Bitcoin Is A Religion. A Deep Belief. A Trust. A Philosophy. A Faith. A Community.
By Brett Colbert on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
(I originally published this on September 2017)
The bitcoin bible is Satoshi’s manuscript — https://nakamotoinstitute.org/bitcoin/
It’s no accident that the first bitcoin block is called the ‘Genesis’ block — created on January 3, 2009. (Genesis is the first book of the Bible for those who don’t know.)
The infidels, atheists, and skeptics are used as public examples of foolishness. Their foolish statements are on public display to reinforce the conviction of the faithful and possibly convert others to the bitcoin religion. The public flogging of disbelievers can be found here: http://nakamotoinstitute.org/the-skeptics/
There are factions within the bitcoin religion, similar to the factions within other religions. Although those factions all believe and follow the bitcoin bible (Satoshi’s white paper), they interpret the bitcoin bible differently. Same words, same sentences but the interpretation can vary greatly, just like with all religions. The various factions vehemently disagree with each other and staunchly protect their interpretation of the bitcoin bible.
There are disciples of the bitcoin religion just like there are disciples of Apple or disciples of other religions. Their faith is in bitcoin and its ability to change the world, revolutionize how things are done, decentralize control and ultimately to continue to go up in value.
There are amazingly brilliant people who build bitcoin, manage it, extend it and protect bitcoin — some of the smartest people that I’ve read and watched. Some are kooks, but some are purposely kooks — it’s part of their shtick. Hilarious, wicked smart disciples. The personalities are entertaining but as you dig in, you realize the incredible mental horsepower of some of these folks. You can’t help but be humbled by the careless intellect and deep belief in the revolution that bitcoin is causing and will continue to cause.
The bitcoin core developers — the real ones that write code for bitcoin core — are here:
https://bitcoin.org/en/development#bitcoin-core-contributors This is the brain trust. This is the original list of apostles, trending all the way back to the creation of bitcoin.
When the bitcoin investment n00bs jump in, try to make a quick buck and then get screwed, the true bitcoiners love it. The noobs panic (like I originally did) because they don’t truly have faith in the bitcoin religion. They run away like scared kids, typically losing a chunk of their investment. They are REKT.
Anything that isn’t the core bitcoin is considered an altcoin or often referred to as a sh*tcoin. These are not considered bitcoin but are often created from the rib of bitcoin as a hard fork. Similar to other religious splinter groups that are typically not acknowledged as having the true faith. These are sometimes considered bitcoin heretics or apostates.
In our capitalistic society, it’s hard to comprehend but the primary objective for the true bitcoin believers is not to make money. Before making money, the true bitcoin believers want to protect Satoshi’s vision, protect bitcoin, protect the religion. And they do it fiercely.
When bitcoin price goes down, they relish it. They joke about it and then they buy more bitcoin because they have faith that bitcoin will always recover and go back up. When the price plummets, they laugh at the unbelievers, the pessimists, the doubters, the bitcoin atheists. Their mantra is “HODL” — hold on for dear life.
As you become a bitcoin believer, you start to understand that some of the stories you read about bitcoin are mis-informed and frankly clueless, often from the established, incumbent media outlets. It’s not their fault. Editors and writers apply their current mindset and understanding about how things work today and then write ignorant and incorrect articles about bitcoin.
That’s the whole point. You have to understand the brilliance of what Satoshi created — decentralization, incentivized transaction verification, immutability, limited supply, etc. It’s revolutionary. The radical concept of eliminating the need for centralized banking is more than most people can comprehend. The radical concept that security should not be dependent on a single corporate entity but be mathematically calculated and then verified through a crowd-sourced approach.
The current mindset is that banks will never change and the financial system we have works — so bitcoin is a fluke, a Ponzi scheme, a freak. These people talk about bitcoin, blockchain, ethereum, and alt coins as if they are the same thing — the ignorance is embarrassing or should be.
Finally, I have attempted to document the “10 Commandments of Bitcoin”:
The 10 Commandments of Bitcoin:
- You will have no other cryptocurrencies before bitcoin.
- You will not call your altcoin bitcoin.
- You will not call yourself Satoshi.
- Remember the genesis block day. (January 3, 2009)
- Respect Satoshi.
- You will not recklessly hard fork.
- You will not purchase and hold any altcoins, before bitcoin.
- You will dump all shitcoins and buy bitcoin.
- You will not bear false witness against bitcoin.
- You will not covet someone else’s bitcoin profits.
