Tag
Assets

Beautiful Money, Beautiful World
January 27, 2023
For architecture, the result is visibly obvious; we prioritise quarterly profit (to capture 'value' and survive in this fiat environment) at the expense of enduring beauty, which takes more time, consideration and effort to create. Consider the shoddy, uninspiring landscapes that developers have thrown up for the last 40+ years, all in the name of the quick sale. And now contrast with some of the Art Deco masterpieces that we still revere decades later. Is it just coincidence that the 1920s represented the last hoorah of the gold standard, and the start of our path towards flimsy money?

4 mins
The Bitcoin Backstop
January 11, 2022
Bitcoin, the asset, is the purest store-of-value we have ever seen. It is the simple conversion of energy (via math and code) into verifiable truth, whether via hydrocarbons, renewables, nuclear reactions or even god damn volcanoes. Real estate is stale in comparison; you may expend energy to form static bricks, aluminium or concrete. But it just degrades without active maintenance. Gold, whilst durable can be centralised or even confiscated. And don't forget the high costs of extraction. So where does this leave our good friend fiat?

1 min
Friday Reflections, Volume XVII
October 15, 2021
As a node operator, my understanding of Bitcoin has evolved significantly. A theoretical framework has been transformed into lived, practical experience. I monitor the Mempool to check on my Lightning channel status. I engage with other node operators to create liquidity swaps. I scroll through 1ML and Amboss to find other Lightning peers. I collect sats for routing payments. It is a vivid demonstration of my previous notion; that Bitcoin, and by extension its timechain, may just be the the final word on financial freedom.

2 mins
From Theory, To Practice
September 20, 2021
The ideas are elegant. The ambition is impressive. But how exactly does Bitcoin work in practice? Well folks, that's what I've been figuring out for the past month. Armed with my understanding of the network, I embarked on a journey to become a full node operator (i.e. a validator of transactions and blocks). Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure I could pull it off. Even with all my prior research, this felt like a tricky technical challenge. And yet here I am, running a Bitcoin (and Lightning!) node with little fuss. How so?

1 min
Global Truth, Local Value
August 27, 2021
At this point, it is worth wondering what all this research represents. We seemingly have an answer crying out for a question. To that end, there are a few good candidates. Is Bitcoin a response to monetary distortion? Government largesse, perhaps? Is Bitcoin a dry, technical update for the internet? I would contend that it does all those things. And excellently so. But there is also a more profound, universal quandary to address.

All Things Bitcoin; Layer Cake
August 19, 2021
We have a robust protocol, but one that cares little for convenience or efficiency. And that presents a few issues for growth (and thus sustainability). It is like the British Labour Party in the 1980s; sticking true to its socialist ideals, and also completely useless at winning elections. Fortunately, an ecosystem has developed around Bitcoin that helps address the scalability conundrum. Enter the layer cake, my friends. A baking masterpiece that is worth the extra calories.

3 mins
All Things Bitcoin; Incentive Structure
August 13, 2021
Property rights are established by consensus. Time and energy is converted into security. Transactions are transparent. This creates a formidable flywheel; legitimacy encouraging growth, which in turn generates trust, resulting in more legitimacy. And so on. But Bitcoin cannot survive alone on impressive technical credentials. After all, there is a cost to all of this auditing, blocking and chaining. So for the flywheel to keep spinning, we must introduce an economic reward for participation.