What is Bitcoin for real, though?

What is Bitcoin for real, though?

It’s a crazy cool combination of the internet, money and gaming that unleashed to the public right after the Great Recession market crash in 2008. On January 3, 2009, a person or group of people called Satoshi Nakamoto set it off to the masses, and a chain reaction of epic proportions has slowly unfolded over the last 12 years. He/She/They established the basic function to be a person to person digital cash exchange network. This network is owned by the public, not a corporation or any other entity.

Since then, most of the reaction in the US is about the price of bitcoin. It’s gone from $0 per coin in 2009 to nearly $24,000 per coin in December 2020. There was a nearly 500,000% increase over its history and 224% increase for 2020. For perspective, each year your bank pays you less than 1% interest on your savings account balance. So if you had a bitcoin savings account in 2020, whatever you had in it would have increased 224%. If it was $1,000 you’d get a whopping 10 bucks from your bank, but your same $1,000 in a Bitcoin savings account would have grown to $2,240. Let that sink in for a while. Then get this. In early January 2021, it hit a high near $42,000 before settling back down at around $35,000. The come up.

The crazy thing is the increase in value is not the best line in the movie. It’s an impressive line, but not the best. The best thing is that you can possess it without interference. You could access it through your cell phone while on vacation without going through a bank and their fee system. In fact, you become your bank. You can walk up to a villager in Costa Rica who has something you want and send him the equivalent of an email to the address that he gives you to pay him. There would be no other middlemen in that transaction and no extra taxes. No Paypal, no exchanges, no central banks, no one but you and the villager. Ever been ticked off because your bank refused a purchase you were making with your debit card, requiring the store to put you on the phone to get permission to spend your own money?

Yes. That part. Economic freedom. Freedom from middlemen telling you what you can and can’t do with your hard earned money. This is the because of the decentralized feature where there is no one person or company that owns or controls it. The other part of freedom comes from two things. First, the scarcity and it’s finite. There will only be 21Million bitcoins ever available, which means it won’t lose value like the dollar does through excessive printing. It is not replaceable, meaning no way to add more into the economy. It is both scarce -limited in quantity, and finite- meaning we know there won’t be more. Second is the world adoption of Bitcoin as an asset which will continue to grow in value over time-think gold bars.

Now we’re in the new gold rush and we can still get in on it for a $10 CashApp transaction from our cellphones. You can do that because bitcoin comprises smaller pieces called satoshis (sats for short). Your $10 is buying pieces of bitcoin. Accumulation of these sats, what we call “stacking sats”, is the best chance you’ll have at growing your piece of the bitcoin pie. Doing it over time consistently, like weekly, is how you grow your stack for the future. That’s called DCA “dollar cost averaging.” This means your dollars added over time consistently will come out better on average than jumping in and out of the market based on prices going up and down. Set it and forget it and don’t watch the price.

It’s widely agreed that Bitcoin is a store of value where value does not easily decrease. That used to be the Fort Knox facility full of bars of gold to back the US dollar. Ironically, there is no more gold in Fort Knox and the dollar hasn’t been backed by gold since the 70s, literally. The US dollar is backed by the pledge of the government and federal reserve central bank and us the bearers agreeing to its value. That’s called Fiat money. That’s it. A handshake and a wink.

So recapping, Bitcoin is:

1.     Self-sovereignty (self-determination) privacy and freedom of use from bankers and third parties. This is revolutionary because people who are right now cut out of the banking system for whatever reason, can join the world economy through bitcoin digital exchanges for goods and services and earn a living for their families. This alone will turn global poverty on its head.

2.     Decentralized banking: no one entity owns it or controls it, so it can’t be shut down.

3.     Open source meaning that anyone who wants to see the code that it operates on can see it. Anti-corruption is built into the process.

4.     Open ledger (a kind of inbox) which shows all the digital transactions made on it, the inputs and outputs (the send and receive emails) of the system.

5.     Proof of work related to processing transactions, eliminating the double spend problem where someone could abuse the system and reverse charges.

6.     Store of value that is arguably better than gold because it is a finite resource and capped at 21million over its lifespan.

7.     Large global internet network of gamers on computers (miners) using techniques to solve complicated math problems that unlock the bitcoin and rewards the one who solves the problem first. The network keeps all the players in check and prevents corruption for the good of the entire system. It is brilliant in its execution.

Bitcoin is truly a revolutionary way to experience person to person global commerce that will bring a level of freedom and creativity we’ve never seen. It will uproot the current systems in ways we are just imagining across all spectrums of our society, from banking, music, art, saving the environment, buying real estate, contracting and many others we’ve not yet thought about. It is increasingly where the largest corporations in the US and others across the globe are storing their corporate treasure chests by the billions. We cannot afford not to invest in the race for satoshis.

It simply is the new wealth of the world, and we need to invest if we want to thrive in the future. This is the best answer to the question of generational wealth for people who are not already wealthy. And it is accessible to you through even as little as your daily Starbucks money.

If you still think there’s a reason to not invest in you and your family’s future through satoshi accumulation, please drop me a line and let me know. But I’m all in for my family to have a shot when I’m long gone.

Love, peace and soul!

CryptoSoulFood is a new convert, bitcoiner and hodler. In true fashion, I want to show the truth and the light and share it with anyone who feels me on that. I especially want to affect the Black community by helping to find wealth building tips and providing tricks to access those solutions. Whether it’s how to get down-payment help to buy a home or how to pay off debts to make room to build your bitcoin stash, I’m here for it. But make no mistake, I am NOT a financial advisor and in fact; I need one! I write to edutain you on the cool stuff that I know.

This is a guest post by CryptoSoulFood. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not reflect those of the Black Bitcoin Billionaire organization.