by Leah Wald
I have two good ears but sometimes I just don’t listen.
When I first began learning about Bitcoin, I woke up one morning at the crack of dawn and quit my job. I was told by people that I love and trust that it was a terrible decision. But I wasn’t listening.
I’m no stranger to stubbornness. While bootstrapped, founding a company, I slurped up that ramen soup with free coffee from my friend’s apartment lobby. I traversed DC in order to shop at the cheapest supermarket to stock up on a questionable meat-fill pork chops, as well as picked up a gig called “Event Staff”, which was a bonafide cleanup crew for parties that involved phone calls at 4am to pick up cigarette butts and beer bottles. I can look back now and laugh, but in the moment it felt painful.
I knew that going all in on becoming a Bitcoin student would be a challenge; and the truth is a challenge is painful. On many levels. Yet, as difficult as they may be, confronting challenges are the stories that define you, are the fabric of your being, and are what is worth telling. Joining the Bitcoin revolution is the journey that I want to live and the story that I wish to tell.
Bitcoin Opened My Eyes; And I Jumped Right In
At the time, I was consulting for a company structuring the launch of their IPO in China.
I had heard about Bitcoin. But it was at this time that I started hearing about ICOs. Previously, I experienced difficulty raising traditional investment capital. So, my initial thoughts were: 1) Wow, why didn’t I do this?, and 2) should we do an ICO rather than the planned IPO?
But when things seem too good to be true, they usually are. My skepticism led me down the rabbit hole of trying to decipher the differences between Bitcoin and the ICOs.
My conclusion: I was seeing Oil & Water.
Oil Rises
Bitcoin is the oil; and all other alts, the water.
Oil always rises to the top. You can create emulsion for a short period of time by stirring the oil and water quickly. But oil, Bitcoin, always rises back to the top.
With each new ICO, the message seems to be, “Hey, Bitcoin is good, but we’re going to make it a bit better.” An attempt to push oil to the bottom.
However, their attempted imitation is always worse, because you cannot make anything better than Bitcoin and the only true blockchain.
What they do not understand is that despite their attempt to destroy Bitcoin through destructive comments and acts; you can’t shut down Bitcoin. Without a central point, there is nothing to shut down.
They are causing confusion, factions, and slowing down progress and innovation, especially by forcing Agencies (such as the SEC/CFTC/IRS/DOJ… most of DC’s “alphabet soup” of government acronyms) to look at the entire crypto-ecosystem and try to sort out the mess. There wasn’t a mess before but now there is. However, I do believe that the light will come on one day and all the scammy alts will go away.
Until then, I will always fight on the side of Bitcoin.
Smashing The Plutocracy
The majority of my career has been either working at The World Bank or on the implementation of their contracts. I saw and worked with fragile states where their citizens are unable to overthrow structures of neopatrimonialism. This is because the authoritarian rulers safeguard all monetary transactions and prevented money from circulating outside the ruling elite.
Darwin spoke about the survival of the fittest and that individual competitors will always triumph. However, in capitalist society, this is simply an ideology that legitimizes the dominance of those with economic power over others.
Bitcoin is non-confiscatable. Under this promise, governments are no longer able to confiscate and take away your wealth. Bitcoin was created as a reaction and counteroffensive against financial institutions and corrupt governments. The timing of the White Paper was not coincidental to the financial crisis.
Poverty shouldn’t just be seen through the lens of income disparity but also as opportunity disparity. Bitcoin disrupts this system with the ability for all to powerfully and equally join the global economy through a decentralized, fair, and transparent system enforced by a cooperative community.
Brighter Every Day
I had blindspots that I didn’t even know that I had. I feel blessed to have the most incredible mentors and teachers in Tone Vays, D. Tyler Jenks, Jimmy Song, Giacomo Zucco, and Andreas Antonopoulos (Andreas, I admit, I’ve spent days watching your YouTube videos), among many more brilliant Bitcoiners who I actively follow and learn from.
In the crazy noise of Cryptoland, they have helped me distinguish meaningful trends from fads as well as discern the nuances that create the alchemy of Bitcoin and its blockchain. Moreover, and most importantly, through their wisdom, I have been able to craft my own opinion of the space.
I am a Bitcoin investor but beyond charting and following the price of bitcoin, it is Bitcoin’s values that has changed me for the rest of my life. Values that have created a platform for egalitarianism, empowerment, organic cooperation and community, which can force a positive trajectory for social evolution, true freedom, and justice.
I believe in Bitcoin. I salute the positive impact it is having in the world and the power it possesses to absolutely disrupt our future in the most beautiful way. I cannot wait to be a part of it while it unfolds.