As we all prepare to scatter for the holiday, a few things for Bitcoiners to chew on over the holidays. 2023 has been a milestone year in Bitcoin's relationship with politicians and regulators. I think the most significant development on that front has been the pulling back of the veil of the lie that establishment concerns about Bitcoin had anything to do with concerns about people's safety or welfare. Consumer protection, scams, etc had little if anything to do with why the establishment expressed concern about "crypto." The only "crypto" that ever sent shivers down the collective spine of Bitcoin’s opponents in the financial industry establishment, their allies among the regulatory class, and proponents of state domination of your financial life was Bitcoin. Buy Shiba Inu or Dogecoin, the same people who sell you lottery tickets don't care. But Bitcoin - teeth chattering shivers.
2023 also brings an end to the belief, or maybe the hope, that this opposition somehow resulted from a lack of understanding of how empowering Bitcoin could be for the communities these politicians claim to work to help. There remains an important role for education of policymakers and legislators, but for Bitcoin's most irreconcilable opponents, it is in fact their good understanding of the protocol that makes them irreconcilable. The desire to control, surveil, and punish is deeply ingrained in the ideological DNA among a certain cohort in Washington. Financial privacy died long ago, now what remains is to perfect financial control. No place for Bitcoin in that world.
Money laundering. Do some money launderers use Bitcoin? Yes. Do almost all money launderers use banks and other regulated financial institutions? Yup. Has reporting everyone's $10k deposits stopped money laundering? Nope. Is a transparent and immutable ledger a good choice for concealing and facilitating illegal activities? You get the point, all standard pretexts for putting you on a shorter leash. BTW - the initial $10k reporting requirement in the BSA inflation adjusted from 1970 is about $77k, thus netting more and more transactions every year. No legislation needed. Clever.
Another challenge Bitcoin will face in 2024 is the growing threat of extreme financialization. This concern is increasing my skepticism of coming ETF approvals. Only a fool would doubt the ingenuity of the financial industry when it comes to finding ways to make money, regardless of the qualities of an underlying asset. Furthermore, the establishment knows how to deal with ETFs, they represent levers of control over markets trading a given asset. I fear that Bitcoin will not be an exception.
A lot of challenges. Yet despite these, a word that comes to mind to describe the Bitcoin community is resilient. Relying on this resilience, I think there are three things Bitcoiner's need to focus on in 2024 if we are to protect the integrity of this protocol: adoption, freedom tech, and engagement. This community already excels at the first two, builders and advocates who deserve credit for the strength of the community I feel a part of today. By engagement, I mean political engagement. There are a lot of people here in Washington doing a great job fighting legislative and regulatory battles, a daily grind most Bitcoiners would never know was being fought on their behalf. But what we need now is for Bitcoiners to let their representatives know we are here, in their districts, and will hold them accountable come election day. I'll share more thoughts on things I think we need to start doing now.
Finally, this is a community, and we're fortunate to have some incredible voices educating us on the full breadth and depth of Bitcoin. Engage your fellow Bitcoiners who have a louder voice, tell them what you think, and help put your mark on this movement. After all, we're all in this together.
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