We live in the United States of America, nothing bad can happen here. You have to go to
college to get a good job. Put your money in a savings account so that it can grow. Get a job
with good health benefits. Save, save, save, and retire when you’re 65. And on and on it goes,
the list of expressions many of us grew up hearing from parents, grandparents, teachers,
counselors, friends. If the events of 2020 haven’t clarified for us the condescending
inaccuracies of each and every one of the aforementioned statements, then we have a much
bigger problem to address.

Has it all been a lie? Truly systemic in nature from top to bottom, contributed to by countless
complicit parties, our governments, our schools, our loved ones. Lies that began at the top,
rewarded with vast wealth and power, and were then perpetuated throughout the years by
either blissful ignorance or malicious intent. As we watch it all slowly crumble, alongside the
bickering and infantile individuals who purport to “lead” and govern, it beckons exactly this
question.

Post-World War II era Europe saw the advent of existentialism in the modern age. The
magnitude of the sheer horrors and atrocities witnessed and experienced by soldiers and
citizens alike gave rise to the belief that no one is safe, nothing is looking after us, and in the
end, we rely only on ourselves. The parallels, not between the chain of external events leading
to the manifestation of thought, but rather, the ultimate shift in our reality and daily life as we
once knew it, cannot be ignored. The politicized nature of every news-worthy event over the
past 11 months should serve as a clear indicator that we all need to do what is in our own best
interest, albeit individually or collectively. As those in need have, in many instances, patiently
waited for help to arrive, it simply is not coming. Warring government factions, consolidation
and accumulation of power and wealth, bankrupt and broken states and social programs, these
things we do know. These things we have seen and will continue to see, until we don’t, and by
then it may be too late.

The government and the banks have gotten rich by backing and servicing student loans, and
charging or allowing to be charged exorbitant interest rates and poorly structured payment
plans to those seeking higher education. The universities and colleges jacked up their tuition
fees and loosened enrollment requirements. All in an effort to afford many of these students
the opportunity to learn what they should have been taught in high school, before the public
schools failed to teach the fundamentals of life, finance and adulthood. Is it finally reasonable
to assume that we have no need for thousands of overpriced colleges and universities, so that
students can log-in to a Zoom call and “learn” virtually? Can we assume that many young
people might be able to find their own path to success, without being bogged down by debt
before they even begin a career? And how do we even define success, in an age where social
programs, hand-outs and equality of outcome (rather than equality of opportunity) play such an
integral role in where society is headed?

There is always opportunity in crises, and if we have learned anything from those in political
power, it should be exactly this. Those of us who have been involved in the Bitcoin and digital
asset investment space for some time have always known the endgame; this past year has
simply expedited our journey and exposed the impressive flaws in our current systems and
policies, to an extent we could not have imagined. We are in the earliest stages of the
digitization of monetary policy, and of the many changes we have experienced in 2020, this may
be the most profound. The coming changes will affect how we conduct private and public
transactions, how we store and build our wealth, how we are assessed and pay our taxes, and
perhaps most significantly, how we handle and interact with our currency on a daily basis (hint:
it won’t be in a leather wallet). And at the forefront of it all, we now have an asset with global
brand recognition, pristine in its ability to serve a variety of use cases, and undervalued to an
extent that has perhaps never been seen in history. With all of the uncertainties surrounding us
in our daily lives, we’ll choose to ensure that we are on the right side of history as Bitcoin finds
its footing, continues to outperform every other asset class in existence, and welcomes the
tsunami of money presently on its way into the space.