What A Hyper-Bitcoinization World Looks Like
There is a high-likelihood that most of us that are so passionate about bitcoin and investing in it have been alone during out journey. Most of your friends, family, or people we know haven't been orange-pilled yet, they haven't gone down the rabbit hole like we have, and most likely show little to no interest when we try to talk to them about it.
It can be a lonely experience; feeling that you're the only one who can see the world for what it is. Being one of the few who can see where the future is heading towards and that bitcoin is the answer for many of worlds problems. Then add in the game theory qualities of bitcoin and it is enough to want to make anyone FOMO into it. Many of us are just trying to accumulate as much as we possibly can before the mainstream catches on to just how valuable and scare bitcoin is. A large percentage of us believe it will create the largest transfer of wealth we have ever seen.
Of course that is only if bitcoin does take over the world, overtaking gold as the go-to store of value asset, and possibly becoming the world's reserve asset, becoming the currency of choice for many. We spend a lot of time dwelling on what we need to do now to become rich with bitcoin, often thinking about only what we need to do to become rich. But we don't spend enough time actually thinking about what the future will look like if bitcoin does in-fact reach its full potential like many of us hope or think it will. What would that world look like? It's a world that might be an incredibly exciting place for those of us who saw the future and accumulated bitcoin, but it might be a very unpleasant world for those who didn't. One thing is for certain, the world would look much different than it does today.
Let's first talk about the bitcoin protocol itself. Some people have been frustrated by how slowly it upgrades, but we tend to forget that bitcoin is playing a different game than most of the other blockchains out there. Bitcoin is going after currencies and actual countries, and therefore each update needs to be heavily thought upon and scrutinized. The protocol has become too valuable, and must be protected. With that said, we are still seeing significant upgrades. A few years ago SegWit was introduced, and just a few months ago Taproot/Schnorr was also introduced. Bitcoin is playing a game to be around for hundreds of years and is still a baby in its development. Just as things looked very different ten years ago, fast forward twenty years and things will look much different as well. Things that are issues today will be non-issues in the future.
In a bitcoin world, you may be able to still use cash for payments, but payments in bitcoin or lightning will be preferred. In fact, you will receive discounts when you pay with bitcoin. Sellers prefer to be paid in BTC because their is no fee charged to them like when credit cards are used, and it will be an appreciating asset for them as well. All of the complaints that bitcoin can never scale to be used for everyday payments will be a thing of the past. We are seeing a glimpse of this right now with the layer 2, Lightning. It will continue to scale and improve. As the years pass, fees on bitcoin's layer 1 network will continue to increase and therefore it will only be used for the largest of transactions, or transactions that require an absolute level of security. All other transactions will happen on lightning. Think of it just like having a savings account and checking account at a bank. The bitcoin layer 1 will be your savings account that you add to and save in for the future. Lightning will be your checking account that you use for most purchases.
As the bitcoin network continues to scale via layer 1 protocol upgrades, and more so by layer 2 and 3 upgrades, the use case or need for many "cheap" chains will disappear, and that capital will flow into bitcoin. Not only that, but smart contracts will be built upon bitcoin as well. It may n to happen on layer 1, but it definitely will be built on-top of bitcoin via other layers. Again eliminating a large amount of use cases for many coins out there. We are reaching a point where far too many coins are trying to do the same thing, and also be currencies. We can not expect retailers to accept hundreds of different cryptocurrencies, but instead it is more likely that just a few will end up winning.
Now you may wonder why all of those things will happen on bitcoin. To put it simply, people and developers follow the money. As bitcoin continues to win over countries by becoming legal tender, have use adoption increase via lightning; people will begin to prefer to have smart contracts on bitcoin as well. Switching between different chains is cumbersome, and people will prefer to have it all in one spot. Fast forward thirty years and the bitcoin landscape will look very different than it does today, and it will be exciting.
One of the famous phrases that bitcoiners like to say is, "Fix the money, Fix the world." People being able to save their wealth in a currency that doesn't inflate away, and actually appreciates over the years will be a game changer, and help people much more than we can imagine. On the geopolitical scene it could have bigger implications. Unlike the US dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Chinese Yuan, no one controls bitcoin and therefore no one can sanction or punish other countries financially. Also, no one can seize coins that are being stored properly. There may not be a reason to have wars in the future if wealth cannot be seized, if sanctions cannot be imposed, and countries cannot be blocked out of the financial world.
With bitcoin being a cryptocurrency that is locked at having 21 million coins, it cannot be printed at will, or inflated away. This could cause problems during times of panic or emergencies when funding or support is needed. But overall, it should have a good effect. Our mindset will be forced to change from a mindset of being spenders, into being savers. It will become much rarer to use credit to buy things. Also, because countries will be forced to spend within their means, this will also decrease the size of governments, militaries and hopefully decrease the odds of their being war in the future.
Things won't be all roses though. While for those of us who got into bitcoin early, we will have the great time of our lives, participating in the largest transfer of wealth the world has ever seen. But for those people who got in late, or missed out completely, it will be a difficult world. The day that the world changes to a bitcoin standard, will be the day that all fiat goes nearly to zero. Millionaires could become broke overnight, and for people who were already poor, it will be much worse. People will have to hide the fact that they have bitcoin, or it might night be safe for them. There is a reason why people on the interest always preach the fact that you shouldn't talk about how much bitcoin you have. It would only take one attack from a wrench for you to give up the keys to your wallet. For a few years during the transition, the world could become a dark place, and this will cause people who have a significant amount of bitcoin to become a bit paranoid.
And this will cause the two groups of society, people with bitcoin and people without bitcoin to separate. Bitcoiners will build their own citadels. A person could argue that rich people already do this to an extent by living in gated communities, but it will be to a much higher degree in the future. IJ fact, I would say that this is already happening. El Salvador is building their very own Bitcoin City, and it feels a lot like the first citadel being built.
In a world where bitcoin has taken over, the side hustles to get extra money will be to mine bitcoin and also lend out bitcoin. Mining will have become one of the biggest industries in the world. You will be able to buy items that have BTC mining capabilities, but it will cost extra. Items such as your car, refrigerator, heater, air conditioner, and many more. Lending BTC will become just as common as putting money into your savings account. Why wouldn't you lend out the bitcoin that you aren't currently using? Regulations in the future will have gotten to a point where it is a much safer transaction.
In the future, bitcoin will no longer be called bitcoin by the mainstream. Instead, Satoshi's will be the unit of account, and bitcoin will only be used as a status symbol by the ultra rich. 1 satoshi will have more value than 1 US dollar, and we will be forced to divide up a bitcoin to even smaller decimal points than a satoshi. You will hear from friends about they are incredibly likely that they were able to accumulate 2,000 satoshi's and that they have made it. All the while we sit in the corner, keeping quiet about how we were early to bitcoin and were able to accumulate multiple bitcoin.
The world will be a very different place than it is today. It will create some new problems, but will fix far more and make the world a better place. Allowing a person to finally save their wealth and have a chance. The only question is how difficult the transition will be from a fiat world, into a bitcoin world. Time is running out to accumulate bitcoin before everyone else catches on.
How about you? What do you think a bitcoin world would look like? Would you prefer it over today's world?
As always, thank you for reading!
