Thread by @hansthered

Everyone has their own set of reasons for being involved in Bitcoin. These reasons are important, because what you believe will determine how you see the world and yourself. Here's what I know.

Our rights are under fire around the world and Bitcoin can help. Come with me.

Friendly reminder here - the US government has a tap into the fiber backbone of the internet. I guess have to settle for "free speech as long as Uncle Sam can listen in."

zdnet.com/article/prism-…

In 1838, Abraham Lincoln gave the Lyceum Address, in which he warns against the rise of authoritarian leaders, “it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.”

Now think about the world we live in today. As @gladstein has pointed out, 4 Billion people live in an authoritarian regime. Couple with that concept that money is also a system of control. H/T @aantonop

In the Cypherpunk Manifesto Eric Hughes says "We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness..."

"...envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.”

activism.net/cypherpunk/man…

In the Bitcoin whitepaper Satoshi gave us a roadmap for censorship resistant transactions, a life raft for those suffering from hyperinflation, a way to check the power of authoritarian regimes and the first digitally native and scarce store of value.

bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Recently @MattAhlborg wrote a very powerful piece on Medium about the incredible growth of @paxful and how Bitcoin is being used to facilitate remittances in Africa.

medium.com/dlabvc/paxful-…

@AkinSawyerr was recently on @APompliano's podcast where he came at this from a different angle, but laid out in a very interesting way how an informal economy can form among the unbanked. Bitcoin can help.

open.spotify.com/episode/1FGOnQ…

Now understand that "what Bitcoin is" depends on who you are. If you're a tech investor, Bitcoin is possibly the most disruptive technology of our generation. We have Bitcoin futures, and now options are on the way from @Bakkt and @CMEGroup. More onramps, more use cases.

Now please take a moment and think about the implications of the Lightning Network. The way the math works out, the more people join, the faster it gets. Suddenly you can have global, near-instant microtransactions backed by the the "Bank of Satoshi Settlements."

Read more about the Lightning Network here: lopp.net/lightning-info…

H/T to @lopp, @JackMallers and @starkness for their contributions (yes I know there's a ton of you working on this - character limits y'all).

Microtransactions - what's the point? It may help to remember that microtransactions enable things that simply weren't possible until now. For example, how could you give someone 1/10th of a cent? But, on the Lightning Network you can send someone a fraction of a satoshi.

Suddenly people are tipping comments on Reddit or Twitter using LN tipping bots because why not? Here's a fraction of a cent because I liked your Twitter thread or you answered some question I had, or you just made me laugh. Welcome to the future.

China is trying to get our in front of the digital asset revolution by launching a mammoth surveillance and control machine that's even more oppressive than what it has currently. Which side are you on?

https://twitter.com/gladstein/status/1205620671054675968

I want you to be a part of Bitcoin. I want you to understand it. This is the most important thing we can do for the world right now. Go to a meetup, listen to a podcast, read a book.

Here's one such book: notion.so/The-Little-Bit…

@LittleBitcoinBk

Looking for something a little meatier? Try this podcast with the brilliant @nic__carter.

castleisland.vc/podcast

Are you a l337 h4x0r? Check out Mastering Bitcoin: amazon.com/Mastering-Bitc…

Want to learn how to trade? Check out @FiboSwanny who can ELI5 better than anyone.

Interested in Investing in Bitcoin but you don't understand where the value comes from? Check out the valuation depot over at Kana and Katana - where you will find work from some of the top researchers in the business.

kanaandkatana.com/valuation-depot

Do you want to understand Bitcoin as a social phenomenon? Read the incredible work by @hasufl. It gets deep.

medium.com/s/story/bitcoi…

Want to understand the Bitcoin mining process? Are we destroying the planet? Check out this think piece by @danheld.

medium.com/@danhedl/pow-i…

Here's to an incredible 2020. Remember the next halving is only six months away. Why does it matter? Check out work from @100trillionUSD, who builds on the work of @saifedean in "The Bitcoin Standard."

medium.com/@100trillionUS…

Book link: saifedean.com/the-book/

Cheers!