Thread by @metamick14

Bitcoin has a branding problem. While we might not care this is largely reducing Bitcoin's accessibility to the masses.

And while #Bitcoin is an amazing technology in itself, I believe the missing link lies in leveraging its culture, the #Hodlculture.

Thread + article👇🐔

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The Hodl culture not only has a basic understanding of Bitcoin, but coded inside its DNA are philosophical beliefs of btc as hard money, self-sovereignty, safety & behavioural heuristics such as long-term investing & stick to bitcoin.

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Most importantly, the Hodl culture has the memes! It's humorous in the midst of Bitcoin's tumultuous volatility.

Shine or Rain, Lambos or Rekt, Bitcoin hodlers are emotionally resilient because of the community, and surely the memes help.

Thanks 2 @BitcoinMemeHub

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The Hodl culture is also the 🔑 to falsifying mainstream notions of Bitcoin as 'speculation' and 'ponzi scheme'.

For God's sake, Hodlers suffer through years-long winters and constant tsunami-like volatility. They bleed, sweat and think long-term.

#Revolutionaries @danheld

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I wrote this article to begin describing the Hodl culture of Bitcoin.

I offer the Balinese Cockfight example as a comparison that points for the need to move beyond one-glance-views, in favour of an empirical look of where meaning lies.

Quotes👇
medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"Foreigners have for centuries reduced Balinese cockfights to a senseless form of gambling. Similarly, Bitcoin might at first be associated with gambling, black markets and hackers. But dive into these worlds & things start looking quite differently"

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"It’s clear, then, why for the Bitcoin community Bitcoin stands for much more than gambling, black markets, and hackers: it represents the pursuit of a new type of freedom."

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"If you look closely, the in-coded design of Bitcoin incentivises long-term investment decisions rather than narrow short-term speculation."

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"The fact that ‘money’ is involved does not render it shallow. It’s the opposite. Just like in the Balinese Cockfight, money makes the Bitcoin fight more real, makes Hodlers' involvement more concrete because there is skin is in the game"

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surely have the capacity to wake up the speculative nature in any of us. But what keeps the Bitcoin community going is not shallow short-term speculation...."

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"...It’s the strong values of the hodlers, the state of play articulated by the frustration and hope in the memes, the political philosophy focused on freedom. The irresponsibly long positions taken by the Bitcoin hodlers make all of it more real."

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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When it comes to #Bitcoin conversations that focus exclusively on speculation risk totally missing their points. They need to consider the political and philosophical questions this community raises about money, privacy, self-sovereignty & memes.

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

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"To this end, #journalists, the media, academics, politicians, and individuals need to start paying closer attention to this world before jumping to conclusions.... After all, at some point or another, we might all have to join the #Bitcoin arena."

medium.com/@metamick14/ba…

Shout-out to some of the 'true hodlers' out there that have been the key to my understanding of Bitcoin. The variety in this team is emblematic of how borderless Bitcoin is: @pierre_rochard @saifedean @aantonop @NickSzabo4 @mike_giglio @BitcoinMemeHub @nic__carter @danheld @lopp

And s shout-out to the great podcasters that have helped me navigate the rabbit hole and kept me hodling 📢
@PeterMcCormack @laurashin @TFTC21 @stephanlivera @CitizenBitcoin @APompliano

And a "super thank you" to @paulamagal1 and @lwsnbaker for your invaluable edits and comments! 🙏 😊

By Bitcoin's "branding problem" I mean the problem of how Bitcoin is misperceived from outsiders as shallow speculation.

So it's fairer to say that this is not Bitcoin's problem per se, the problem lies with outsiders' erroneous one-glance-views.

Article
medium.com/@metamick14/ba…