Mar 27•4 min read
Where Do We Go From Here?
It’s been a while since I wrote an article. I didn’t have much to say, I guess. My golden rule is to write when you have something to contribute and not when you have nothing to say.
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve just been sitting back and watching the narrative around Bitcoin and the newly minted Bitcoin ETFs play out, and the results so far are disappointing, to be honest.
Everyone seems to be focused on number go up and less on bringing Bitcoin to the world. The globe is in serious trouble, and governments worldwide are straining under the weight of failed fiat currencies.
Pension and state entitlement programs are underfunded and have liabilities way above what can be paid without printing gazillions of dollars and bankrupting the system. The future of humanity is hanging in the balance, with war, famine, and a bleak future for kids and grandchildren on the horizon unless we course correct right now. Not in 10-20. I don’t think we have that long; I’m talking 3-5 years at most to get the world on better money and away from the abyss.
The sentiment I’ve seen on X is mostly “fuck it, I got my bags. Sucks to be a nocoiner” or HFSP. The missionary zeal to spread the message to the masses has largely disappeared.
Are we just resting on our laurels because many believe Bitcoin has “made it” because the big institutions are here and buying at scale? Is this why Satoshi created Bitcoin, or was it created to be something more profound than a number going up? If Bitcoin becomes just another asset that you can buy, what was the whole point of creating Bitcoin in the first place?
The Bitcoin Whitepaper clearly states Bitcoin's mission. “A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”
Do you think Bitcoin, in its current iteration, is achieving this goal? I’ll let you come to your conclusion on that one. Centralized exchanges such as Coinbase are mighty popular with Bitcoin retail buyers. Do you think they are hardcore Bitcoiners who hold their own keys? Most likely not.
Lightning channels are difficult to manage, especially for a newcomer to Bitcoin. They are very clunky and not easy to set up. Most people will not use it if it's not a one-click solution, regardless of how revolutionary it is.
So far, the only way to use Lightning effectively is through third-party custodians such as Strike or Cashapp. I'm not trying to hate Strike, but it is a custodial solution. Even purely Bitcoin companies can rug you, too!
A month or two ago, Cash app closed my account for no reason. There was no explanation, no nothing. I went to the app one day, and bam, it was closed. I tried contacting them and got nothing but corporate jargon and BS about violating the terms of service.
So, in my opinion, you can’t trust third-party custodians, not even the so-called “good ones” on “our” side. Not your keys, not your coins, is a mantra that needs to be ingrained into everyone’s head.
Where in the Bitcoin Whitepaper did it say we need third-party custodians to make Bitcoin work? I don’t remember seeing that anywhere.
The solutions presented on Bitcoin Twitter and the BTC podcast circuit sound extremely complicated and convoluted enough that no one will use them. ZK rollups, CTV, shared UTXO’s? You might as well be growing horns out of your head at this point because 99.9999% have no idea what these terms mean, even most hardcore Bitcoin maxis.
The community here now is new and mostly here for the NGU, not the revolution it was supposed to usher in. I still wholeheartedly believe in Bitcoin's vision and mission. I don’t believe Bitcoin ETFs and their widespread use in custodial solutions are the way to go. We need a culture shift back to building solutions that help people escape the ravages of inflation and government tyranny. Rant done.
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