It’s not enough to buy Bitcoin, you must also take it into self custody.
Why?
Imagine asking a complete stranger to purchase bitcoin for you because you really believe in it. Imagine countless others doing the the same with this same stranger. Since none of these people, including you, said, send me the Bitcoin, the stranger decides not to make the purchases or does purchase it and then sells it later once he is confident you trust him to keep it. Either way, the stranger does send you a statement each month that says that you have the Bitcoin you think you purchased. If the price of Bitcoin is truly determined by supply and demand, how does the true demand for Bitcoin get reflected in the price of Bitcoin given these 2 scenarios. To make things worse, the stranger decides to use some of the money to manipulate the market downward using the money you thought was purchasing Bitcoin. He also uses the money to buy himself a big mansion.
If ALL of those people had immediately taken self custody of their Bitcoin after purchasing it, the true demand for Bitcoin would be reflected in its price and all those people would have their Bitcoin today. Imagine where the price would be today!
You hear it said over and over again, “Not your keys, not your coins”, lots of implications in that little jingle!!
The face of governmental opposition to Bitcoin
This is how the fiat system really works
Instead of focusing on orange pilling individuals, what if the emphasis was put on orange pilling merchants? This appears to be a much easier sell.
1. Drastically reduce the 3.5% processing cut
2. Immediate Settlement
3. No risk of ‘forced’ chargebacks
4. Can incentivize BTC payments with discounts.
5. Merchant can receive BTC or USD
6. Potentially more opportunities to demonstrate how this all works to their customers. More meaningful interactions with your customers can translate into better relationships and higher levels of loyalty.
I know there are many people like Jack Mallers and Michael Saylor working on this but most the chatter I hear publicly is about orange pilling individuals. In my past life I owned several retail businesses for about 20 years and I was always amazed at what some people would go through for the financial incentive of a ‘discount’.
As more and more people see that bitcoin is accepted as payment, more and more people will be willing to open up to the idea.
Why do people initially and reflexively say ‘no’ to #Bitcoin ?
Consider this:
Open your email and you see an invoice from Amazon, Paypal, or some other company saying that you were charged for something you didn’t order. It says you must call a number if you don’t recognize the charge.
It’s a scam …
You receive a text from someone claiming to be the CEO of the company where you work. He says he is tied up in a meeting and asks you to buy some gift cards for him.
It’s a scam …
You answer your phone and you are told that you owe 10k in back taxes. The caller claims to be an agent from the IRS and threatens to issue a warrant for your arrest if you don’t immediately pay.
It’s a scam …
Your best friend who you trust tells you about this company Celsius that pays 10% interest on USDC by charging the banks money to get access to your money, the same banks that bounce your check and charge you a $50 overdraft fee (payback at last). You know the real rate of inflation is higher than 10% so you see this as an opportunity to drown slowly rather than drown quickly. The CEO of Celsius seems like a good guy who is on ‘your’ side.
It’s a scam …
You hear about the CEO of FTX who is doing all these altruistic deeds. He is working with Gary Gensler to come up with common sense regulation for this ‘crypto’ industry that you know nothing about. He seems to be in tight with the politicians because there is the politician that you voted for smiling and shaking hands with SBF. He is all over the news and praised incessantly.
It’s a scam …
Everywhere you turn, it seems that danger lurks and someone is trying to separate you from your money. The only way to ensure oneself from getting scammed is to say ‘no’ to EVERYTHING.
Now imagine someone telling you that there is this new internet money that fixes everything, it’s a store of value, it’s money, it’s a payments network system, and it’s a power projection technology vital to National Security.
Get the picture?
Be patient!
Be compassionate!
What a great system …
Be a bank, go broke and get bailed out from the government.
Everyone else, succeed and be successful, get demonized and taxed into oblivion by the government.
And we wonder why things are so screwed up?
Bitcoin is inevitable.
Bitcoin fixes this!
Day 1 in El Salvador
My wife and I arrived in El Salvador on Friday 3/10. I was surprised at how quickly we made it through customs and Immigration as the lines were very small. Our first impressions of the airport were positive. The airport is clean and organized. We arranged transportation to our hotel beforehand with the hotel which is roughly 1 hour away in El Zonte. I have spent a fair amount of time in Colombia with my wife over the past 20 years and the scenery to the hotel reminded me a lot of some areas around Barranquilla. By the time we arrived at our hotel in El Zonte, we were feeling quite tired from the trip.
Our plan for the next day is to explore El Zonte and locate a driver to hire who could show us some different areas in the upcoming days. We had a small dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.
My wife and I arrived in El Salvador on Friday 3/10. The reason for making this trip was to see for ourselves what is happening in El Salvador. Our trip is planned for 8 days. If everything checks out, we would like to relocate there later this year.
Like many others who have made this trip before us, we had no real contacts in El Salvador. We did as much research online as we could beforehand. We gathered enough data points to plan a trip with goals to accomplish and an area to start. One advantage we have is that my wife is from Colombia so she is fluent in spanish. I would like to shout out Kyle Cyree, @rorshockbtc on Twitter for providing details about his recent trip to El Salvador. His insights were the filter that we ran our ideas through before implementing them.
Once we formulated a ‘loose’ plan, the only thing left to do was to make the trip and see what we discover. It’s an adventure and like all adventures one never really knows how things will turn out. My purpose in making this public is the thought that maybe it may help in some way others who have ideas to make this same journey. My plan is to relay our experiences, perspectives, and any other relevant information over the duration of our trip. The beautiful thing about adventures is that no 2 adventures are ever the same, similar maybe but never the same.
The Bitcoin team has a VERY DEEP bench!
The EASIER it is to orange pill someone, the more likely they will be enticed by shit coins at some point in the future.
Don't take any short cuts! Take the time to be thorough and complete. A 'yes' does not mean the job is done!!