๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป'๐ ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ๐ณ๐๐น ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐?
๐๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง โ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐โ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต #Ai-๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ #Bitcoin ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ.
We've all heard the hysteria that "๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด!" But how true is that really? In this chapter, @npub1exce...n72a, @Tomer Strolight, and @Guy Swann clear up this FUD for all the new Bitcoiners, and anyone who might think that Bitcoin is anything but ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น to the environment.
Below is Tomer Strolightโs answer, as written in โ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐โ:
๐ง๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐โ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Bitcoin is sound money that everyone in the world can access. Bitcoin uses energy to keep its past records from being changed. All the energy used in Bitcoin adds to this security.
Attacking Bitcoinโs ledger requires mustering more energy than is being used to protect it. To undo a Bitcoin transaction requires amassing more energy in a short time than has been used to operate bitcoin since the time that transaction was first confirmed. Thus Bitcoinโs energy use is a very real protection against any attempts to undo any of its transactions.
The value of having sound money represents an incredibly valuable leap forward that justifies energy use, and that actually saves a lot of energy that is currently wasted under unsound, fiat money.
Under the fiat standard, nobody has access to sound money. Vast amounts of energy then flow into trying to avert the negative consequences of this unsound fiat money. For one, people who do have money are forced to speculate on investments in stocks, bonds, real estate, derivatives, and other instruments that are themselves volatile and unpredictable to try to preserve the purchasing power of their savings. Even more people suffer from high inflation and hyperinflation.
There are entire industries that divert tremendous energy into the problems caused by fiat. As but a single example, housing is โfinancializedโ as a speculative investment and store-of-value, leaving many priced out of the market and unable to afford homeownership. Consider the energy that goes into financing, speculating on, and constructing properties that remain unoccupied all over the world, and youโll see but a sliver of the wasted energy that unsound money consumes.
Sound money does require energy use, but so too does unsound money. Sound money, however, is a far better and more efficient use of energy because it is rational and aligned with long-term capital formation and wealth creation.
Tomer Strolight has been involved in Bitcoin since 2013 and has been writing publicly under his name about it since 2021.
He is the Editor-in-Chief at Swan.com, a leading Bitcoin onramp.
He has also written and narrated the short Bitcoin film ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ (available on YouTube).
His articles appear on Bitcoin Magazine, Swan.com/signal, Citadel21.com, and more.
Preorder your copy of โ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐โ, and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ฌ%, by contributing to our @Geyser initiative:
๐ง๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐โ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Bitcoin is sound money that everyone in the world can access. Bitcoin uses energy to keep its past records from being changed. All the energy used in Bitcoin adds to this security.
Attacking Bitcoinโs ledger requires mustering more energy than is being used to protect it. To undo a Bitcoin transaction requires amassing more energy in a short time than has been used to operate bitcoin since the time that transaction was first confirmed. Thus Bitcoinโs energy use is a very real protection against any attempts to undo any of its transactions.
The value of having sound money represents an incredibly valuable leap forward that justifies energy use, and that actually saves a lot of energy that is currently wasted under unsound, fiat money.
Under the fiat standard, nobody has access to sound money. Vast amounts of energy then flow into trying to avert the negative consequences of this unsound fiat money. For one, people who do have money are forced to speculate on investments in stocks, bonds, real estate, derivatives, and other instruments that are themselves volatile and unpredictable to try to preserve the purchasing power of their savings. Even more people suffer from high inflation and hyperinflation.
There are entire industries that divert tremendous energy into the problems caused by fiat. As but a single example, housing is โfinancializedโ as a speculative investment and store-of-value, leaving many priced out of the market and unable to afford homeownership. Consider the energy that goes into financing, speculating on, and constructing properties that remain unoccupied all over the world, and youโll see but a sliver of the wasted energy that unsound money consumes.
Sound money does require energy use, but so too does unsound money. Sound money, however, is a far better and more efficient use of energy because it is rational and aligned with long-term capital formation and wealth creation.
Tomer Strolight has been involved in Bitcoin since 2013 and has been writing publicly under his name about it since 2021.
He is the Editor-in-Chief at Swan.com, a leading Bitcoin onramp.
He has also written and narrated the short Bitcoin film ๐๐ช๐ต๐ค๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ (available on YouTube).
His articles appear on Bitcoin Magazine, Swan.com/signal, Citadel21.com, and more.
Preorder your copy of โ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐โ, and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ ๐ฒ๐ฌ%, by contributing to our @Geyser initiative:
Geyser | Bitcoin Crowdfunding Platform
A Bitcoin crowdfunding platform where creators raise funds for causes, sell products, manage campaigns, and engage with their community.
๐๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Acknowledging that governments could ban Bitcoin is acknowledging that Bitcoin is a threat to the status quo โ and to be a threat to the status quo means it must be a credible alternative to the current monetary system. Thatโs a step in the right direction for someone who may have been skeptical previously.
Because Bitcoin is ๐ด๐ฐ good, yes, governments are likely to see it as a threat, and some may, and have, tried to ban it. However, it should be noted just how ineffective government bans are on things its citizens demand. Consider how effective the bans on alcohol, drugs, bibles, and certain movies have been.
I do think governments will come for Bitcoin, either to hurt it or to get more. Whatever they do, Bitcoin is going to be fine. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ may not be, though. Get your coins off exchanges and learn how to do this to protect yourself. Ask for help or learn online. Visit my website, which is dedicated to teaching people how to hold their own coins. Donโt leave them in a giant honeypot for your government to take in one swoop. Make them come after each person, one by one. Make it difficult.
Arman The Parman is a Bitcoiner who is passionate about Bitcoin privacy and private key safety. He runs an online mentoring program to help people achieve "insane security" and teaches his own non-custodial inheritance strategy that is both trustless and loss-resistant. He contributes to Bitcoin by writing economic and technical articles posted on his website.
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐โ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
As entertaining and interesting as this type of question truly is, we need to recognize it as ultimately irrelevant. If the โwho,โ โwhat,โ and โwhyโ of Bitcoinโs creation were important then the whole premise of Bitcoin would be moot, particularly because the creation of Bitcoin is that of non-hierarchical digital money. If the ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ behind the creation of Bitcoin were of any relevance whatsoever, that would imply a hierarchy and that would render the entire endeavor pointless.
So, how can you trust Bitcoin if it was created by a three-letter agency? By studying and realizing that truly no one, not even its creator, has power over you or any other user of the network.
Again, non-hierarchical digital money ๐ช๐ด the invention.
Pablo Fernandez is a self-proclaimed software engineer. He cares about building elegant, effective, software that expands individual freedom and drives responsibility/decision-making to the edges.
In the years following, each of you* has become Satoshi as you run, guard, and share the #Bitcoin protocol.
And more recently, all your voices have combined to create the ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต of Satoshi, taking us full circle.
Really, it's poetic when you think about it.
*except for that one Australian guy
๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐น๐โ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Bitcoin is a savings technology. Bitcoinโs unique properties make it the best vehicle for storing your wealth over long time frames in a world being digitized and where technology makes our lives easier.
When your savings actually grow in purchasing power over time, you spend less in the present to preserve and grow your purchasing power in the future.
Iโm hopeful that Bitcoin will lead to a world with less consumerism, less waste, and smarter financial decisions, resulting in more individuals and families experiencing economic prosperity.
The significant majority of people in the world are already experiencing economic stagnation when you measure purchasing power, not dollars.
Wealth inequality is at record levels, the price of homes is rising while wages are not, and excess savings rates are low.
Weโve been trained to over-borrow and over-consume; we sacrifice a comfortable future for a more pleasurable present.
Bitcoin should help increase financial literacy and lead to more prosperity, reducing economic stagnation on the individual level.
Brad Mills is a lifelong entrepreneur with a focus on product development and marketing. Involved with Bitcoin since 2011 as a miner, entrepreneur, and investor, Brad is a Value Maximalist at his core.
Tune into the ๐๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ podcast to deepen your insight into Bitcoin. Brad interviews industry game changers and shares their stories so you can learn about the deep roots of Bitcoinโs philosophy.
While the decreasing duration of each epoch's final block may appear to be a consequence of rising hashrate, this is not the case. These block times are ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
The Difficulty Adjustment every 2016 blocks, or about every 2 weeks, keeps blocks within a 10 minute timeframe ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ด๐ด๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐๐ฒ, not with each individual block. Some blocks within a difficulty period will be found in mere ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐, while others will take an hour or more. But zoomed-out, they tend to take about 10 minutes.
With the next halving only a couple days away, how long do you think block 839999 will last before block 840000 is found?
Leave your guesses in the ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐!โฌ๏ธ
๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ผ ๐ญ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
It is important to separate the control of money from the state for the same reason that it's important to separate the control of anything from the state. The modern nation-state is a criminal organization, typically characterized by inefficiency, corruption, and moral bankruptcy. For this reason, it's important to separate the state from its control over defense and firearms, healthcare and medicine, and education and information.
But in particular, it's crucial to separate the state's control over the most significant market of all: money. Money constitutes one-half of every trade that has ever occurred on this planet. The global economy has many sectors that are very important, strategic, and relevant, but no sector can be as important as the sector that is exactly one-half of every single economic transaction in every context, in every age, and in every culture, which is money.
If you corrupt money, you can corrupt any other possible market. If you restore money, you can improve and mitigate problems in most other contexts and markets. So, we should separate the state from literally everything because we should separate organized crime from everything. While we should ostracize organized crime in all forms, it is especially crucial in the case of the most important market: money.
Giacomo Zucco is an Italian technology entrepreneur, and a consultant/teacher for the Bitcoin and Lightning Network protocols. He spends his time supporting projects that he feels might be relevant for the future of Bitcoin, be it as an educator, consultant, entrepreneur, maximalist, or troll. Previously he was involved in GreenAddress, AssoBIT, BlockchainLab, and Bitcoin Magazine. He's currently advancing Bitcoin via BHB Network, BTCTimes, Relai, BCademy, and Notarify.