Please click the link to listen to the 79th episode of my weekly crypto podcast ‘Five Minute Crypto.’ These are intended to be short, single-topic ramblings on some aspect of the cryptosphere.
External Podcast Link
https://anchor.fm/5-minute-crypto-podcast/episodes/Five-Minute-Crypto--The-Bitcoin-Hodler-Rabbit-Hole--An-Introduction-eeetgo/a-a1pvsb
Transcript
Five Minute Crypto – The Bitcoin Hodler Rabbit Hole – An Introduction
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Well, I think that what used to be called, centuries ago, “wage slavery” is intolerable. And I don’t think people ought to be forced to rent themselves in order to survive. I think that the economic institutions ought to be run democratically, by their participants, by the communities in which they exist, and so on; and I think basically through various kinds of free association
Naom Chomsky
“I wasn’t lonely. I experienced no self-pity. I was just caught up in a life in which I could find no meaning.”
Charles Bukowski
Welcome to Five Minute Crypto -this week’s episode outlines a new series focusing on the wide ranging ramifications of being a Bitcoin hodler.
On the surface – BTC can indeed, be seen as a simple investment -a risk venture like any other - more volatile of course, but an investment, nonetheless. However, as you peer into the Bitcoin rabbit hole, all sorts of assumptions are drawn into the glare of a newfound curiosity.
The coming episodes will attempt to explore some of the many avenues and questions of the hodler journey:
What is money? Who controls it, where does its value stem from? What is a sovereign money? Who defines sovereignty in the first place. Am I as free as I thought? Do I need this consumer trinket? What is this objects value to me in Bitcoin terms? What is economic scarcity? Is inflation really a necessity. If not, what would take its place? Is money best seen through the lens of time and if so, how can I continue to slave within an inflationary wage system. OK, I understand in general Keynesian economics but what exactly is this Libertarianism I keep hearing about? Is the state the arbiter of financial morality and if it is – should it be. Why did university leave me financially illiterate and do I wish my children to remain so? On and on the questions go – there’s a wealth of themes to explore in this unfolding phenomenon of hodler as human in transition.
Meeting BTC is transformative -perhaps not for those who focus solely on trading but certainly so for the vast majority of folks who engage with it over an extended period of time.
The realization comes on slowly, but BTC has the potential to be a driver of immense multi-generational change across the gamut of human endeavour from finance to digital sovereignty. Bitcoin has only just begun to impact the world around it and where it may take us is far from understood. As we transition into the digital age every aspect of what we now consider normal will be fundamentally rewritten. Whether this heralds the dawn of a more evenly prosperous age for humanity or the coming of an ever-deepening dystopia remains to be seen. If BTC is a looming light of decentralized freedom – the offspring of China’s social credit system and a centralized digital currency is a pending authoritarian darkness.
Hodling BTC then is a journey and one which bears reflection, research, iteration and further reflection. This series then will turn its attention to the level of the individual holder of BTC – attempting to trace an outline of what it means to hodl BTC now and into the future. Next week’s episode will on focus on money through the lens of hodling Bitcoin.
Thanks for listening.
