Cheers to Bitcoin
#11yearsandcounting #justgettingstarted
Since I first heard about this esoteric thing called Bitcoin in 2012, the most wonderful aspect about it for me has been the big wide world that it has opened up, yielding opportunities to engage with people, ideas and places that I would otherwise never cross paths with. Everyday I am introduced to a concept, company, or someone in the crypto community that triggers new learning.
If you are insatiably curious by default, there’s nothing better than crypto. The perpetual stream of diverse books, whitepapers, blogs, videos and podcasts in my queue is a messy yet accurate illustration:) The multidisciplinary nature of bitcoin forces you to keep pushing your intellectual and social comfort zone and study topics, meet people and struggle with questions to which there are no easy answers. It is said that we are/ or become the sum of the five people we spend most our time with — I am grateful to be part of a community of life long learners.
When I observe people new to bitcoin, figuring out their own pathway from skeptic to curious to perhaps even converts, I am reminded how this journey is equal parts Quixotic (forces you to suspend belief and judgement, and tilt into windmills), Socratic (Oh the rabbit holes we’ve all fallen into as we debate and deliberate the diversity of topics ranging from economic theories to computer science and everythingin between) and Pragmatic (getting to the brass tax of identifying the problem statement and taking the initiative to break down barriers)
Put another way, we’ve all had to answer the questions — what the heck is this… why does it matter… and now what do I do with this — in our own ways and often keep coming back to revisit those questions and edit, re-edit the answers. All of it leading us to engage, participate or contribute to the ecosystem in ways we are each uniquely qualified to make a dent.
None of this is easy. I don’t think it’s meant to be. We are meant to struggle through these tough questions and decisions. A quote I find myself referencing and reflecting upon often, captures the sentiment “That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value.” — Thomas Paine. What we struggle for is inevitably what we value most. Cheers to Bitcoin #11yearsandcounting #justgettingstarted
(picture of a full length bitcoin whitepaper mural in my office)