How Bitcoin Brings Cardinal Virtues – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Mitchell Askew, a Christian, conservative Bitcoiner who produces Bitcoin-related research and social media content for Blockware Solutions.
“You don’t change Bitcoin, Bitcoin changes you.”
This is one of many mantras circulating in the Bitcoin community. I am two years removed from the start of my Bitcoin journey and can personally attest to the legitimacy of this statement. While my experience with Bitcoin is relatively short-lived, people can grow a lot in two years, especially those in their early 20s. Bitcoin is a never-ending quest for knowledge, and anyone who joins the expedition will eventually find themselves embracing its cardinal virtues.
The cardinal virtues, deeply rooted in Christianity and among philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, represent a universal basis for moral guidance. The virtues are prudence, moderation, justice and courage. They were called “cardinal” from the Latin root “cardo”, meaning “hinge”, as in: all other virtues are hinged (dependent on) the four cardinal virtues.
I have outlined how anyone in honest pursuit of Bitcoin’s mission to separate money and state is strongly encouraged to behave according to the cardinal virtues.
Bitcoin provides caution
Act with or show care and thought for the future.
You will not understand what Bitcoin is the first time you hear about it. You also don’t want a firm grip the second, third or fourth time. In today’s fast-paced world, few have put in the hours necessary to have a solid understanding of how Bitcoin works technically. Of those who have, even fewer have taken the time to study all the extensive domains of Bitcoin, including but not limited to economics, personal finance, computer science, energy markets, the history of money, and geopolitical game theory.
To say that Bitcoin will have a profound impact on the world is an understatement. To begin to have the slightest understanding of what the impact will be requires caution. In the words of Michael Saylor “there is no informed criticism.” Those who immediately dismiss Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme no different than Bernie Madoff or Sam Bankman-Fried are simply revealing their intellectual sloth.
A common theme among bitcoiners, popularized by Austrian economists such as Saifedean Ammous, is the concept of time preference. Having a low time preference means that you are willing to place more importance on your future well-being over your present well-being; this is literally the definition of caution. Those who engage in the speculative markets of altcoins, or attempt to trade bitcoin’s unpredictable short-term volatility, rather than HODL the least uncertain asset of all time, are inherently imprudent.
By putting in the hours necessary to have a basic understanding of Bitcoin’s technical fundamentals and its broad implications for society, you have shown caution.
Bitcoin creates tempers
Habitual moderation in indulgence of appetite or passions.
Like prudence, Bitcoiners achieve moderation through short-term preference behavior.
Contrary to common FUD spread among no-coiners, Bitcoin is not full of whales seeking to dump their positions in pursuit of fiat-denominated profits. Moreover, the exponentially increasing use of Bitcoin combined with its unchanging scarce supply means that each wave of newcomers is met with the realization that it is wise to acquire as much bitcoin as possible before the rest of the world catches on.
When bitcoin becomes your individual unit of account, you begin to weigh any potential purchase or experience against the opportunity cost of acquiring more bitcoin. This has led many Bitcoiners, including myself, to embrace minimalist lifestyles. The key point here is that this declination of materialistic goods in pursuit of more bitcoin, although perhaps initially prompted by a desire to satisfy future greed, brings forth a realization that an abundance of materialistic goods is unnecessary.
By eliminating many of the “wants” from your personal budget, i.e. moderating appetites or passions, and limiting yourself to “needs” to save wealth in bitcoin, you embrace the cardinal virtue of moderation.
Bitcoin creates justice
Mere handling or proper action; gives each person their commitment.
The biggest financial fraud of all time is the fiat money system. For far too long, the existence of central banks has allowed governments to fund the ideals of the ruling class at the expense of cash savings and future economic productivity. Before the rapid acceleration of inflation in the last couple of years, most Westerners were completely unaware of the backdoor theft that occurs with the expansion of the money supply.
Bitcoin provides inalienable property rights to all its users. No government body or company has the power to dilute the value of every unit in the network, and when stored properly, BTC is virtually impossible to confiscate. Bitcoin is an open, neutral network that does not discriminate based on religion, ethnicity, gender, race or vaccination status. No one is restricted from running a node to audit the authenticity of every transaction on the ledger.
By guaranteeing irrefutable access to an unconfiscatable and undilutable form of property, Bitcoin represents the fairest asset and monetary network in human history.
Bitcoin provides strength
Courage in pain or adversity.
Bitcoiners develop strength in two ways.
The first way is to encourage HODLing through volatility. At the time of writing, bitcoin is down over 70% from its all-time high. This is the fourth time in Bitcoin’s thirteen-year history that we have experienced a decline of this magnitude. Bitcoiners are clearly showing courage in the face of this adversity, as evidenced by on-chain data. An all-time high of over 66% of Bitcoin’s supply hasn’t moved in a year or longer. This trend is not unique either, as this metric has reached all-time highs even during previous bear markets.
I feel like there is a positive feedback loop going on here. When you can see for yourself that other bitcoin holders are unfazed by the extreme declines in price, it allows one to become more confident in the future of the network, and thus continue to hold their own.
The second way Bitcoiners develop strength is by encouraging Bitcoiners to take an action similar to the founding fathers signing the Declaration of Independence. While holding bitcoin is not outright illegal in most countries, it certainly does not put you in a favorable position with the most powerful entities in the world.
History has shown that regimes controlling the global reserve currency do not take kindly to this position being usurped. As such, there is a non-zero chance that Bitcoiners could be declared treasonous in a dramatic, last-ditch effort by the United States government to maintain control of the monetary system.
However, this extremity can be avoided by winning the adoption race as Cory Klippsten, CEO of Swan Bitcoin, eloquently describes in this article.
This is a guest post by Mitchell Askew. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
