Bitcoin and the Future of Money

Money plays a very substantial role in our lives – duh.  It is the fabric of almost everything we do and how we do it.  Where we live, what we drive, where we work, how we travel, what we eat, what we do in our spare time – it all revolves around money in some way.  We’re born knowing nothing about it – yet some are born into it.  It certainly isn’t something we instinctively know – yet it’s easily understood.  Every society and culture has some sort of currency as a means of exchange.  Since the beginnings of civilization, humans have invented methods to represent value via currency.  Whether it be sea shells, diamonds, gold, stocks, the number in a computer at your bank, or the paper dollars in your pocket.  Why are diamonds “worth” more than a handful of sand?  Because diamonds are more scarce.  Money means something because we as a collective society have decided it does.

I’ve been quietly studying Bitcoin for years, and today is the first day I’ve ever discussed it publicly.  Today is a milestone day in the history of Bitcoin, after the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, was “apparently” finally found, hiding in plain sight, living just an hour away from me.  Well, maybe not.  It seems that maybe Newsweek was wrong.  Either way, today is the day I’ve decided share my thoughts.  I first discovered Bitcoin in November 2011, when I read the seminal The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin in Wired Magazine.  I was fascinated by it, but like the title implies, I thought it was dead, and that Bitcoin was over.  About 6 months later, I started seeing that Bitcoin was alive and kicking, and I began again with a renewed interest.  I studied the code, I read and re-read Nakamoto’s paper, and I immersed myself reading pretty much everything there is to read about Bitcoin.  I read books about money, the history of money, how money is physically manufactured, how inflation works, the role of the Fed, the history of the gold standard, and more.  All in an effort to wrap my head around something so complicated, yet so simple.  As some of my friends will tell you – it’s a common topic when hanging out with me – Bitcoin and of course, Tesla.  It sparked something in me that I hadn’t felt since my good friend and colleague, Paul Melmon, showed me a Web Browser (Netscape), for the first time in 1994.  I knew that Bitcoin was something incredible.

Bitcoin is quite simply, “The Internet of Money”.  As Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos has said, “Bitcoin is an invention, and it cannot be uninvented“.  Bitcoin is here and it’s here to stay.  I often get asked, “Well, what if they shut it down?”.  My answer is usually something like, by “they”, I’m assuming you’re talking about the United States Government, and yes, governments can make it difficult or illegal to transact in Bitcoin in their country’s jurisdictions, but they cannot shut it down across the globe.  No one can.  It’s out there. It’s on the Internet and it will live in some form forever and it cannot be shut down.  Last December, Bitcoin got national media attention as the exchange rate against the US dollar rose to over $1100 / 1 BTC.  I knew in that moment then that it was the end of Bitcoin’s quiet growth among techies – everyone will now hear of it.  When it hit the mainstream, I imagined all the pump-and-dump Wolves of Wall street scheming on how to best profit from it.  And profit they will.

The way I see it, as of this post, the Bitcoin market cap in USD is about $8 Billion.  That is an absolutely small number when you think about the value of all the currencies combined in the world.  It will only grow as Bitcoin becomes more popular and is adopted and accepted in more places both on-line and off-line.  Since the Internet, borders matter less and less, and the world needs a global currency.  A currency where its value is unregulated (aka un-mismanaged), anti-inflationary, and scarce.  Bitcoin is that – a currency that is built on cryptography and math and cannot be manipulated or forged.

News around Bitcoin emerges daily – some good, some bad.  Companies are being formed each week around Bitcoin and merchants are adding Bitcoin as a payment option at a fast clip.  If you have questions about Bitcoin there are numerous resources that can explain it better than me.  Here’s a few: bitcoin.org, bitcoin on reddit, bitcoin on Google, a top VCs thoughts – just look around, but look smartly.  Bitcoin is still VERY misunderstood.  Like news about Tesla, try and filter the real news, the real truth from the fear, uncertainty, and doubt the way news organizations present information.  They’re often flat-out wrong.  Validate what you hear and learn for yourself.  Find the truth.  Question everything.

I often get asked, “How do I get started?”.  I usually send people to Coinbase if they’re ready to buy Bitcoin for USD.  It’s pretty easy to sign up.  I’ve challenged a few of my friends over IM with frantic instructions to “Quick.  Go here: http://blockchain.info, paste the wallet address in the IM.  Do it in < 3 minutes I will send you some Bitcoin.  Ask no questions.  GOOOOO”.  NONE of them have failed.

To the skeptics of Bitcoin – we’ve heard you before.  You’re the same people that thought the government should “ban” or “regulate” the Internet.  You’re the same people that think Tesla Motors is a bad idea.  You’re the Telcos that wish you could ban VOIP.  We know who you are and we see through you.  We see the politician, Joe Manchin, and we question your motives and the banks behind your corruptness.  Bitcoin will succeed because it fills a need – and over time will clear the obstacles thrown at it.  Those that fear it, don’t understand it.

Bitcoin is better than the Dollar.  Bitcoin is better than your credit card and your bank account.  But Bitcoin is a baby – a very small baby.  It’s in its infancy, just like the Internet was before it exploded around 1994.  It will take a few years, but it will happen.  Bitcoin is your world currency.  It’s your open source technology.  Get used to it.  Now go get some Bitcoin!