“In twenty years time Bitcoin will either have died a death or will be a universal phenomenon.” -Satoshi Nakamoto, 2008
Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dash (DASH), Zcash (ZEC), Litecoin (LTC), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Monero (XMR), Ripple (XRP)...
These cryptocurrencies and hundreds more make up the burgeoning “cryptoeconomy” -- the greatest level of financial innovation we've seen since double-entry bookkeeping.
And, because it’s free ("free" as in unchained, not "free" as in stuff), untethered by red tape, we’re seeing an absolute explosion of potential ways to flip nearly every industry on its head (and, yes, unfortunately, a whole lot of empty, head-shaking hype).
Governments keep turning their heads sideways trying to figure out how to fit the crypto-economy into the old framework. But they can’t. It doesn’t fit. It won’t. It’s shaking its head no.
It was not born for this world. It requires a new set of lenses.
Satoshi Nakamoto built bitcoin with a clear understanding of the ills and frailties of the current economic landscape -- and an even clearer understanding of the root problem… trust.
He wrote:
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”
So he created a system which could outsource this trust to the irrefutable and objective power of math.
Satoshi also created bitcoin with a fixed supply, creating a digital gold standard. Sound money for the Internet age.
And, finally, he saw the need for a decentralized “censorship resistance,” too. It was obvious from the beginning that, if bitcoin caught on, it would severely threaten the status quo.
He wrote on a cryptography mailing list:
“Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own.”
There’s no way of predicting exactly how it'll all play out. But it's exciting to have front row seats to the show.
Because, the naked truth is, crypto is not built to fit into this world.
It’s built to make it obsolete.
[For a bleaker outlook: If, of course, as some have suggested, Satoshi is a State agent, perhaps even of alien descent, bitcoin is just an incredibly cunning and sophisticated ruse to make a cashless/RFID microchipped NWO society all the more inevitable. If that’s the case, bag up your beans, bullets and metals and run for the hills. We’re all doomed.]
What do you think? What are you hodling? Let me know in the comments below...