Something about the way Bitcoin Magazine’s Nick W. described the previous bitcoin price bull run instilled a sense of peaceful confidence in me.  His emphasis on self-reflection in order to learn about the future was a great perspective that I had not yet heard on the show. Along with discussing his previous experience in the bitcoin market, we touched on his fantasy football gateway into being orange pilled, how his previous creative work has helped with work he’s done for Bitcoin Magazine, his expectations for the future and much more. Be sure to check out this magnificent conversation with one of the smartest people in the industry in both podcast form and written form below. How were you first introduced to Bitcoin? My first touchpoint with Bitcoin came in 2014. I was working on a web design project, and it was brought up in a group chat amongst myself and a few developers.  I had just won a few thousand bucks from DFS sports betting (DraftKings, FanDuel) and was looking to roll those gains into something more significant. I still have screenshots of that chat. It is pretty rough to look back on that discussion today, because with the benefit of hindsight I can see the enormous opportunity cost that came as a result of me not digging in, and doing the homework to understand what Bitcoin is. And of course, I sold a few months later.  I returned again during the 2017 cycle, still not learning my lesson. I chased multiple altcoins, ICOs and participated in all the ridiculous hype. Thank god the bubble popped a year or so later. I’m not sure I would have learned my lesson otherwise. Having that multi-year bear market was an incredible opportunity to learn what I had just been a part of. The key part for anyone who goes through this is that they must have the curiosity to learn.  Curiosity is what fuels the education process. So, you have to want to know the answers to the questions: What did I just witness? Has this happened before? Why does bitcoin always seem to outlast others? What’s with these maximalists, and why are they so adamant about Bitcoin only? What’s the primary “life lesson” that you have learned from your time in bitcoin? Don’t trust, verify. Bitcoin has a way of requiring you to investigate the root causes of what’s happening in the world around you. Understanding Bitcoin requires an approach from first-principles thinking. It forces you to challenge your assumptions, and to seek out and verify information on your own.  One of my favorite quotes that I’ve come across recently is from biologist and writer, E.O. Wilson, where he states, “The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.”  I think we’ve reached a critical point where our paleolithic brains have not evolved enough to process the world around us. With the ubiquity of the internet, the sheer volume of information is too much for us to process. We’re bogged down with noise surrounding us everywhere, and so much of our lives are plugged into these dopamine-dripping machines. Our cell phones, cable TV, social media, etc.  I remember reading a piece a few years back that broke down the habit-forming loops built into these systems, designed with similar principles to slot machines. Pulling levers, and refreshing our feed in hopes of finding that next dopamine hit. All built with the intention to hijack our attention for as long as possible, and extract consumer data and profits for those on the other end.  For me, discovering Bitcoin was a way to clear away a lot of that noise, and focus on signal. Finding what is true and honing in on it. Digging through the incentive structures of systems that govern our everyday lives and finding that many of these systems are corrupted, and likely irreparable. How has your professional creative experience contributed to the work you’ve done so far at BTC Inc/Bitcoin Magazine? It definitely has. Startups and small agencies gave me a front row seat for the constant iteration processes necessary for building something new. In addition, it was extremely beneficial for me to be part of an agency where our role was essentially to build out an online presence for other businesses.  Not only did this give me the opportunity to learn how a lot of other businesses work, but because the company was small, I had to wear many hats. At college and in my first job, I learned design principles and how to use the different creative tools. At my next job, I spent over five years adding to my tool belt. Marketing, designing, building for web, even things as small as writing ad copy for design work has benefitted to some degree today. It forced me to be somewhat of a Swiss army knife. I can do a lot of things decently, and I think that having that generalist knowledge allowed me to visualize how a digital product could be built.  It helps to be able to build a rough sketch of the tech stack needed for a project, i.e., what programs, plug ins, SaaS, content and branding is needed and how can it be packaged together into a working system or product.  My aim is to build web-based systems that help achieve these things. And in doing so, hopefully create products that help others to build a positive habit loops. I see my current role having three main tenets: one, reduce friction (for user acquisition), two, separate signal from noise, three, educate newcomers. What are you most looking forward to in the Bitcoin space? If I had to choose something today, I think the idea of having a decentralized identity with something like Lightning is incredibly important. This would be the ideal foundation for a Web 3 infrastructure, instead of logging in with Google, or Facebook accounts, which already have massive compilations of data making up

  2021 is shaping up to be a momentous year for Bitcoin as the price hurtles toward $40,000 — more than double its 2017 all-time high. As HODLers rejoice and naysayers are left in disbelief, it’s important to note that a lot has changed in the world since 2017, making this bull run infinitely disparate from the previous one.  Global pandemic and political mayhem aside, many other things have changed in the last few years, even in the microcosm of Bitcoin. In short: Accumulation, not trading Institutions, not consumers BITCOIN, NOT SHITCOINS In 2017, bitcoin was like a gateway drug for all of crypto. People weren’t necessarily looking at bitcoin as a long-term investment. They were using bitcoin to trade altcoins and get into ICOs — gambling away fortunes in hopes of getting filthy rich. 2017 was the first time that the mainstream public had any sort of exposure to crypto assets and when it happened, it was like the Wild West. Regulation was near zero and anybody, anywhere who had some money could spin up a token and list it on an exchange. Consumer protections were nonexistent and suddenly, everybody was an expert on evaluating early-stage, blockchain-based “investments.” This led to the ICO craze where everyone from your Uber driver to seasoned Silicon Valley investors became blinded by the hype and got burned on fundamentally unsound investments. To my chagrin, this is likely how the majority of nocoiners today remember bitcoin and crypto. This New York Times article is the epitome of 2017 crypto-mania: A lot of the hype and money to be made in 2017 was outside of bitcoin, so capital flowed from fiat into bitcoin and then into pretty much every other cryptocurrency. From there, it essentially went to shit, as the creators of the tokens/early investors took everyone’s money by dumping their bags. (Reminder: Satoshi has never sold any bitcoin.) In fact, within the first half of 2018, over 86 percent of all ICOs that listed in 2017 had falled below their initial listing price, and their founders are likely either in jail or enjoying their ill-gotten wealth on a beach in some remote island paradise. This time, things are different. Money flowing from fiat to bitcoin is staying there. Bitcoin market dominance was at an all-time low during peak crypto mania in 2017 and now, it’s almost double what it was then. Altcoin volumes are relatively low, especially among retail investors. The people who are dabbling with altcoins, specifically ether, are the ones who are experienced, not newcomers. Most trading activity in crypto happens in DeFi on the Ethereum blockchain (whale-dominated decentralized exchanges which take technical experience and understanding to use), and in derivatives markets (CME/Bakkt futures and options for institutional players, and offshore derivatives exchanges such as BitMEX). Bitcoin is no longer being used for trading or as a way to move capital into other crypto assets. Instead, it’s being accumulated for the long term. ACCUMULATION, NOT TRADING In the last two years, over $30 billion dollars worth of bitcoin has been accumulated for the long term. A total of 2.814 million bitcoin are in accumulation addresses right now — that’s 15.16 percent of all bitcoin in circulation. 62.31 percent of all bitcoin in circulation hasn’t been moved in over a year, and less than 15 percent of it is actively traded on exchanges. This much bitcoin hasn’t been HODLed since pre-2017. As you can see, this number plummeted during the bull run when trading altcoins/ICO investing was popular: People aren’t trading bitcoin, they’re accumulating more and more of it over time and holding it long term (aka, “stacking sats”). This is evident not only through the raw on-chain data and exchange flows, but also through consumer behavior. People are dollar-cost averaging (DCAing), buying the dip and getting bitcoin-back rewards. Consumer Bitcoin products see this demand, and are building for it: Cash App, Rive and Swan DCA: Buy x bitcoin every y time interval Lolli and Fold: Get bitcoin back on everyday purchases Why is this shift happening from trading Bitcoin to accumulating it over time? There are two equally important explanations for this shift: The COVID-Induced Macroeconomic Environment Central banks are printing unlimited amounts of money and interest rates are near or below zero. This will inevitably lead to inflation, so capital is flowing into inflationary hedges such as bitcoin, gold and real estate. Bonds are worthless. Fiat currencies are losing value day by the day. And we’ve already seen two currency collapses in the past year (Turkey’s and Lebanon’s). People are hedging the existing financial system as well as fiat inflation by accumulating bitcoin. Further reading: “Bitcoin As Insurance: Why Investors Know $11,000 Is Just The Beginning” “Money Printing, Inflation, And The Bull Case For Bitcoin” 2. Anthropological And Monetary Theory: Evolution Of Bitcoin All organically-adopted money follows a path of evolution: collectible, store of value, medium of exchange and, finally, unit of account/reserve asset. Like gold, seashells and beads, bitcoin started as a collectible. Its scarcity, unforgeable costliness of creation and the price somebody else was willing to pay for it are the things that gave it value to the average individual. Thus, it was heavily traded from 2016 to 2018 as a speculative collectible/commodity, following the same behavioral economics patterns as baseball cards, oil and pork belly futures. Now, bitcoin is evolving into a store of value — something that will retain its purchasing power, preserving and growing wealth over time. Precious metals, interest-bearing assets, productive land, etc. have been traditional stores of value. Bitcoin is joining these ranks as consumers, public companies and, most importantly, institutional investors are all buying bitcoin as a store of value in an inflationary environment. Further Reading: “The Bullish Case For Bitcoin” INSTITUTIONS, NOT RETAIL 2017’s bull run was led by retail investors — everyday folks trying to get into bitcoin and make money. Smart investors mainly thought it was a scam, with the exception of some notable die-hards like Chamath Palihapitiya and