That is an opinion editorial by Jonathan Leger, a software program developer and writer of the Relating to Bitcoin e-newsletter. A model of this text was initially revealed on Substack.
I used to be raised in a doomsday cult that taught that God was on the brink of wage the conflict of Armageddon and convey in regards to the finish of the present world order. The governments, all dominated by the satan, would get replaced with the Kingdom of Heaven dominated by Jesus Christ. The cult discouraged any type of actual monetary planning due to this worldview. In spite of everything, what was the purpose of investing in a system going through imminent destruction?
This excessive non secular upbringing — and my eventual escape from it — helped me in my path to understanding Bitcoin Maximalism.
Discovering Bitcoin
My Bitcoin expertise started with a dropping commerce in the summertime of 2014. After studying a number of articles about this “magic web cash,” I purchased my first complete coin for about $500. I wasn’t ready for the way risky the value swings could be, although, and offered at a loss later that yr. If solely I had recognized…
The final 5 years have been an intense studying expertise for me. On the finish of 2017, I left the cult with my spouse, who’s at present shunned by her whole household (as required by cult doctrine). I misplaced all of my “mates” as nicely. We needed to learn the way the actual world labored and the best way to construct a social community outdoors of the ready-made set of “mates” handed to us by the church, as getting near non-members was deeply discouraged. All non-members have been going to die by God’s hand at Armageddon anyway, so there was no level in getting too acquainted. Plus, their depraved methods would possibly rub off on you, so it was greatest to maintain your distance for worry that you just would possibly get hit by a stray fireball when the top got here.
After leaving the cult, I embraced life with the fervor of a wrongly-jailed prisoner embracing freedom upon exoneration. I studied politics for the primary time, since members didn’t vote or take part in any type of campaigning as a result of perception that each one earthly governments have been Satanic. I learn books on how far humanity had superior and the way a lot better off all of us are than in centuries previous, nonetheless imperfect the present world could also be. I used to be excited and optimistic for the long run.
In 2004, I had began and grew a profitable enterprise as a software program developer and web advertising and marketing coach. The instruments our staff developed helped individuals compete with bigger firms for getting web sites to the highest of the search leads to Google, in addition to different associated use instances. For a few years, looking Google for “coolest man on the planet” returned my web site because the primary outcome, demonstrating the significance of the Bitcoiner mantra, “Don’t belief, confirm.”
Regardless of making tens of millions of {dollars} in profitable software program product launches, I misplaced most of it by way of poor monetary choices coupled with intensifying competitors from a lot better capitalized firms. On high of that, I went by way of a really costly, acrimonious divorce.
“Love is grand,” they are saying, “however divorce is 100 grand.” I grew up poor and had little formal or private training in the best way to correctly handle cash or what cash even actually was, so after I lastly “made it” I didn’t know the best way to correctly deal with it.
As you may think, it wasn’t all dangerous. The cash afforded me many unimaginable private experiences. However my private and residential life have been a large number, I used to be nonetheless a real believer within the doomsday cult praying for the top of the world, and on stability was very sad. I felt like the rich author of Ecclesiastes, “I’ve seen all of the works which can be carried out below the solar; and, behold, all is self-importance and vexation of spirit.”
In 2019, I used to be 42 years outdated, had escaped the cult and was remarried to a beautiful girl whom I like. I spent a lot of my time finding out markets to stop repeating previous errors and dealing to develop a retirement plan. I did nicely with shares that yr however saved listening to about Bitcoin and the way it was like nothing else. After studying “The Bitcoin Commonplace,” I lastly understood why sound cash was vital and why fiat was doomed to fail. I once more purchased into BTC, this time at round $9,000.
Contagion Hits
When COVID-19 first reared its ugly head in early 2020, I did what many individuals did: hearken to the “specialists.” However because the scenes of pandemic theater performed out, I started to know that politics exhibited most of the identical attributes because the cult I got here out of. There have been leaders that would not be questioned and members who would disgrace and shun anybody who dared to talk up. Their god was “The Science,” their Pope, Anthony Fauci, their clergy, the CDC and politicians. Rights have been eroded and small companies shut down whereas massive field chains and mega-corporations raked in report earnings, together with Massive Pharma. Trillions of {dollars} have been printed out of skinny air, proving true the Cantillon impact that claims the biggest beneficiaries of modifications in cash provide are the individuals and firms closest to the cash printers.
In contrast to many hardcore Bitcoiners, my funding objectives have been purely monetary, not philosophical. Like so many others within the crypto on line casino, I used to be chasing good points. Due to this, I offered my bitcoin at $45,000 and jumped into altcoins with the assumption that I might multiply my funding, which I did. In reality, I did nicely sufficient to have the ability to cease writing software program for a few yr and a half, which was a much-needed hiatus and gave me much more time for the analysis I used to be doing.
Then got here the market crash of 2022. With inflation clearly not “transitory,” the cash printer was halted, and the Federal Reserve started to lift charges at a historically-unprecedented tempo. Markets reacted negatively, bringing all cryptocurrencies down with them. The value of bitcoin cratered together with all the pieces else. Low costs uncovered the weak spot of overleveraged schemes like Celsius and Three Arrows Capital, sending them out of business. Terra collapsed together with a bunch of different smaller crypto operations.
The purportedly second-largest centralized crypto change on the planet, FTX, stepped in with a promise to rescue the business, solely to develop into the biggest fraud of all of them when its personal stability sheet was leaked. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), was accused of stealing traders’ and customers’ cash and sending it to its buying and selling arm, Alameda, the place it was gambled away on high-risk trades that spectacularly did not the tune of $10 billion.
A large “hack” of FTX adopted shortly thereafter, the repercussions of that are nonetheless enjoying out. Proof of political intrigue emerged, supported by the truth that most mainstream media protection handled SBF with child gloves, some even portray him as a sufferer somewhat than a predator. As of this writing, no one has been arrested. By the use of comparability, Bernie Madoff was in handcuffs the day after his fraud was uncovered.
Bitcoin started flying off exchanges whereas Bitcoiners shook their rattling heads at how many individuals had once more ignored one in all their most elementary truths, “Not your keys, not your cash.” Whereas I used to be glad to see individuals lastly listening, the harm carried out was super, each in monetary and reputational loss. Since my begin with Bitcoin, I all the time self-custodied my baggage and so was unaffected by any of the collapses, at the least so far as dropping any of my holdings.
Although I by no means misplaced my respect for Bitcoin or the rules of decentralization and sound cash, these occasions returned them entrance and middle to my consciousness. I resumed listening to Bitcoiner podcasts, studying long-form articles, watching movies and reminding myself simply how badly off the present world monetary system actually is.
“It’s simply math,” say the Bitcoiners, and I consider they’re appropriate. There’s no stopping the debt spiral now. The tip is certainly coming, simply not in the way in which I had been taught rising up.
I Lastly Get It: ‘Don’t Belief, Confirm’
Throughout the time I used to be buying and selling and HODLing altcoins, I believed Bitcoin Maxis have been too excessive. Though I agreed with their views on sound cash and decentralization and agreed that most cryptos have been simply vaporware rug pulls ready to occur, I didn’t perceive their disdain for each crypto that wasn’t bitcoin. This was very true for initiatives that have been actively being utilized in the actual world to seemingly useful impact.
As a software program developer myself, I’m conscious that there isn’t any single device that covers all use instances. There’s Home windows, or MacOS X, or Linux for computer systems, Android or Apple’s iOS for telephones, and numerous totally different apps that run on all of these platforms that carry out totally different capabilities, lots of them competing for market share. This competitors encourages innovation which finally makes all software program higher. That free-market precept is one thing Bitcoiners honor, so I didn’t perceive why they jettisoned it when it got here to cryptocurrencies. My assumption was they did so out of self-interest. If individuals invested in different initiatives, they wouldn’t put their cash in bitcoin, which harm the Bitcoiner’s personal portfolio.
Then there was proof of labor. It’s energy intensive and relatively gradual, even when far superior to financial institution applied sciences like SWIFT when it comes to velocity and assured settlement. Even when the “inexperienced” argument was simply worry, uncertainty and doubt (FUD), why stick to proof of labor when different tech had confirmed far quicker and extra environment friendly, making it way more viable for funds programs?
Immediately, ultimately, after all the pieces that’s occurred over the previous three years, I lastly get it.
“Don’t belief, confirm.”
The entire Bitcoiner philosophy comes right down to these three phrases. Belief has all the time been abused, even when solely by a small minority. However all it takes is a minority of individuals abusing and misusing your belief to trigger you, and everybody else who trusts them, grave hurt. So don’t belief, confirm.
How does this relate to Bitcoiner’s referring to all different cryptos as “shitcoins” and dismissing them outright? It’s easy. The whole fiat forex system is a Ponzi scheme. Fiat is “cash by decree” — it’s not backed by any actual asset and solely has worth as a result of the federal government says it does. Governments use fiat to rob residents by printing cash with out residents’ consent. That is, in impact, a tax that has not been authorised by or voted on by the individuals. It’s theft.
For instance, previous to fiat, governments would want precise onerous forex (normally gold) to fund the wars they needed to battle. In the event that they didn’t have the cash, they couldn’t battle the wars with out elevating taxes, which is rarely a well-liked proposition. With fiat, nonetheless, the federal government can print as a lot cash as they need, pulling the cash to fund their self-serving conflicts out of the pockets of the individuals who use that fiat forex: no permission needed, and with out most individuals realizing what’s taking place.
Fiat additionally retains individuals on a perpetual hamster wheel by way of inflation. If you recognize the cash you might have within the financial institution will likely be price much less subsequent yr than it’s this yr, it’s essential to maintain making an attempt tougher to earn more cash, yr after yr, simply to maintain your head above water. This retains the vast majority of individuals as perpetual wage slaves, by no means fairly capable of get forward, at the least not sufficient to cease and revel in their lives.
With out inflation you could possibly reside under your means, save your extra cash, and belief within the deflationary results of know-how to make your cash stretch a lot additional when you resolve to retire. In spite of everything, with know-how continuously making provide chains extra environment friendly by way of enhancements in transportation and automation, all the pieces ought to price much less over time, no more. And but costs maintain rising. Why? Inflation.
So what does fiat must do with cryptocurrencies apart from bitcoin? All different cryptocurrencies are working inside the present monetary system making an attempt to enhance it, make it extra environment friendly, present higher privateness, and so on. This has some constructive results. As an illustration, stablecoins give entry to the U.S. greenback to individuals in international locations whose forex is present process extreme inflation and whose banking programs are corrupt or unreliable. But it surely nonetheless requires the fiat Ponzi to operate.
You possibly can speak till you’re blue within the face about how a highly-efficient cryptocurrency might give entry to the monetary system to billions of unbanked people, bettering their lives by serving to them escape their very own inflationary currencies and bypassing their corrupt governments. But it surely doesn’t matter since you’re solely offering these individuals entry to a different fiat forex, and fiat is murdering the free market. You possibly can discuss how issuing tokens give small companies the flexibility to lift cash with out having to pay billions to massive banks to IPO. Doesn’t matter. You’re nonetheless working throughout the fiat system, and the fiat system is the basic root of all the issues to start with.
To the Bitcoiner, cryptocurrencies are decks being constructed onto the Titanic because it sinks, whereas Bitcoin is the life raft individuals must get on to save lots of themselves. The tech of some cryptos could be nice, nevertheless it solely delays the inevitable demise of the sinking ship. Maxis consider that bitcoin is destined to interchange fiat, not shore it up, returning sound cash to the world. As they typically say, “Bitcoin fixes this.”
For Bitcoiners, this isn’t nearly cash. It’s a guidestone that influences each facet of life. It’s a perception system, although I’ll cease wanting calling it a faith, since individuals of each conceivable faith additionally subscribe to its tenants. To those that aren’t Bitcoiners, maxis can seem like in some type of cult, nevertheless it’s not a cult. Fairly the other, in actual fact.
Bitcoiners are individuals who, like me, have escaped a cult: the cult of fiat. As soon as they have been like everybody else, brainwashed into believing that the federal government could possibly be trusted with management over the cash printer, that the Fed was able to central planning of the financial system, and that inflation was needed for financial progress.
Plato’s well-known Allegory of the Cage describes a gaggle of people that have lived chained to the wall of a cave for his or her whole lives. All they’ll see is a clean wall and the shadows solid upon it from a hearth burning behind them. They provide the shadows names, believing them to be precise representations of the actual world. One of many prisoners escapes from the cave and, having skilled the precise world, realizes that the shadows should not true representations of it. He returns to the cave to attempt to persuade the opposite prisoners, however they don’t consider him as a result of the shadows are all they’ve ever recognized. Bitcoiners are the escaped man.
The Bitcoiner tribe may be rowdy and crass and harsh, however it’s essential to contemplate what they’re out to realize and what they’re up in opposition to. Their endeavor is just not for the faint of coronary heart. It’s an actual David and Goliath second. The Bitcoiner stands, golden cash in hand, wanting the enormous within the eye with a defiance that onlookers normally understand as insanity. Perhaps it’s insanity, however with out that dauntless high quality, Bitcoin wouldn’t have come so far as it has. And I, for one, will cheer them on as the enormous collapses.
It is a visitor submit by Jonathan Leger. Opinions expressed are totally their very own and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal.
