Thread by @gladstein

1/ The Aker shareholder letter from Kjell Inge Røkke is remarkable.

Having worked in Norway since 2008, IMO this is a major step towards more Scandinavian Bitcoin discussion + adoption.

Here's a 🧵 on the letter's unexpected highlights especially regarding Lightning + privacy:

2/ Aker is a 180-year-old Norwegian corporation now launching Seetee, a Bitcoin company:

"We will use bitcoin as our treasury asset and join the community. We will be hodlers. Perhaps not as rebellious as the cypherpunks... But more progressive than most established corporates"

3/ A recurring theme in Røkke's letter is an interest in privacy.

Early on:

"I am particularly interested in micropayments and how these may enable us to avoid usernames, passwords, and our personal data being monetised with, and often without, our knowledge or consent”

4/ Aker's actions seem built on the work of @adam3us:

"We decided to reach out to the engineers who made it their mission to change the inner workings of money more than two decades ago. We announced Seetee has formed a partnership w/ Blockstream, a global leader in Bitcoin"

5/ An interesting note.

A Norwegian billionaire goes cypherpunk?

"Even if you don’t get the underlying cypherpunk and libertarian ideals, which I find most interesting, you still need to consider the potential diversification benefits of bitcoin"

6/ On Røkke's relationship with @JackMallers:

"He’s almost forty years younger than me. Experiencing his energy and enthusiasm was special. I felt old in his company, but also very emboldened. When I realised how much brainpower goes into Bitcoin, I saw the future in the making"

7/ Aker on Bitcoin's broader potential:

"Economic access for the unbanked through saving, spending, and lending services. Micropayments. Ownership of private data. Technology that can disrupt compliance... with the added benefit of improved security and near-instant settlement"

8/ Røkke is fascinated by ⚡:

"Lightning transactions complete in milliseconds and can process millions per second with hardly any use of electricity. It leverages Bitcoin’s security while increasing speed + reducing cost to levels not achievable by legacy payment rails"

9/ More on Jack:

"With all of us on video from Chicago, Tel Aviv, and Oslo, Mallers sent dollars from a U.S. bank account via a wallet in Tel Aviv and on to Oslo. For fun, we sent it to an Aker colleague in Ghana. Transactions took place instantaneously and at nearly no cost"

10/ Røkke:

"I am frustrated that I give user names, passwords, locations, and card details to read newspapers or watch movies. I’m fascinated by ⚡ wallets that may enable instant credit via micropayments w/o offering personal info that my counterpart can monetise w/o approval"

11/ He paints the big picture:

"Bitcoin can be verified, divided, reassembled, stored, and transported at virtually no cost. It’s the perfect scarce digital asset. By design. Electricity secures the network. No trusted parties or people w/ guns are needed. I call that progress"

12/ For the skeptics, Røkke quotes George Bernhard Shaw, who was inspired by the great playwright Norwegian Henrik Ibsen:

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything"

13/ Røkke finally concludes. He is humbled + excited:

"My mind spins as I’m thinking about the opportunities and potential of this space...

Aker is the first major company in Scandinavia to allocate capital to bitcoin. We’re not going to be the last."

Wow. Love the ⚡ focus!

14/ Here is the link to the letter if you'd like to read more:

seetee.io/static/shareho…