This is an opinion editorial by Aneta Karbowiak, a contributor at Bitcoin Magazine.
Bitcoin has conveyed an important message to the world since its inception. It is the message of liberation from corrupt governments and financial intermediaries. Bitcoin is free speech recorded in every block and replicated on thousands of computers distributed around the world. It cannot be silenced any longer; it is here to stay to speak its immutable truth. Its message of freedom has been set in stone. It speaks to us with increasing confidence about what is to come and that Bitcoin has already won.
Since Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block, Bitcoin has been communicating with us. Communication does not take place solely through the use of words. Much of it is accomplished through nonverbal means. Each movement, tone of voice, pause and reaction sends nonverbal cues that reveal what the speaker is thinking, what they want, or how confident they are.
In the s-curve of adoption, characteristic of every disruptive technological innovation, Bitcoin is sending us cues. This curve is the expression of the steps and hurdles a new product must overcome before becoming widely adopted. Bitcoin is still in the innovation phase. It is building up the tension prior to the exponential phase that will bring the masses. Then, it will be talked about in every household and held by everyone. This was true for cars, television, cell phones and the internet. The same will be true for bitcoin as well. The difference is that it will happen faster because of the spread of information via mass media and the game theory incentives of adoption.
Bitcoin has been asserting itself through every major crash, starting with the Mt. Gox hack, other hacks on exchanges, the China ban, remittance hostility around the world and regulatory difficulties. Despite numerous price corrections, early investors persevered and maintained strong price support. With each dip, bitcoin emerged victorious from the fight against the bears, being stronger than ever, and reaching new all-time highs. Every battle that bitcoin won has increased investors' confidence that they are dealing with something special that is becoming more and more antifragile, block after block. Their conviction grew along with new waves of investors, bringing us to an all-time high of $69,000. There is no “Pinocchio effect,” where a single gesture indicates lying. Bitcoiners had to learn to distinguish complex market behavior to describe what was being communicated. They had to observe the bitcoin market and the on-chain data to look for the signs of truth and deception. It has been 13 years of unstoppable speech that Bitcoin was speaking its message of truth, and that message is stronger than ever.
The message is saying that Bitcoin has already won.
So what are these messages of truth conveyed to us as facts? There are many, and Michael Saylor transmits them with accuracy:
“Two years ago, we had a COVID crisis and since then, the U.S. money supply expanded by 36%. Bitcoin is up 229%. Gold, the NASDAQ, and the S&P all underperformed the U.S. money supply, so over a two-year, a four-year, a six-year, an eight-year time frame, bitcoin is outperforming everything.”
With ultra-low interest rates and trillions of dollars of inflated money supply, U.S. policymakers created a financial market bubble. The currency is losing its value at a staggering speed while prices of food, energy, rent and services are rising.
The inevitability of the effects that are manifesting themselves as the consequence of the money supply expansion, as well as the impending crisis following currency debasement few have the foresight to notice, will be a further primer for bitcoin’s success. There is no better place to hide your wealth from inflation than bitcoin. When your currency is losing value faster than the 0% rate your bank is offering you or faster than your real estate or gold that can be seized, there is only one asset offering security because it is scarce and desirable.
The U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates in June 2022, to curb price rises. Rate hikes in the U.S. frighten other countries because it will lure global capital back to the U.S. This will harm developing economies that will likely see an outflow of cash. These economies may be in the shadow of the U.S., so for them, bitcoin is a better solution. For most countries, bitcoin represents liberation from Washington D.C.'s hegemony and its flawed monetary policy. These countries are at the forefront of cryptocurrency adoption. According to a Chainalysis report, ordinary people with a “focus on use cases related to transactions and individual saving, rather than trading and speculation,” have been the main drivers in this industry in recent years. These people “turn to cryptocurrency to preserve their savings in the face of currency devaluation, as well as to send and receive remittances and carry out business transactions.” Countries like Vietnam, Nigeria, Kenya, Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Argentina and many others choose cryptocurrency over the dollar. According to the Chainalysis report, cryptocurrency adoption has grown by 880% over the past year. A Blockware report estimates that bitcoin adoption should exceed one billion users within the next eight years.
Bitcoin is used for a variety of purposes all over the world. It functions as an inflation hedge, a store of value and a decentralized settlement network. Saylor, like many other Bitcoiners, sees it primarily as a form of property that no one can take from you:
“Bitcoin is property rights properly understood and that is important economic empowerment. It’s the protection of individual liberties. It’s John Locke’s dream: life, liberty and property.”
All the above statements are true, and they do not need to be rehearsed when trying to persuade someone.
By memorizing a seed phrase, you can transport your bitcoin across borders. You can't do that with cash, gold or real estate, which can be seized at any time. But you can own bitcoin on the blockchain and no one can take it away from you. According to Chainalysis, bitcoin adoption in sanctioned countries like Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and others grew. This is a bullish sign because it shows that no one government or a coalition can censor Bitcoin. People living in sanctioned countries use bitcoin to buy food and to thrive in a hostile environment. They are often victims of their corrupt governments and their policies. Bitcoin gives them hope.
Storing your savings in bitcoin is better than storing them elsewhere. Even the latest cryptocurrency market crash is providing more proof that there is no better asset than bitcoin. While the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and other markets melt, the bitcoin price action is not out of the ordinary. The fear and greed index is in the red now and it may go lower, but bitcoin maintains control over the temporal aspect of its speech. The Bitcoin network continues working as designed for millions of people throughout the world. It sits comfortably on the throne of cryptocurrency dominance, occupying almost 44% of the total $897 billion in the space. This command of time and space is displayed in its stock-to-flow ratio, conveying that Bitcoin is in control of the situation on the global stage. Bitcoin does not scream, it does not rush, it goes forward calmly with wide, parabolic moves. Like a public speaker that has confidence in himself and who catches the audience's attention by owning the discussion with pauses for suspension and wide gestures inciting trust, Bitcoin does the same — it owns the stage.
While other markets jitter and display nervousness after escalating fear, bitcoin exhales and takes a deep breath to de-escalate and return to homeostasis. There can't be any fear when there is the knowledge that the printing machine cannot be stopped and that there is nothing that can tap the broken dam protecting us from the inflation flood. What is to come is inevitable and it cannot be stopped. You can always mine more gold, but the only certainty you have is the 21 million bitcoin hard cap. With less than 2 million bitcoin left to mine, there is no more scarce asset you can own. Bitcoin is digital gold. There is no CEO, no cost of production, no company, and no government creating a risk. You can move it around the world at the speed of light with the protection of thousands of computers securing the network.
Confidence is the feeling of being certain that something will happen or that something is true. Bitcoin is confidence in the inescapability of something that has not yet occurred, but that will happen for sure. Bitcoin is the truth.
Synopsis
From the moment Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first block, Bitcoin has been communicating with us through nonverbal cues. It has been asserting itself with each market dip and subsequent rise, demonstrating growing maturity. Millions of people have adopted and used it for different reasons, but Bitcoin continues doing what it was born to do: speak its immutable truth. In a world where censorship is rampant and currencies are debased through inflation, bitcoin is a safe harbor. There is no better place to hide wealth from money supply expansion or a corrupt government. Bitcoin can’t be corrupted nor inflated. It is hard money and it has already won.
This is a guest post by Aneta Karbowiak. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
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