It is interesting how quickly the mood in the crypto community can change, and we have just seen that happen this week. Up until just a few days ago, the general mood or sentiment was doom and gloom. Bitcoin was going to continue crashing down and it would be years before we could even begin thinking about setting new all-time high prices again. And then we saw a nice-sized pump that gave hope to many that perhaps the bull market has been reignited. As nice as that was to see, what you need to know is that there is a much more important game being played right now, and this last week was a big test for bitcoin. And it passed with flying colors.
If you have been paying attention to world news, you will quickly come to the conclusion that the world is not the same place it was before 2020. Before 2020 and the whole situation that covid would bring, the world was already a difficult place for many. And then covid came and amplified things even further. People were asked to go under lockdown to defeat the virus and at first were generally willing to do so. It was promised it would be for just a short time period. But new variations appeared, resulting in lockdowns and restrictions continuing for now two years. I'm not here to get into the politics of whether it is right or wrong, but there is no denying that people have become fed up and are fighting back. People are angry. Not only when it comes to covid restrictions, but also regular politics, racism, cancel culture, financial inequality, and are tired of the government having so much power with regular people having little to no say.
Everything came to a head last week with the ongoing Canadian Truck Driver protest. There were many people from around the world who supported what the truckers were attempting to do in Canada and wanted to help support them. A GoFundMe was formed so that people could donate to the cause. And it a huge success; millions upon millions of dollars were donated to the fund, and then things took a turn for the worse. GoFundMe decided to ban the charity listing and also essentially take control of all of the donations without refunding the money to the original donators.
It is moments like that are helping regular people who are not yet into bitcoin to understand to true value of bitcoin. Yes, we are all happy when bitcoin jumps up in price and makes our portfolio numbers look great. But, the true value comes from bitcoin being incredibly decentralized with no one in charge. As long as you maintain the keys to your coins, no one can freeze or take your coins. It was at that precise moment when the Trucker GoFundMe was frozen that bitcoin's price began to pump. Later a bitcoin donation wallet would be set up to receive donations for this movement.
This was a huge moment for bitcoin, and it is more important than most of us realize. If we are all honest with ourselves, most of us probably got into bitcoin and cryptocurrency not for the decentralization, technology or the freedom that it could potentially provide. But instead, we got into it to make money. There is no shame in that, after all, that is why I got into bitcoin originally as well. But this is a very important reminder for all of us.
I'm convinced that the world will never be the same as it was before covid, and how could it? Far too much has happened and the world can't forget. As the famous phrase goes, once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's impossible to get it back inside. And it isn't just one country either, it is worldwide. Australia, Canada, USA, and countless other places. It appears that the world is going to have a big revolution.
But, how does bitcoin fit into this?
It is likely that big governments or powerful centralized organizations will not go down kindly and will instead fight. They could do this with extreme FUD which could cause many to sell their coins, it could be by freezing your fiat accounts, restricting your freedoms further and who knows what else. The point is that decentralization is a thing that people are going to value more and eventually require. Bitcoin is the most decentralized coin out there. While there are many enemies of bitcoin and crypto out there, it is important to know that it is also gaining popularity by politicians as well. While a few years ago, the concern was if governments were going to completely ban bitcoin, but that is no longer the case. It's become too big for that to happen now.
The real question is just how far bitcoin will go now. Will it just be a great store of value, akin to gold. Or will it go further? Being adopted as longer tender in more countries and potentially even causing hyper-bitcoinization? I tend to believe it will be all of them. Sometimes we focus on the price news only, and not being concerned enough about the "real" news of bitcoin doing exactly what it was created for. The thing that should make you feel bullish is that bitcoin's price did pump when the whole above situation took place. People are waking up, and turning to bitcoin. We all don't have enough bitcoin.
How about you? Which do you value more, bitcoin's price going up, or it being decentralized and offering freedom?
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