The first block was published and it went from an idea, to something real in the world, that even Satoshi no longer truly controlled.
This is only the beginning of Bitcoin’s journey. It is quickly establishing itself as an unstoppable and critical part of the infrastructure of this global, interconnected network we call the internet. It is the first native, digital money, without rulers, without central control, without bias. It is available to anyone to use, it is fought over and grows in an open and truly global market. And it continues to evolve with new tools, layers of additional protocols and applications, millions of users, and thousands of developers.
It has inspired a rebirth of the cypherpunk philosophy, showing with a real world experiment why the ideals of sovereignty, privacy, and digital autonomy are the best, and really only path, for an open society in the digital age.
Where the cypherpunk idea was once obscure and recognized by a tiny, isolated group in unknown mailing lists, it has now exploded through the mainstream Overton window. With more social and economic power than it has ever experienced. A set of values that bolsters confidence and conviction on those building the floor of Bitcoin’s value, creating holders of last resort, who think not in dollar profits, but in dropping every dollar as fast as possible as a matter of principle.
The capital shift into Bitcoin has poured billions of dollars worth of value into a technology of freedom and sovereignty. It has completely changed the dynamic of internet power despite the fact that many don’t even realize it. It has completely transformed the thinking around risks and security across the internet. It has brought the incredible, unrivaled assurances of hardware secured encryption keys and signing down from the upper echelons of the corporate and political world, to devices with comparable, even superior security, available to the average pleb and with applications that are stupidly easy to use.
It has inspired a new era of experimentation (even with all of the fools and the speculation that come with it) of decentralizing the third party risks we suddenly found our world drowning in.
Trusted third parties are security holes. 15 years ago that was an unknown platitude shrugged off by essentially everyone. Today it’s got billions in capital with this as a prime concern, millions who embrace and understand this principle and use, build, explore, discuss, and share every single tool and application they find that may have some hope of solving another risk from yet another counterparty.
We have changed the entire landscape and rediscovered bitcoin again and again through multiple eras.
We have built a market of people unafraid of volatility, who in fact embrace it. In stark contrast to the fragile, pathetic markets of the legacy economy who cry about volatility and beg for intervention at the first sight of trouble. Bitcoin has built genuine market strength. Rewarding those with a long term mindset and the balls to stack through the dips created by fools and gamblers. A market of those who know the future we want isn’t something that comes at the end of a magic wand, an empty government promise, and financial counterfeiting to cover up our mistakes - but with all of our collective work and attention to seeing it realized.
We have built a new, decentralized social protocol in #Nostr, beginning to realize the dream of what Bitcoin can do for the entire internet stack. And Nostr is only the beginning, with multiple other networks and protocols vying to best solve one of the greatest problems of the internet era. Never has there been more hope and excitement around the possibility that these problems could one day be a thing of the past. Bitcoin won’t just change money, it will change everything that money touches.
Bitcoin has exposed fiat for what it is, the bloated, corrupt, endlessly inflated sham that it really is. People fail to realize by itself, what an incredible victory it is that the *idea* of fiat money is breaking into the mainstream. The war of the mind is one of the most important that will be fought, and #Bitcoin is winning it.
Bitcoin has persisted through an endless and evolving blob of FUD, lies, and mainstream attacks which have only made it stronger. It has survived early critical bugs, an internal war, outlawing by one of the most powerful nations in the world, and possibly one of the greatest infrastructure shifts in internet history. #Bitcoin saw half of its entire processing infrastructure shut down, packed up, and migrated to new locations all around the world, and turned back on, without even a moment of down time.
Through it all, the blocks continued on. Tick rock, next block.
Liquidity and applications around the world, both in modern Western countries and in poor countries across the global south, has grown endlessly through bear markets and bull markets alike. There are no walls, no barriers preventing access. The entire world, one person at a time, is waking up to the promise of Bitcoin.
It has been adopted directly by a nation state, and indirectly accepted by a few others. El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender, and has since shown the world one of the most profound underdog stories ever. It shines as an example of what sane policy and sound money can do, transform an entire fucking country in barely a few years. From violence, hate, fear, and poverty, to peace, safety, security and incredible and accelerating growth and prosperity.
Things CAN change. Our problems are NOT insurmountable. And #Bitcoin is showing us that the future isn’t something we beg for, it’s isn’t something we complain into existence, it isn’t something you vote for.
The future is something that we will build.
Today, #Bitcoin is 15 years old. And today, is just the beginning.
