A wise man once asked, “Why do monks beg?”
That’s because hunger drives the world, and once that’s out of the way, there are more important things we can focus on.
Bitcoin, as we know it, has been called many names – a revolutionary idea, a bubble, a cult, a religion, and whatnot. One may agree with one or more names depending upon their knowledge about the subject. However, we can say for sure that for some of us, it is something beyond the illusion of names and something far more greater than just a get-rich-quick scheme. Bitcoin, for us, is a hope, a belief system, an ideology. The Bitcoin Ideology.
Origins
If we look at the history of the cypherpunk movement and the creation of Bitcoin – it was not coincidental that Bitcoin emerged right after the financial crisis of the year 2007-08. It emerged as a response to the economic crisis intending to give the power back to the people and remove value-leaching intermediaries.
Bitcoin was created as a tool to fight against the masters of money – central banks and modern-era political lords, human greed & corruption, fiat inflation, and extensive banking fraud.
It emerged from the era of crypto-anarchists and developers who believed in building technologies and communities focusing on sovereign rights and keeping the distance from the state and multinational corporations. A group of idealists and philosophers who believed in a sort of technology built with an intended purpose of producing profound changes in the nature of economic and social systems. A technology that will transcend national boundaries and free individuals to make the economic arrangements they wish to make consensually.
It is the ideas and people behind those ideas who spearheaded this movement of philosophical, social, economical, and technological changes designed to develop a decentralized society. A society that is free from clutches of bankers and bureaucrats alike.
Trust
Trust is a complex process, and it can be defined as a legal vehicle, a fiduciary arrangement, a belief, or even as an emotional brain state, depending on the field of study. We make trust-related decisions influenced by our individual beliefs, perceptions, social status, and many other factors.
When it comes to trusting a system, it plays a crucial role in its success, whether it’s an institution, government, or monetary system. At the same time, these systems are constantly betraying our trust over the years while they’re being corroded and rotten inside. It’s often being said that it’s not just the bureaucrats, bankers, and politicians who are corrupt but the system itself that incentivizes the corrupt behavior.
When the system loses its trust, a revolution comes along to destroy that system and builds another one. From self-appointed dictators to cabinet-appointed dictators, from mainstream media to social media, from old arbiters of truth to new arbiters of truth. Almost each and every time, we break trust in old systems and build new ones. And the cycle of trust goes on and on.
All of these systems suffer from an inherent weakness – trust-based models. These systems are inefficient, costly, and risky due to the fact that people need to trust in these systems in order to use them. Whenever you make a transaction, you are relying on some “trusted third party” (such as a bank) to guarantee that the exchange is valid; the bank makes sure you have money to give and that the other person receives it. A government oversees the bank, distributes valid currency, and so on.
As long as we keep appointing these trusted third parties as arbiters of truth, they’ll keep breaking the trust of the people. A solution to this third-party control is not to build more trustworthy systems but replace them with a system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust. That’s why the Bitcoin Ideology.
The Bitcoin Ideology
Coming back to the point, here’s why I used the quote at the start of the article. I mentioned this quote because if you’re reading this blog, you have the privilege to an internet connection, most likely to have a bank account, and access to various financial institutions to build a business or store your wealth. Hunger drives the world, but you’re definitely not worried about the source of your next meal. Unfortunately, not every human being on this earth can say the same.
I believe we’re in the privileged position to drive this change for the ones who don’t have the same privilege including access to financial institutions, fight inflation, or even have internet access to read this article.
I believe we owe it to society and the human race to spearhead this peaceful revolution to make it accessible for everyone to be a part of the global monetary system, store their wealth, and build a better future for their family. In crypto nos confídimus!
Further Read: Let’s build a better internet, together.