Bitcoin has already won
Bitcoin is both a technology and network, but underneath is an idea that has already won. Unstoppable sound money.
“The future is already here — It’s just not very evenly distributed.”
— William Gibson
The Technology
Bitcoin is a technology that has been around for about 13 years. That might sound like a long time, but in reality, it is still extremely new.
For perspective, January 1, 1983, is considered the official birthday of the Internet. Prior to this, the various computer networks did not have a standard way to communicate with each other. Comparing Bitcoin’s timeline to the internet, means we are in the equivalent year 1996.
That’s still extremely early.
By 1996, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon existed. However, many of the largest internet technology companies in the world today were not even conceived and founded until years later.
Google wasn’t founded until 4 September 1998.
Facebook wasn’t founded until February 2004.
Salesforce wasn’t founded until February 1999.
Alibaba wasn’t founded until 4 April 1999.
This is what we are seeing with Bitcoin. Early companies such as Block, with Cash App, Square and Spiral, provide Bitcoin services to consumers and businesses. Tesla is building renewable energy generation and storage services for Bitcoin mining facilities. MicroStrategy and other publicly listed S&P500 companies use Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Over 100m people hold Bitcoin protecting them from fiat currency collapse. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as legal tender.
However, many of the best technology use cases, innovations and companies built using Bitcoin and on top of the Bitcoin network are yet to come or are in their early infancy. For example, coin mixing and bitcoin finance using discrete log contracts are in their early days.
The technology has been proven, Bitcoin provides better returns than all other assets on a Risk-Adjusted basis, it is scalable and fast using layer two solutions like the lightning network, it is stable (money supply, 1 BTC = 1 BTC), it is secure to use (hardware wallets), it is low cost to use (full node <$100).
At the end of the day, Bitcoin is technology that is competing in the market for sound money. Compared to alternative forms of money, such as fiat and gold, Bitcoin is a 10x improvement.
Although, Bitcoin’s initial’s network rules were set in stone when Satoshi released Bitcoin on Jan. 3, 2009, Bitcoin is software. Bitcoin Core developers are constantly improving Bitcoin with softforks such as SegWit and Taproot. These upgrades continue to add new features, improve privacy, lower transaction costs and increase scalability without compromising network security or integrity.
However, Bitcoin upgrades are a slow process, as this isn’t a simple photo sharing app, but sound money for the world, akin to nuclear reactor. It is not to be changed lightly, and if it must be, only slowly and with utmost care. This is a generational project that will continue to live on after everyone alive today has long gone.
Tick, Tock, Next Block.
“You have to be 10 times better than second best.”
— Peter Thiel
The Network
As discussed above, Bitcoin is 10x better than alternatives.
However, it’s not always the better technology that wins. Factors such as timing, story and network effects do matter. For example, Dvorak keyboards are shown to be 74 percent faster and 68 percent more accurate, however everyone still uses QWERTY keyboards.
Bitcoin’s Immaculate conception, invention of digital scarcity and network effects are one time events. Any small “improvements” to speed or cost that altcoins promise, usually compromise decentralisation or security, or eventually deliver nothing at all.
In order to compete with Bitcoin, someone would need to invent a 10x better alternative to sound money; of which there are none today.
And in the game of money, there is no second best. It is a winner takes all game.
This lead will continue to expand as more and more people join the network, increasing network value according to Metcalfe’s Law (n²).
Bitcoin has the most market liquidity, the most full nodes, the most individual holders, the most businesses using the network and the best brand.
It simultaneously has no community, and the strongest loyalists in the world. That is because Bitcoin means different this to different people. To some it is a savings account. To others it’s a payment network. Others again use it to monetise stranded energy, such as wasted gas flaring. Bitcoin is what you make it, but the network rules are set in stone, enforced by an army of full nodes.
You don’t change Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.
“Behind this mask there is more than just flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea… and ideas are bulletproof.”
― Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
The Idea
At its core, Bitcoin is an idea, constructed of information and math.
It was built on top of years of research and publicly available information. Research such as public-key cryptography, peer-to-peer networks, and cryptographic hash functions. Satoshi pulled together many different aspects of technology to create Bitcoin; unstoppable sound money.
This idea has now been unleashed on the world. The genie can’t be put back in the bottle.
You can stop physical invasion. You can stop people. But you can’t stop an idea.
“You may burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas those books contain have passed through millions of channels and will go on.” — Helen Keller
You can “hold” bitcoin in your head with a 12 word seed phrase. You can “mine” bitcoin by simply guessing a number.
Banning Bitcoin would make thoughts, illegal. Banning Bitcoin would make math, illegal.
Hence, Bitcoin cannot be banned, as doing so would effectively be banning free speech. The implications of which would be profound and dire.
In the dystopia where thoughts and math are banned, Bitcoiners or plebs, will die on this hill. They will die to defend freedom and what they believe is right. Bitcoin empowers the individual with unstoppable sound money.
Bitcoin is such as new and powerful idea, that it has spawned a whole industry of “competitors” and “innovations”. Cryptocurrencies.
These are usually people who egotistically wanted to change Bitcoin with other ideas. These cryptocurrencies are riding on the coat tails of Bitcoin, scamming unwary investors and people of their hard earned money.
The only use case for “blockchain” technology is to secure an immutable and decentralised ledger. That is only useful for money. Money is a winner take’s all game, due to network effects, thus the majority of the value will consolidate in one money. Bitcoin.
The saying “don’t reinvent the wheel” will soon be synonymous for “don’t reinvent the money”.
“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”
— Victor Hugo
Conclusion
As fiat currencies continue to fail through hyperinflation, corruption and war, sound money is becoming a rallying cry for people around the world.
Bitcoin is the solution. A proven technology, a rapidly growing network, and unstoppable idea in one. It is empowering people around the world with sound money they can use day-to-day when traditional payment methods fail and enabling people to save for the future, even as currencies undergo hyperinflation. Bitcoin provides a life boat.
The idea of Bitcoin has been unleashed upon the world. Fixed Supply. Immutable Ledger. Decentralised Network. These ideas cannot be stopped. We cannot put them back in the bottle, we must instead learn to understand them and live with them.
Once understood, they bring clarity and truth to a world full of distraction and corruption. Once society gets over the hangover of fiat money, sound money will bring about a renaissance in human flourishing and prosperity for the next generation.
Bitcoin is the beacon of hope in an abyss of darkness.
“I’m not too proud to learn. If I looked a million years ago and someone comes out with fire, I’m not the guy who’s like I’m not doing that, that wasn’t my idea. Can I borrow some of that fire sir? Thank you, for bringing light to me.”
— Michael Saylor,
Channeling Monetary Energy Across Time and Space | The Saylor Series | Episode 5 (WiM005)
