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May 19, 2021
Over the last few months, I've been really disheartened by the dialogue bitcoiners are having about bitcoin. Almost every notable voice in the bitcoin community has focused their entire attention on the increasing fiat value of bitcoin and obsessing over the notion of “number go up”. While I understand the enthusiasm and “I told you so” attitudes some of them have, I believe this discourse is counterproductive, if not destructive, to bitcoin's true growth and adoption.
My issue primarily stems from the constant valuation of bitcoin in fiat. Who cares about the price of bitcoin? If bitcoiners are so disillusioned by the current monetary system, why are we pointing to fiat as proof of bitcoin's worth? I dream of a bitcoin circular economy, where bitcoin is the sole medium of exchange. If we continue trying to leverage bitcoin's fiat value as proof of bitcoin's potential, I worry we'll “lose the plot” so to speak.
I believe the discourse within the Lightning Network community better represents the ideals of a bitcoin future.
The first thing that drew me towards the Lightning Network was the heavy focus on building the future of bitcoin infrastructure through layer-2 applications. The discourse is abuzz with innovation and experimentation. There is rarely any mention of the fiat value of bitcoin. Rather, all discussions of value are denominated in satoshis (sats). Their focus is not on hoarding bitcoin, but rather improving its use in commerce through low transaction fees and instantaneous payments. The Lightning Network's exponential growth is a testament to the value real innovation and focus creates. There is no talk of “laser eyes”, just hard working people building the financial infrastructure of the future.
Fiat is a distraction from the real goal of a bitcoin circular economy. The more we focus on bitcoin's fiat value, the more we lose sight of the goal of removing fiat from our lives entirely. I believe we can all do our part in changing the discourse by emphasizing bitcoin's features as opposed to it's fiat value. Bitcoin is for the people, so let's start by taking power away from the old kings in the fiat world. I believe we can do this by disregarding their valuations entirely. If bitcoin's fiat value drops to one dollar or shoots up to one million, that has no impact on its peer-to-peer, censorship resistant, and stateless attributes. These features are what provide bitcoin value, and why I continue to believe in a bitcoin future.
1 btc = 1 btc