BlackRock vs Bitcoin, Victory or Defeat?
Wall Street, CypherPunks, and the War Between Old and New Money
I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Bitcoin is now an exchange-traded fund product offered by the money tycoons of Black Rock, Fidelity, and the like.
What’s going on? The revolutionary money created by Nakamoto to destroy the banks, crony capitalism, and Wall Street has conceded defeat and is now part of a balanced portfolio for the rich boomers who made their money milking the Cantillion effect.
Satoshi must be turning in his grave…
The cypherpunk’s ideals of decentralized money, proof of work, and consensus protocol have been betrayed by those pundits Bitcoin aimed to attack. Inscribed in the genesis block, the Times front page about the second bank bailout was a clear message to the world that old money was corrupt and unethical and this new money came to fix the broken system.
So, what happened? Was this a victory or a defeat? Are we winning? Who is losing? And above all, what can we expect from now on with this interlock of Wall Street crooks and anarcho-capitalist rebels?
Permissionless
Above all, Bitcoin is a permissionless network. Unlike banking, the stock market, or traditional assets, anyone can join the club and no permission is required. No gatekeepers can deny participation. This opens the floodgates for rich and poor, honest and criminals, individuals and corporations alike.
But since BlackRock has more money than most nations combined, could they just come and take over changing the rules at will and destroying the revolution many worked so hard for?
Unlikely.
They came too late.
Out of the 21 million BTC, 19 are already in circulation and the remaining coins will be released slowly in the next 120 years. 2 million is only 10%, a big stake but hardly enough to change the rules.
Granted, some people will sell for fiat when the price is enticing enough (missing the whole point) but most HODLers don’t plan to come back to a fiat standard that was so corrupt and destructive for the world.
We can safely assume BlackRock will never have a majority stake in the ecosystem and even if they did, this won’t affect the protocol.
The Protocol
Bitcoin fundamentals are based on the protocol which is a set of rules set by consensus. Miners, nodes, and core devs control this in a decentralized manner and virtually no changes in the system are ever allowed.
Banks can buy all BTC they want but unlike the stock market, they still have no say in how things are run. The protocol was decided a long time ago, the code runs the system and nothing that is not broken is ever fixed. The system is virtually immutable.
This might be a bit uncomfortable for tycoons used to manipulate markets at will, bribing politicians, moving goalposts and ultimately changing the game to suit themselves but, tough shit, this is a new game and the rules are fixed. Take it or leave it
They are not happy about it but if you can’t beat them…
Price
One thing that is possible to manipulate is price. With deep enough pockets (BlackRock has infinite money…literally) they can move markets up and down at will in the short term.
However, they are not stupid, they are here to win. Selling Bitcoin to move the market downwards is very risky. Other actors are monitoring the market and are willing to take the other side of the transaction in a heartbeat.
Whales can create ripples but ultimately the tide is moving upwards neutralizing the short-term movements just like a tsunami cancels the waves.
The Mission
Bitcoin came to take power away from governments and banks and give it to the people. This last ETF move attempts to regain control and buy time before the traditional institutions become eventually obsolete.
I bet Satoshi and the original cypherpunks are not satisfied with this financial development. Seeing their precious asset acquired by the enemy is not ideal but nevertheless obvious in hindsight and a necessary step towards Bitcoinization.
One thing is being a fringe revolution in the dark corners of the web and another is trying to replace banking, the fiat system, and monetary policy worldwide.
What served the purpose in the early days won’t cut it now. Bitcoinization means fixing broken money and this entails the financialization of Bitcoin and the building of adjacent layers on top of the core protocol.
ETFs are just a securitization of Bitcoin as it happened to gold 20 years ago. Gold has not changed in its core but paper gold is a different asset.
Bitcoin however will not suffer the prostitution gold has endured. The reason why no one trades real gold is because is expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to protect. Gold is not a bear asset, it cannot be transferred, verified, or secured easily and therefore custody must be forfeited to banks and other gatekeepers.
Bitcoin is the easiest asset to hodl, secure, and verify. It’s 100% transportable and can be sent at the speed of light a very little cost. No need for custodians means this is a completely different game with a new set of rules.
Banks love to make you dependent but with Bitcoin, this is a much harder task. Why trust an intermediary incurring counterparty risk when you can buy and hold BTC in a sovereign way?
Bitcoin’s mission is still intact. Decentralized money continues to be used by the bankless, refugees, and inflation-stricken population. The fact that BlackRock and accolades have entered the systems gives Bitcoin more stability in price, less volatility, and more credibility among those circles unfamiliar with the cryptoasset.
Conclusion
Banks claim victory. Psychopaths HODLers also feel they are winning. The battle continues, the war is not over yet.
In a perfect world, we toxic degens would like to see the immediate demise of the corrupt fiat system of crony capitalism, Cantillon effects, and market manipulation and the beginning of a new era of honest money, transparency, and independence.
But realistically, a gradual transformation of the financial world is probably a better option for all the participants involved.
Bitcoin is slowly but surely changing the world beyond recognition. The latest victory was ETFs, the next challenge will be becoming the global reserve asset, adoption as legal tender, and becoming the neutral money the world desperately needs.
Governments, banks, and other mafia-like institutions don’t like relinquishing power but neither they like to become irrelevant. The fight here is about survival and only those who can adapt fast will live to tell the tale into the next century.
Bitcoin is the nightmare they wish it never happened but now Pandora’s box is open and there is no turning back.
We are pissing them off big time and this by itself is a great victory. Sit down by the river and enjoy the view of dinosaurs’ corpses floating down toward oblivion.
Bitcoin 1 — Crooks 0
To be continued…
