American dollar, for example, is just a piece of paper, but people trust it's value is backed by the government. However, to blindly trust that the American government will do what's best for it's people is short sighted looking at it's past history (e.g. 2008 financial crisis) and current situation (e.g. currently 20 trillion dollar debt, corrupt politicians). Bitcoin can be a currency, if it is backed by all of us.
Most of the mass media is spreading negative news about bitcoin, while most of the positive stories are kept within the crypto community. I believe for bitcoin to survive, we'll need more positives stories in the mass media.
When marijuana was criminalized, many people lost out on the benefits of marijuana. I hope this does not happen with bitcoin as we may need it for the next recession (Please read: Why the world needs bitcoin)