John Vallis

Truth, Freedom, Curiosity, Possibility. These drive me. Exploring the future of money on the Bitcoin Rapid-Fire podcast: http://bit.ly/2Nlr3WS

The 4th Bitcoin Epoch

4 minute read

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Tweetstorm: The 4th Bitcoin Epoch

By John Vallis

Posted May 7, 2020

The 4th Bitcoin epoch, and you. A thread. 1/23 

1/ Pumped for the halving? I sure as shit am. It’s an important occasion, marking the next step in bitcoin’s inevitable march to becoming not only the hardest money ever, but the first instantiation of objectively verifiable absolute scarcity that humanity has ever engaged with. 

2/ As such, each step in this process, and in particular the early ones, are a big deal. If demand remains constant, and supply is cut, there should be upwards pressure on price. Happy days! But this is not the only story here. 

3/ As many who have engaged with bitcoin have noticed, bitcoin changes you. Of course, as everyone comes at bitcoin from a different perspective, the changes experienced are not uniform, but there are many similarities. 

4/ What are these changes? Some include improving ones health/fitness, being more productive, reducing waste or excess, studying/learning more, dropping negative relationships, starting a family, saving more, thinking longer-term, challenging assumptions, gaining confidence.. 

5/ ..accessing greater energy and enthusiasm, being more hopeful for the future, connecting with more like-minded individuals, taking more personal responsibility, just to name a few. 

6/ These are significant lifestyle changes, not to be dismissed casually. From an evolutionary perspective, these changes could very well be making those who adopt them more ‘fit’. Put another way, bitcoin may indeed be accelerating human evolution. 

7/ Wow. But what is it about interacting with bitcoin that inspires such changes? Tough question. But it seems that as we engage with it, and the more we understand it, the more we begin to realize what it represents. 

8/ That is to say, recognizing the implications of its inherent properties, we begin to change how we see the world, and thus how we see ourselves in reference to it. This is powerful, as how we see ourselves contributes greatly to who we become. 

9/ It’s hard to say why bitcoin’s properties inspire the particular changes they do. Is it just because we are interacting with the concepts of scarcity, trust, immutability, freedom, security etc. in a way we never have before? Perhaps. 

10/ But this is the halving after all, so let’s focus on scarcity. What kind of affect should we expect from encountering absolute scarcity for the first time? 

11/ This is such a dramatically new concept for our consciousness to contend with, that it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t fundamentally shift our perspective in some (or several) ways. 

12/ So if bitcoin’s properties are changing us, despite not knowing exactly why or how, what then should we expect when bitcoin becomes more scarce? The obvious answer, is that we should expect to see a commensurate change in ourselves too. 

13/ Though this process is far from fully understood, I’m going to speculate that as bitcoin ‘hardens’, so too shall bitcoiners. 

14/ Our conviction, determination, focus, energy, passion, enthusiasm, purpose, and desire to understand and engage this thing will all ‘harden’, and the behavior changes that have been inspired by bitcoin already will continue to compound. 

15/ What’s my point with all of this? I guess it’s to say that the missing half of the ‘halving story’, is us! 

16/ What if the halving is not just an inflection point for bitcoin’s price, but also for the process of our becoming? A point that represents a very specific shift from the person you were in the last four years, to the one you will become over the next four? 

17/ For hardcore bitcoiners, this change will likely happen regardless of whether we decide to recognize it or not, as bitcoin will continue to assert it’s nature through us. Hwvr, as is often true, I think there is even more to be gained by consciously engaging in this process. 

18/ Bitcoiners represent the tip of the spear in what is ultimately a revolution in human action, guided by those behaviors which bitcoin either permits or prohibits. 

19/ Whether we like it or not, we are living proof of the merits of this protocol for improving the lives of individuals everywhere. 

20/ I’m not here to tell you how to act, that’s entirely up to you. I guess I’m just asking, if this revolution isn’t about changing how we can and desire to act and interact, then what is it about? 

21/ And if we believe it is about that, then those occasions (halvings) which represent a step change in how we are influenced by this protocol, are probably significant events for each of us. 

22/ It’s a coming of age of sorts. The 3rd epoch was fun, but nothing compared to what the 4th epoch will be, and who we will necessarily become to meet the challenges and opportunities which it represents. Strap in Bitcoiners, and Happy Halving! LET’S GOOOOOOOO!

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