Replying to Avatar Trey

🚨 In January 2018, Bitcoin had just 100x’d in two years. It then crashed 50% in a matter of days.

And one of FIRE’s biggest influencers wrote a piece titled: ā€œWhy Bitcoin is Stupid.ā€

Here's why that moment—and that take—was so important. 🧵

When bitcoin moves, people notice.

In late 2017, it had exploded from ~$200 to ~$20,000.

The hype was deafening.

And the critics came out in force.

One of them: Mr. Money Mustache, a giant in the FIRE community.

His post was dismissive, smug, & very wrong.

But I get it. Bitcoin does seem stupid at first.

A bunch of internet nerds mining magic coins?

Sounds like digital beanie babies. Or tulips. 🌷

But that initial skepticism is exactly why bitcoin works.

Bitcoin IS stupid…and it doesn’t try to be clever.

šŸ”ø Fixed supply: 21 million

šŸ”ø No central control

šŸ”ø No bailout buttons

šŸ”ø No fancy ā€œsmart contractā€ distractions

It’s brutally simple—and that’s what makes it unbreakable.

It took me years to figure that out.

Here’s what my personal bitcoin timeline looked like:

šŸ¤” 2011: "Interesting"

😐 2014: Bought some. Stopped.

šŸ™ƒ 2016: Watched it pass gold parity. Still hesitated.

🧐 2018–19: Finally did the work.

šŸ˜Ž 2020+: Fully convicted. 100% of excess capital to BTC.

That delay cost me millions.

I never thought bitcoin was dumb...but I definitely didn’t take it seriously enough.

And lots of people fall into the same trap.

Especially those in the FIRE movement.

FIRE taught me the value of long-term thinking.

Bitcoin gave me a tool to accelerate it.

I went from hoping to hit FIRE in 10 years…to doing it in less than 5.

Why? Because I switched from index funds to bitcoin as my primary savings vehicle.

Bitcoin is stupid.

It’s supposed to be. It can’t be changed, influenced, or corrupted.

It just keeps ticking along—offering anyone, anywhere, the same rules and the same opportunity.

That’s the magic and the beauty of it.

If you're on a path to FIRE, or curious what bitcoin has to do with financial independence, then my newsletter is for you.

šŸ“© Read the full issue and subscribe for free:

https://firebtc.substack.com/p/why-bitcoin-is-stupid

Well said! And shout out to Gwern for helping me understand this too https://gwern.net/bitcoin-is-worse-is-better

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

No replies yet.