The Mystery of Bitcoin

Money or currency started out as a way to exchange tangible items between people. A goat for a equal amount of rice. A metal coin for an equivalent value of goods or services. It was a physically based platform. And it worked for hundreds of years. But the world of exchange and currency was ever changing and continues to evolve rapidly. We have been moving into a digitally based platforms for decades. Our fiat money is backed by no tangible or valuable assets, just numbers on a computer screen. We swipe plastic cards through machines at checkout instead of handing over physical money. We have a financial system that is backed by trust and faith in a government and corporate infrastructure that is eroding beneath the weight of empty promises, self-serving agendas, increasingly complex bureaucracy, and mismanagement of resources. At this point, digital currency seems the most logical next step in an ever intensifying shift from form to formless, from being governed to self-governance. But is it really a good thing for humankind or the next well-constructed system of control?

Enter Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has had a transformative effect in the financial and business sectors on a global scale. Not because it is digital, but because it is decentralized. Bitcoin has ushered in a new era of cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, and mass adoption of blockchain technology. Above and beyond that, it has unveiled a new reality globally in which we are exchanging intangible digital assets for goods and services outside of the centralized systems we have dependent on in the past. While still in its infancy, Bitcoin brought us one step closer to a social system that accepts the belief that currency exchanged between two involved parties does not require a middleman, overseer, or centralized controlling authority. Even more exciting, Bitcoin reminds us that underneath our world of form exists a paradigm of potentiality, a formless, intangible realm of possibility.

Taking a step forward into the world of crypto, and then another, moves us in the direction of conscious use, application, implementation, and allocation of our physical and nonphysical assets. Bitcoin, for all intents and purposes, is nonphysical and yet it is endowed with value and functionality in the physical world without government affiliation. It is interesting that it is called a currency as often the real value it brings is an opportunity to those outside of the current monetary system, without access to banking, borrowing, or lending, to engage in the global market. It is a peer to peer globalization project that, as more real everyday individuals begin to take an active role in participating, has the potential to bring the world’s resources back to the people. Digital currency is programmable money. That means we can reprogram what we value, how we allocate resources, and the standards we adhere to in business and finance. And the timing could not be better.

Necessity in the mother of invention.

I have to wonder if the creator of Bitcoin is as much a lofty idealist as I am. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? What were the driving forces that lead to this innovative breakthrough? Are they an openhearted visionary who developed a system capable of unifying and empowering humanity? Do they hope to see Bitcoin and other technological advancements be used for the purposes of peace, prosperity, and equality?

Lofty ideals, I know. Perhaps Nakamoto watches the market from the sidelines. Maybe they feel a sense of encouragement followed by disappointment when hoards of people FoMo into Bitcoin when it rises just to retreat back into fiat money on the downside. What if they are patiently awaiting the time when these alternative assets are valued for being the highest performing asset class ever, not just seeing their worth in comparison to the current world currency, the US dollar. What if everyone invested a bit of fiat money into this universal platform that was founded on the principle and policy that everyone had a right to engage in commerce peer to peer. How different a world we could share if profit-driven business models were replaced with resource driven exchanges directly between the involved parties. A world where government and its influencing backers did not control our ability to exchange goods and services by controlling the production, valuation, and distribution of money. Did Nakamoto make a brilliant attempt to revolutionize our way of doing business globally? Was that their intention behind this masterfully scripted protocol known as Bitcoin?

Imagine a unifying token that rewarded having your own garden and connected you to others in your area to exchange produce grown. How about a token that paid you to produce energy off grid or used closed water systems in your home to reduce water consumption or paid you tokens for donating goods and buying secondhand items. Because cryptocurrency is programmable money, it is also a powerful way for the population to redress our values. Blockchain technology has the potential to be a no man left behind, including the weakest links, paradigm shifting tool. To put it another way, it is writable digital code that can have tangible applications in the real world.

So, what do we want to program?

The only thing Bitcoin and all other noteworthy DeFi projects require is our participation. We have to get involved. We need to understand the power and potential these tools offer everyday citizens and then start engaging with the ones that resonate with our individual values, passions, and interests. For those of us that can see the economic landscape changing, it makes sense to become involved in the crypto market. Bitcoin was a wonderful introduction to the world of decentralized finance. It has had its share of ups and downs. But, if you held your assets long term, most likely the decision proved to be very profitable. Bitcoin’s success led the way for other people to take this leading edge deviation from business as usual and apply it to every area of commerce. And more tokens are being developed everyday. Are you going to get involved? Or will you wish you would have in five or ten years?

For me the emerging potential for global change and trailblazing community in this asset class has become more rewarding and empowering than the financial profit. This market is populated with rebels, innovators, free thinkers, dreamers, visionaries, and fringe folks. My people. Was Satoshi Nakamoto seen the same way by those who knew them?

It seems only fitting this new protocol for exchange would be initiated by an enigmatic creator. I have to assume that Bitcoin’s creator has many of those above mentioned attributes. But no one outside of the small circle of silent insiders would be able to say. And they aren't talking. The elusive Satoshi Nakamoto requires another leap into trusting the unknown and feeling the empowering potential this technology really is. Here is a genius developer that produced a digital marvel and then vanished before anyone knew who he or she or they were or what their future intentions were for this revolutionary technology. There is plenty of speculation that surrounds the identity of the person or persons responsible for Bitcoin, but the fact remains intact that Nakamoto birthed a digital store of value that sets the user in motion toward a new frontier and then vanished.

Any theories about the creator’s name or whereabouts is completely speculative. There are plenty of ideas out there. But none of them have the necessary backing of verifiable proof. So perhaps another type of speculating could be entertained here. One that contemplates the future purpose and intentions of Bitcoin’s creator, not the past.

It is rumored that Nakamoto mined roughly one million Bitcoin under an alias before disappearing from public view over a decade ago. A wise decision given the ramification of this technology and how previous innovators like Bernard von NotHaus, creator of the Liberty Dollar, was treated after developing his private currency to rival the fiat government-back money model. It is hypothesized that Bitcoin was developed to end the top down protocol of our current depreciating financial system. Not only that, but to replace fiat money with a finite peer to peer (P2P) system that empowers individuals with the ability to do business directly, cut out the expenses and restrictions of a middlemen, and free up the public to engage in commerce from a position of power. I don’t know about you, but this idea seems to have come from a pretty conscientious individual. A person who sought to achieve a paradigm shifting feat that could bring the power back to 99% of the world’s population. Someone wise enough to get off the radar and remain underground until people were ready to assume this level of responsibility and freedom; i.e. mass adoption.

Not shockingly, institutions have and continue to make every effort to control, manipulate, and oversee the function of this system and similar emerging technologies. Luckily the system’s ability to remain decentralized is predicated on mass adoption and that is exactly what is happening now. Grandparents and millennials alike are buying a little Bitcoin. Nakamoto must be so proud.

The beauty of mass adoption is that as the price goes up with more individuals buying in, so does the value of the mysterious creator’s Bitcoin assets. That means we may just have a highly insightful, hopefully well-intentioned individual sitting on a growing fortune. Imagine, as we are speculating remember, if the creator of Bitcoin has retreated into hiding for the time being. For this volatile period where the public transitions through the learning curve of a radically different system of exchange. And once certain indicators with the application of this technology have been satisfied, Satoshi Nakamoto reemerges to share the next component of this revolutionary system.

Many articles have been written about Satoshi Nakamoto’s origin and past. I am interested in having a dialogue about what Bitcoin’s creator has to contribute in the future. As our social systems continue to rapidly transform, the question I find myself asking is — Are we making this transformation consciously or unconsciously? Are we being intentional with the shifts and social reforms that we want to see? Or are we just waiting around for those in power to continue to direct our way of life, unchecked and unaccountable? Were these the questions that spawned the invention of Bitcoin?

Bitcoin’s creator or creators definitely represent the optimistic rebel, along with many other innovators entering the crypto and DeFi scene. Optimistic rebels see the need for conscious change and take inspired action. Intentionally guiding the trajectory of the future with an advancement that turns our economic system on its head is something to celebrate and be a part of. This technology offers a lot to be optimistic about. I can’t help but assume that those who are responsible for Bitcoin have more creating, intending, and directing to do.

So while the name and location of Nakamoto continues to elude those devoted seekers, I sit back and await the next installment of brilliance that could contribute another supportive element to global equality, empowerment, and sovereignty. I enthusiastically anticipate the return of Nakamoto poised to reveal the uncompromised force this type of technology is capable of being in the global market. I hope Bitcoin’s creator, along with the many new programmers developing digital assets and tokens, have humanity’s well being as the touchstone in all their endeavors. Are you ready to get involved? Will you be the next Bitcoin hodler or maximalist?

If you are out there trolling the many bitcoin articles, Nakamoto, I want to thank you. I can’t wait to see what you do next. And for all of you emerging innovators joining the movement, welcome to the evolution.

Suyana Cole

https://suyanacole.org/