A letter to the OGs
For the early adopters who now sit on many Bitcoins but never really got involved: the truth is, you were never just supposed to be spectators. Looking back, we can see that waves of adoption came not only from number go up, but from people building, educating, experimenting, and putting their coins on the line to create real use cases.
Now the danger is clear: if Bitcoin is captured by paper markets, "walled gardens", and custodians, then the dream of self‑sovereign money simply dissolves into the same old system - except with orange branding. Sitting on coins, waiting for retirement will not defend against this capture. What will, is action.
Action in showing people how to self‑custody, not just telling them.
Action in building tools and wallets where sovereignty is the norm, not an afterthought.
Action in pushing back against the narrative that Bitcoin’s destiny is to be a Wall Street derivative zoo. It is only true if we let it be true.
Action in experimentation, even at the messy edges, so Bitcoin does not calcify into a dull savings asset to be milked by regulators and investment bankers.
We do not know if the time to act is exactly now. But it might well be. What we do know is that if the people who understand Bitcoin’s original power do not act, nobody else will.
Bitcoin needs its OGs! Not as passive holders. Not as rich ghosts from the past. But as active defenders of its principles and builders of its future. There are plenty of projects around self‑custody - my WalletScrutiny included - and early adopters have the resources to make a material difference in Bitcoin’s future today. And they can do that without showing their faces or writing code themselves.
When WalletScrutiny received 1.7 BTC out of the blue from an anonymous donor, I quit my day job and started focusing fully on WalletScrutiny. That 1.7 BTC was less than 0.00001% of all Bitcoins, yet it enabled me to dedicate my time 100% to self‑custody. Since then, Spiral has stepped in to finance us, but those who got rich from Bitcoin and understand what is at stake could support thousands of such projects without losing any meaningful share of their wealth.
Because if we do not fight for "free‑range Bitcoin", it is guaranteed that "walled‑garden Bitcoin" will win.
So: if you feel the disgust, if you see the capture, and if you cannot bear the idea of letting it rot undisputed, then take that feeling as the call to act.
Bitcoin is not over. But it does need you!
