Retired U.S. Air Force general has a say on what Bitcoin needs

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price went to as high as $42,404 on December 4, breaking the $40,000 psychological resistance. This happens in a bullish year for the leading cryptocurrency, up more than 150% in 2023.

However, General Robert Spalding, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general, has something else to say on X (former Twitter):

“If bitcoin is to go anywhere, it needs advocates who care for more than their own net worth.”

— General Robert Spalding

According to General Spalding, just the “quiet ones” are building companies and peer-to-peer communities to spread adoption. This was agreed upon in response to a comment by LP Capital Chi, who highlighted that “there are many, many [advocates]” doing that.

Interestingly, the message to Bitcoin advocates is to focus less on the price of BTC and more on what it can do as a tool. The thread got support from the Samourai Wallet official account, a Bitcoin wallet focused on privacy.

Bitcoin isn’t for increasing your fiat net worth, it is for making the transactions they say you can’t make https://t.co/mwhH25xYCl

— Samourai Wallet (@SamouraiWallet) December 4, 2023

General Spalding and Bitcoin

This is not the first time General Spalding has something to say about Bitcoin. On December 3, the retired U.S. military officer explained Bitcoin is not a “Ponzi scheme” due to the lack of a central actor.

Ponzi schemes involve a central actor. In Bitcoin there is no central actor. https://t.co/uTTJSqTJ2e

— General Spalding (@robert_spalding) December 3, 2023

Notably, the account using the handle @robert_spalding rose controversy a few days before with a comment on Bitcoin’s scarcity, which the BTC advocate Lyn Alden considered “bait” while commenting about its divisibility.

Since this has been a recurring meme for years, I assume the general is trolling. But people are tagging me on it like it’s serious, so just in case:

What matters is whether someone can dilute your share of a given type of money. If you hold a gram of gold, and a miner mines… pic.twitter.com/Tx2TBG6nCf

— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) December 1, 2023

In particular, the account has existed since 2008, and Jordan Harbinger identified it as belonging to Robert Spalding in his show. The General is well-known for his work on U.S.-China relations, economics, national security, and the Asia-Pacific military balance.

Source