Welcome to the 21st edition of The Bitcoin Newsletter,

Events that have unfolded over the last few weeks have demonstrated why Bitcoin exists: Increasing centralization and the exercise of power by a few that have negative consequences for everyone. In view of increasingly questionable political decisions and social movements that are taking on totalitarian characteristics, it is becoming increasingly important to protect individual freedom. In the 21st edition of The Bitcoin Newsletter I address why I found Bitcoin and why it is important to all of us.

Best regards,

Leon

DEEP DIVE

The Need To Protect Individual Freedom

In 1716, when Isaac Newton had taken over the Bank of England, the monetary system of the Western World had seen its first Great Recoinage. This was followed by another one in 1816, when the Bank of England suffered massively from excess spending on the Napoleonic Wars. 

The years 1913-14 saw a fundamental change to the global monetary system, when the Federal Reserve in the United States and Europe’s great powers moved away from a gold standard, laying the financial groundwork for funding World War I and managing the economic demands of impending conflicts.

History has shown that the existing monetary system is inferior to the disadvantages of physical commodities and to the ruling of banks and government institutions. Germany and England had excessively overspent their funds by the start of WWI, and were forced to disband the interlinking of their currencies with gold.

Europe suffered from great inflation over the years following WWI, wealth that was acquired over generations was lost, existences destroyed. These problems remain today. Most countries have over-indebted and vulnerable banking sectors that are subject to arbitrary taxes and regulations.

For centuries, probably for millennia, there has been a pressing need for a monetary alternative to safeguard individual freedom. Finally, with the advent of Bitcoin, an alternative to existing fiat currencies has emerged, one that cannot be abused, manipulated or inflated at will.

Bitcoin serves as a long-awaited monetary base layer for economies free from the challenges and inflation associated with state-issued fiat currencies. This innovation holds the potential to fundamentally revolutionize the global economy.

Currently, we can observe existing power structures resisting Bitcoin, leveraging claims of protecting against criminal activity to undermine privacy and the use of bitcoin. Yet, bitcoin cannot be banned; it exists as information, mere zeros and ones. Attempting to prevent someone from using bitcoin is as futile as stopping someone from thinking.

Bitcoin was conceived to sever the ties between money and the state. This separation, a loss of power for the state, as control over money equates to power, necessitated Bitcoin’s ability to exist outside the control of any central authority. Otherwise, attempts to halt its existence would have been successful. Thus, Bitcoin’s independence and resistance to manipulation and inflation stand as its core innovations.

There’s little sense in allowing oneself to be driven mad by the futile attempts of a dying system to ban a technology that offers immense benefits to humanity and cannot be prohibited.

Bitcoin embodies agorism, a philosophy advocating the creation of parallel systems without hostility. Through this approach, the power of individuals and communities can fully flourish. It signifies a peaceful transformation and not a violent revolution.

With the potential to safeguard individual freedom and facilitate new forms of trade and wealth redistribution, Bitcoin offers a protocol for progress. It is upon individuals to seize this opportunity, support the system, and fortify it from within. This includes, among other things, the support of open source development of Bitcoin and other freedom technologies such as Nostr. If you want to support open source development, you can visit OpenSats. 

Societies that have neglected the importance of the individual have failed. The Soviet Union, the biggest communist empire the world has seen, collapsed in 1991. A political system of forced intellectual equalization and state-directed economy failed, leaving behind countries in a state of economic hardship, and citizens without perspective.

Ludwig von Mises, one of the great Austrian economists, philosophers and classical liberals, argued that a person who is unfit to serve his fellow citizens wants to rule those (Mises, 1944). He believed that society must be carried on everyone’s shoulders, through shared responsibilities.

People don’t need to be told what to do, but raised to be independent, educated individuals, making conscious decisions for themselves. Tight state control and radically enforced community awareness are destined to fail. For that reason, everyone must engage oneself into the intellectual.

No one can refrain from doing so, as the interest of everyone hangs on the result. Whether we want to or not, we all are part of the great historical struggle to create a society worth living in (Hülsmann, 2007).

WORTH TO KNOW

**Podcast and publications

The Role of the Monetary Premium in Real Estate | European Bitcoiners**
This month, I published  a new article for europeaneitcoiners.com as part of my series that breaks down the basics of what drove the real estate boom over the last few decades, why that might change, and the potential role of bitcoin in this process.READBitcoin Magazine: Dismantling the Cash-Flow Narrative: Real Estate vs. BitcoinIn May, I took a previous newsletter of mine and republished it with Bitcoin Magazine as an analysis of real estate as a cash-flow driven investment, and why bitcoin will wind up being a superior store of value investment despite that. READccn: Real Estate Vs. Bitcoin: A Comparative Analysis With Leon WankumIn an interview with Andrew Kamsky, a Bitcoin research analyst from CCN, I shared insights on the comparative value of real estate versus bitcoin as a financial asset. Andrew has done a phenomenal job at putting this research together. READ | WATCH

IDEAS OF INTEREST

HOW MONEY WORKS: Dollar Creation & Fed Money Printing 101 - In this episode, Nik Bhatia and Ritik Goyal present an in-depth graduate seminar on fiat money creation. With over a dozen examples of monetary operations. Watch this episode to learn how fiat money is created. WATCHJoy of Compounding: Bitcoiner and frequent X user Carl B Menger wrote a wonderful newsletter about why compounding is key because human time is scarce. My favorite quote from the piece is: “The difference between those who fail and those who succeed is their courage to act repeatedly“. READ

If you want to support me. Feel free. You can send me some satoshi/bitcoin.**

Lightning: law@getalby.com

On-chain: bc1qyc9q89wjzmvaw729tj3wsrsfhft53mjycrjxdk

​​Nostr PubKey@leonwankum

X @leonwankum

ResourcesBitcoin & Real Estate w/ Leon Wankum (BTC164)Leon Wankum - Bitcoin: A qualitative study of a monetary alternative: It’s value and applicationsLudwig von Mises - BureaucracyJörg Guido Hülsmann - Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism

Photo Credit: iedm.org

Disclaimer: the content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Make sure you do your own research before making any investment and be aware of your own risk tolerance. If you like to build on my thoughts, feel free, but please cite me as the source. 2024 - Leon A. Wankum. 

Editing and content creation by Clemens Haidinger.

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