Straight from the Bitcoin Standard

The tides are turning. Governments around the world are following Australia’s lead in banning children from social media a.k.a. “KYC social media.” The only real solution is decentralised social media, so I expect a huge influx to Nostr in the coming months and years.

We’re actually very close to agreeing and finding common ground. I’m certain we both want the same thing in the end: prosperity. I’m simply convinced that if Bitcoin succeeds, fiat becomes irrelevant. The path toward that end goal will almost certainly include NGU, that much is clear. But in the end state, the number itself stops mattering. Bitcoin is simply better money, and at that point people would naturally switch to it and start pricing goods and services in BTC. That’s why I say NGU isn’t the point. Once you’re convinced of Bitcoin’s end goal, the journey there will inevitably involve a USD price that goes through the roof. The only scenario where that doesn’t happen is if governments and central banks suddenly adopt sound money policies, and in my opinion, that’s not happening anytime soon.

NGU is just an intermediate step. In a Bitcoin-only circular economy, where people earn and spend in sats, price discovery would happen naturally. There’s no need to reference USD for that, is there? The best part is that there wouldn’t even be a need to “beat inflation,” because inflation wouldn’t exist in that system. As I’ve said before, the ultimate end goal for Bitcoin is a fully circular Bitcoin economy where the USD, euro, or whatever fiat currency you prefer becomes irrelevant.

Accepting fiat while knowing what it is and what it does is, to me, accepting defeat. I’m doing the opposite. I see reality for what it is, and I don’t want that system for my children. I’m not avoiding the problem, I’m fighting it. Big difference. If no one pushes back against the system, the system will never change. You can choose to accept fiat, or tell yourself that Bitcoin can only succeed through NGU, but I choose to believe there is a better alternative. That belief is the hill I’m willing to die on.

We’re coming at this from fundamentally different points of view. You seem to see Bitcoin primarily as an investment or a tradable asset, something meant to generate more fiat over time, or at least that’s how it comes across to me. I see Bitcoin as a vehicle not necessarily to get rich, but as something you can work for without having your time and energy evaporate. Imagine this: if you gave Bitcoin to a tribe in the Amazon and taught them how to use it, they would start pricing goods and services in sats regardless of what the USD was doing. That, in my view, is where Bitcoin should be headed. I’m not saying NGU doesn’t matter at all, it clearly helps drive adoption. But ultimately, if Bitcoin succeeds, the USD price will and should become irrelevant.

I tend to disagree. Measuring Bitcoin in something that is fundamentally rotten only casts a bad light on the measuring stick, not on Bitcoin itself. Imagine this: two or more large players control the majority of a fiat currency. They can trade the underlying asset among themselves and drive its fiat price effectively to whatever they want it to be. That does not mean the underlying asset is broken; it means the system that allows this behavior is. I understand what you’re trying to say, and for most of humanity this is the reality we live in today. However, once you see the rot and truly understand it, any rational thinking person should reject the system entirely. That includes pricing Bitcoin in USD. This again highlights that the real driver behind Bitcoin ultimately prevailing is adoption and education. The more people understand what’s happening, the more will opt out, and the more stable Bitcoin circular economies will become. NGU is fun and appealing in a fiat world, but if you actually want to escape fiat’s grip, you have to reject it completely. In my view, NGU’s main function is to attract new people, with the hope that they eventually see the rot for themselves and choose to opt out.

Because buying a sports car while knowing that its horsepower will steadily decline over time until it’s basically near zero is not sustainable. Maybe we should judge a vehicle by its primary function: getting me reliably from point A to point B today, tomorrow, next year, and in ten years. If you know fiat is fundamentally rotten, why are you still defending it? What good do you actually see in it? Genuine question, by the way.

I’m not avoiding the USD conversation. I’m pointing out that switching monetary standards takes time, and that time is measured by adoption. A unit of account does not emerge overnight. Until there is real critical mass, prices will keep referencing the old system and volatility is unavoidable. Even Bitcoin-only circular economies still track fiat because fiat remains the dominant unit of account today. That is a symptom of an incomplete transition, not proof that Bitcoin is broken as money. Bitcoin being better money does not mean it wins automatically. Decoupling only happens once people understand why fiat is structurally flawed and choose to move away from it, not while pretending the transition is already finished. That is why educating people about money is so important.

Maybe your measuring stick isn’t working properly?

-> Bitcoin helped me see through the lies. -> I help secure the network and spread the gospel (wrote a book on fiat and bitcoin, available in my bio)