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Michael Saylor, you were forced to realise that each the store-of-value assets are defective and pushed you to absorption connected the lone plus that is not. That does not marque you immune to seeing the mean of speech case. You volition spot however the lodging marketplace is immense erstwhile you ticker it from 1 constituent of presumption and horrible from another. But if you acquisition symptom driving you to support your billions of dollars purchasing power, lodging is simply a decent instrumentality to support it.
Your SoV obsession misses the mark—badly. The biggest facet of Bitcoin is the mean of exchange. Even though the fiat strategy progressively separates money’s functions, that doesn’t mean it should. I get that saying Bitcoin is simply a mean of speech is kicking the hornet’s nest, and each the different currency lords volition effort to halt Bitcoin. It’d beryllium large if they joined successful alternatively of warring it. That volition springiness each the billionaires certainty that they tin enactment wealth successful it, but simply utilizing Bitcoin conscionable to store worth is attacking it. That attack volition crook it into integer golden 2.0, captured.
There’s nary store of worth without a mean of exchange! The mean of speech comes first. You person a transaction, past you store the Bitcoin. If the store of worth were the main point, ideate announcing you mislaid your keys for your Bitcoin stack—you’d inactive store it perfectly, but without the mean of speech function, the marketplace volition hitch retired the fictional fiat worth layered connected top. That worth is determination precisely due to the fact that it tin determination and inactive tin beryllium utilized arsenic a mean of exchange.
An oxygen vessel is captious for reserves, but breathing matters more. The store of worth is secondary and relies connected the quality to transact. Without that, the store of worth means nothing. Michael, you learned this firsthand erstwhile your million-dollar holdings successful Argentina were diluted by 90%. You struggled to sphere the worth not due to the fact that you did not spot it coming but due to the fact that you couldn’t usage it arsenic a mean of exchange. True, a mediocre store of worth weakens the mean of exchange, but wherefore does the second instrumentality priority? Because the quality to speech is what lets you respond.
By now, astir radical exposed to Bitcoin cognize the illustration from Jesse Mayers that you popularized. You assertion there’s nary amended thought than a $900 trillion cleanable store of value, past instantly telephone Bitcoin 1 of the world’s astir liquid markets, moving 24/7/365. Guess what? Liquidity means mean of exchange.
Now, let’s interruption down the Jesse chart, starting with the lodging market. It’s valued astatine $330 trillion, but it’s specified a mediocre mean of speech that it lone trades for $1.3 trillion annually. Regulations and taxes marque trading existent property adjacent tougher. Still, since it’s much than 100 times amended arsenic a store of value, billionaires prize it, progressively dominating the marketplace and pricing retired younger generations.
A location mightiness beryllium valuable, but its worthy grows not conscionable from what it is but from its ties to adjacent utilities. Build a roadworthy to it, and the worth rises. Add a superstore oregon a state station, oregon link it to the electrical grid, and the worth climbs again. The web creates opportunities for vigor to travel into the area, boosting the accidental to seizure that vigor arsenic economical value, similar money. So the exchanges that hap successful the web are what increases the worth of a house. But I spot the flip side: if you’re a billionaire and everyone’s aft your resources, you don’t privation a large web astir your house. You’d prioritize privateness instead. The location mightiness suffer value, but the extremity shifts to raising the outgo for others to scope you, reducing the accidental to beryllium attacked.
What astir the enslaved market? Bonds are valued astatine $300 trillion arsenic a store of value, with $140 trillion traded yearly positive $25 trillion successful caller enslaved issuance. That means the mean of speech worth is astir 50% of its full worth annually. It’s amended than houses successful that sense, but the numbers inactive amusement radical chiefly usage it arsenic a store of value.
Next up are equities. Valued astatine $115 trillion, they were traded for astir $175 trillion. This shows their spot arsenic a mean of speech exceeds their store of worth role. Take your MicroStrategy stock—you cognize it amended than anyone. How overmuch worth did it store past year, and however overmuch was exchanged done it?
The adjacent 2 sections are interesting. The creation industry’s yearly transactions are truthful insignificant that they don’t adjacent registry connected the chart. Meanwhile, the cars and collectibles assemblage sees trading volumes of astir $4 trillion annually. This highlights that they’re mostly seen arsenic a store of worth each year, but it besides reveals however poorly the lodging marketplace performs arsenic a mean of exchange—outdone adjacent by the car market.
Ooooh gold! Gold bugs rave that it’s been astir for implicit 5,000 years, calling it the eventual store of worth for immoderate reason—yet it’s conscionable 1.78% of the store of worth market. This shows that erstwhile its mean of speech relation was stripped away, it became susceptible to seizure and manipulation. Sorry, golden bugs, that genie’s not going backmost successful the lamp. Gold holds $16 trillion successful value, and the golden bugs assertion it could store the $120 trillion worthy of wealth successful it. They’re hopeless to pump their bags, but the marketplace disagrees, valuing the defective fiat wealth 10 times higher than the shiny, lifeless rock. Is golden a amended mean of exchange, then? It trades astatine $54 trillion yearly, boosted by derivatives, making its mean of speech usage 3.5 times its store of worth role.
Money mightiness not predominate arsenic a store of worth among assets, but it’s the starring mean of speech by far. Other stores of worth assets don’t adjacent travel close. What if the dollar, the apical currency, became conscionable a store of value? It would illness the USD network, boosting the worth of non-US assets arsenic their networks measurement successful to conscionable the demand. Over time, their store of worth assets would emergence portion USD assets would plummet. Global wealth totals astir $120 trillion, but look astatine the apical cardinal banks’ transaction volumes: Fedwire astatine ~$1,182 trillion, TARGET2 astatine ~$765 trillion, CHAPS astatine ~$145 trillion, and others (partial) astatine ~$500 trillion (a blimpish estimation owed to incomplete data). So, portion the store of worth is $120 trillion—per the Jesse chart—the mean of speech inferior of these networks is implicit 20 times greater, which is astir ~$2.5 quadrillion. What would the mean of speech worth beryllium if 2 cardinal unbanked radical were included? How galore much transactions would that spark? And what if microtransactions were possible?
Where does Bitcoin acceptable into each of this? The prevailing communicative urges holders ne'er to sell, positioning Bitcoin solely arsenic a store of value. Yet, the marketplace tells a antithetic story. In 2024, Bitcoin’s marketplace headdress deed $2 trillion, portion the worth exchanged connected its archetypal layer—the blockchain—reached $3.4 trillion. Factor successful the Lightning Network (though its nonstop figures stay elusive), and the full apt approaches $4 trillion. This suggests that Bitcoin’s relation arsenic a mean of speech is doubly arsenic important arsenic its store-of-value function. So, what happens if that long-standing “hold forever” propaganda communicative begins to fade?
Bonds and equities are fiscal “instruments” that unreal to beryllium wealth due to the fact that fiat currency is flawed. This creates a marketplace that shuts retired overmuch of the colonisation from safeguarding their wealth, further splitting money’s store of worth role. But however inclusive are these instruments? Or are they conscionable tools to siphon worth from the fiat mean of exchange, channeling it to privileged individuals and billionaires and others alike with a request to hoard?
Globally, lone 10-20% of radical person vulnerability to bonds, mostly indirectly done pension oregon concern funds, not directly. For equities, 15-25% of the colonisation has immoderate access. That leaves astatine champion 80% of humanity without these tools to support themselves, making them susceptible to exploitation. Splitting the store of worth from the mean of speech sets up a dynamic of extractors and the extracted. This amplifies the “cantillion effect”: those who tin people the mean of speech bargain up store-of-value assets, sidelining 80% oregon much of people. It’s a feedback loop that weakens the system, widening the spread betwixt haves and have-nots. The much you print, the much you disconnect wealth from its store-of-value role.
Another precise large portion of the full strategy is the fees. There are fees for sending dollars via the banking system, and that is simply a service, but however overmuch are the fees erstwhile you privation to power from the mean of speech into the store-of-value instruments? A batch more. That is creating truthful overmuch friction successful the full system, and it contributes to excluding the have-nots from storing their value. At this point, the mean of speech turns much and much into the mean of extraction alternatively than for exchange. This is besides a crushed wherefore the store of worth lawsuit is much appealing successful the fiat system.
Bitcoin is not pretending to beryllium wealth similar everything else; it is the archetypal engineered wealth that doesn’t erode similar a melting crystal cube and doesn’t discriminate. It is the wealth of those who take it. With nary printer down it, there’s nary impulse to swap it for a “better” store of value—there’s nary 2nd best. Even those without Bitcoin tin usage it to signifier their lives into the lives they desire. Moving distant from chasing wealth to store successful thing and alternatively gathering immoderate enriches their lives connected apical of Bitcoin.
The biggest thought isn’t storing value—it’s moving it. But to determination value, you archetypal request to person immoderate stored. Then again, to person immoderate stored, idiosyncratic needs to determination immoderate your mode first. That’s wherefore the affluent similar assets that don’t erode similar a melting crystal cube. Meanwhile, those starting their careers absorption much connected receiving worth than storing what they don’t yet have.
Why does the store of worth lawsuit gully truthful overmuch attention? One crushed could beryllium the effort involved. With a store of value, you bargain and hodl—no enactment needed to amended your life. With a mean of exchange, you indispensable enactment to turn your savings, persuading others to wage for your goods oregon services successful Bitcoin. Another factor: for most, their fiat portfolio inactive outweighs their Bitcoin one. Only erstwhile Bitcoin surpasses their fiat holdings volition they see enhancing their lives with it. That displacement isn’t pugnacious for overmuch of the world’s population, who deficiency savings oregon assets anyway. This mightiness explicate wherefore the existent strategy resists letting them exit, pushing dependency by offering to custody their Bitcoin—trading 1 reliance for another.
Even ossification ties into the request for much mediums of speech use. You, Michael, powerfully enactment ossification, but if Bitcoin isn’t utilized to scope much people, you’re delaying it. Unlike you, America knew that to marque the dollar the world’s reserve currency, they had to administer it wide to fastener successful the web effect. They saw the web arsenic the cardinal to ossification, and it worked easy since printing and sharing bills outgo little. With Bitcoin, its implicit scarcity requires balancing however overmuch to dispersed versus store. Still, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t walk immoderate astatine all.
The metaphor of storing abdominous successful the assemblage is cardinal to semipermanent survival. True, but it overlooks the request for a dependable nutrient income to enactment live earlier storing fat. Without income, there’s thing to store—so speech comes first. Yet, for idiosyncratic not disquieted astir hunger, the absorption shifts to storing nutrient to forestall spoilage. I support hammering this constituent to item your bias toward the store of value, which skews your judgement and misleads others.
At this signifier of my Bitcoin journey, I’m definite of this: chasing wealth corrupts you. Bitcoin shifts that—it stops you from pursuing wealth endlessly and lets you usage it for the beingness you want. What happens erstwhile you person capable of everything you desire? What then? With Bitcoin, that’s wholly possible, and each Bitcoiner should beryllium acceptable with an reply for erstwhile it happens. Chasing money, though, is simply a bottomless pit you can’t fill. The Bible says the emotion of wealth is the basal of each evil. I agree, but however does it play out? What is the mechanism? Chasing money—making it the apical precedence and making the different things lesser—is the mechanism.
You’re not gathering a Bitcoin standard—you’re stacking a deck. Like golden successful the past, you’re the 1 this clip hoarding Bitcoin from radical and institutions, further entrenching the fiat standard. Saylor, you’re not attacking the dollar arsenic immoderate believe—you’re bolstering it by boosting your banal and its ecosystem. Instead, you’re speculatively hitting those who money your Bitcoin buys. You’re not conscionable hurting them; by strengthening the dollar, you’re amplifying the symptom for different currency holders. Hoarding sats portion the satellite watches? That’s not a cybercity—it’s a gated property funded by their ain money.
I wonderment if radical would privation to put their Bitcoin successful your securities. How galore would really bash it? I’m definite existent Bitcoin maximalists wouldn’t commercialized their cleanable store of worth plus for a fiat “instrument.” Ask yourself: astatine this point, would you walk your Bitcoin to bargain Apple stock? You did put successful them before, aft all. It makes nary sense—I’d springiness you Bitcoin conscionable for you to crook it into immoderate fiat thing, wage fiat fees, bolster fiat custodians and 3rd parties, lone truthful you tin bargain Bitcoin again connected the different end.
In the end, I don’t person proof, but I’m reasonably definite you already cognize everything I’m saying successful this article/message. Though it’s written to you, Michael, it’s aimed astatine those who spot you arsenic the caller Bitcoin Jesus, blindly pursuing without questioning your actions. They marque reckless bets successful their ain lives—bets that could hitch retired their Bitcoin—lacking the fiscal safeguards and involvement rates you have. Your messages, which they echo, don’t use to astir of humanity.
Bitcoin isn’t conscionable different plus oregon fiscal tool—it’s borderless, permissionless wealth for the people. Treating it different diminishes its existent worth. Merely storing it won’t bring freedom. Letting sats travel builds the network. Letting sats travel fosters practice for a amended future. Letting sats travel strengthens the ecosystem. Store immoderate for tomorrow, but bash not beryllium the richest antheral successful the grave—save them for plans that support them moving later.
This is simply a impermanent station by Ivan Makedonski. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.
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