To benefit from Bitcoin, you need to free yourself from these thought patterns.
The economic crisis that is beginning before our eyes will put the current monetary and financial system to the test. In order to save this system, the Federal Reserve took several extraordinary decisions during the month of March 2020.
Among the flagship measures taken by the Fed are a historic interest rate cut to zero, an unlimited quantitative easing program, and a lowering of the reserve requirement rate for banks to zero. Other central banks will have no choice but to follow the Fed in these actions by also injecting liquidity into the system.
All these measures will cause a sharp currency devaluation that will affect what you have in fiat money. In order to avoid being hit too hard by this monetary devaluation, many people explain that a good solution is to switch to the plan Bitcoin.
Announced for years, the plan Bitcoin is becoming more and more inevitable as inflation of the circulating money supply accelerates. The corporate bailouts that will soon follow will add even more to the need for an alternative plan to opt-out of this totally outdated fiat system.
While many people are becoming aware of the limitations of the current monetary and financial system as a result of the economic crisis that is starting to unfold, they are still finding it difficult to take the step to buy Bitcoin.
In my opinion, this blockage comes from 5 thought patterns that prevent you from buying Bitcoin. Here are details concerning these patterns, and more importantly how to change your perception of things to take control of your future.
#1: You Think U.S. Dollar Is Sound Money
The U.S. dollar is unanimously recognized as the world’s reserve currency. The dollars you have in your possession give you a sense of wealth.
For you, the U.S. dollar represents something strong. You are even convinced that the U.S. dollar is sound money.
I’m going to disappoint you, but that is clearly not the case.
The U.S. dollar that you idolize so much is not based on anything tangible. In any case, it hasn’t been based on anything since Richard Nixon unilaterally ended the convertibility of the U.S. dollar into gold in August 1971.
Since then, the United States has not ceased to increase the money supply in circulation, which has de facto drastically reduced the purchasing power of American citizens, but more globally, of people all over the world.
Represented by the M2 Money Stock USD index, the money supply in U.S. dollar is therefore constantly increasing. The increases in this money supply accelerate when the Fed decides to inject $6T of liquidity into the banking system in a few weeks.
This totally arbitrary decision of the Fed devalues a little more of what you own, and proves once again, if proof were needed, that the U.S. dollar is not sound money.
The only strength of the U.S. dollar is the confidence that a majority of people have, or had, in its value. That confidence is slowly eroding. Eventually, an alternative may very well supplant the U.S. dollar.
Conversely, Bitcoin is sound money.
The maximum supply of Bitcoin is set at 21 million, and it can never be changed. By buying Bitcoin, you are guaranteed that what you own will never be diluted by increasing the Bitcoin maximum supply.
1 BTC of 2020 will therefore always be equal to 1 BTC of 2100, i.e. 1 BTC out of 21 million Bitcoins.
Only Bitcoin can offer you this certainty in the uncertain world we live in. As far as the intrinsic value of Bitcoin is concerned, you should know that as the number of users of its network increases, so does its value. It is only a matter of time before it reaches a level comparable to the U.S. dollar in my opinion.
#2: You Think Money and Economics Must Be Complex
The people at the head of the current monetary and financial system, or even economists, are doing everything possible to ensure that the majority of people remain ignorant of the principles of economics, but also of how money works.
There is a simple reason for this, already mentioned several decades ago by Henry Ford:
“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
— Henry Ford
If all citizens around the world came to understand the principles of the current monetary and financial system, a real revolution would take place immediately.
The powerful at the head of the system seek to avoid this at all costs by keeping people in the dark.
In the current situation, there is a good example that is unfolding before our eyes. The Fed is devaluing the U.S. dollar by injecting $6T into the banking system, and at the same time, the U.S. government decided to send all Americans a check for $1,200.
That $1,200 check represents only $350 billion in total. That is a lot, but very little compared to what is given to the banking and financial system.This check is clearly being sent to citizens in order to calm them down in this difficult situation.
American citizens will be calmed down with this check, but their poverty situation will not change with only $1,200.
A real measure would have been to wipe out the student debts of millions of Americans, for example. This is only one example among many, but it shows you that the powerful at the head of the system are primarily trying to keep the masses under control.
As far as the current monetary and financial system is concerned, it is therefore deliberately made complex in order to take away the idea that people should seek to understand its mechanisms.
On the other hand, we find Bitcoin which is extremely simple since a 9-page white-paper is enough to describe fully how it works.
The simplicity and transparency of Bitcoin is such that you can now immediately answer the following three questions:
- How many Bitcoins are currently in circulation?
- How are the new Bitcoins created?
- Can the Bitcoin circulating supply grow indefinitely?
With fiat currencies, I wish you a lot of courage in trying to answer these questions. Even the world’s leading economists disagree on the answers to these questions. This shows how unnecessarily complex the fiat system is.
By choosing Bitcoin, you will understand that a payment system doesn’t have to be complex. Everyone needs to be able to understand how it works so that they can control what happens really in the system.
#3: You Think You Have No Alternative to Current Monetary and Financial System
De facto created by Richard Nixon in August 1971, the current monetary and financial system was legalized following the Jamaican agreements in January 1976. This system is now clearly showing its limitations. Inequalities in wealth between the very rich and the poor have never been greater.
A majority of people are aware of the dysfunctions of the current system, but a majority also think that there is no alternative to this system.
It is a totally false thought pattern that locks you into this fiat system. In reality, this 49-year-old system is just one experiment among many. It is currently showing its limits.
An alternative will emerge one day or another as it has always done in the history of humanity.
Created at the end of 2008 following the previous global banking and financial crisis, Bitcoin is clearly a credible alternative to the current monetary and financial system. It is the best option we have at our disposal to prevent against the failures of the current system.
Whether you believe in Bitcoin or not, I think that buying even $100 is a good way to manage your risk in the best possible way.
Sooner or later, you will join the Bitcoiners as you realize that the current system cannot continue like this. However, it is an individual awareness that allows everyone to switch to Bitcoin.
For some people, it takes a long time to break this thought pattern. Others understand quickly that Bitcoin is a credible alternative to the fiat system.
#4: You Think a Monetary System Must Be Centralized With a Leader
The generation you belong to greatly influences your perception of Bitcoin. Most of the leaders of the world’s major economic powers are either Baby Boomers or members of Generation X with a Baby Boomer mentality.
Baby Boomers place a very high value on hierarchy. They are reassured by the vision of a great leader who makes decisions for everyone else.
In fact, the current monetary and financial system that sees a minority of people who are not democratically elected making decisions for a majority of people suits them completely.
However, it is not inevitable. A payment system does not necessarily need a trusted third party to function properly.
Bitcoin is a living example of this. For more than eleven years, Bitcoin has worked perfectly in a decentralized way, without any leader. Bitcoin is a true democracy in the sense that all evolutionary decisions are made by consensus within the community.
Satoshi Nakamoto gave Bitcoin as a gift to humanity so that no one can claim Bitcoin as his own.
Bitcoin belongs to all its users. Bitcoin will succeed if its users can make it a success. This last point is essential to understand. Bitcoin is an experiment that has been going on for eleven years and is getting stronger as new users gain confidence in its network.
Once Bitcoin has been in existence for more than 20 years, nothing can stop it, as more and more people will realize that a decentralized, leaderless system can work very well.
Each new block added to the Bitcoin Blockchain in a secure manner is one more step in breaking the thought pattern of people who think that centralization is a necessity. Time is clearly on Bitcoin’s side.
#5: You Think Others Must Be Responsible for Security of What You Own
This fifth thought pattern is the logical continuation of the fourth thought pattern that I have just outlined to you. People who think that a payment system must necessarily be centralized with a trusted third party guaranteeing the security of the network also think that it is up to others to guarantee what they own.
Bitcoin is a total paradigm shift from the current monetary and financial system.
Bitcoin empowers you by giving you the ability to live on your own terms. No one can censor your transactions, or confiscate what you own in Bitcoin. However, the freedom Bitcoin gives you comes at a price.
The price for being free to regain control over your wealth is to secure what you own.
With Bitcoin, it is up to you, and you alone, to look after your money. If you lose the 24 words seed to restore your hardware wallet, you’ll only have yourself to blame. If you fall into a scam when making a transaction to a suspicious person, it will be your fault.
Remember that Bitcoin teaches you to develop your critical thinking skills.
This means that you become your own bank with Bitcoin. There are no guarantees other than yourself. It is up to you to make the right choices, and to protect what you own.
In my opinion, it is a small price to pay to regain full control and ensure a better future where you will no longer be subject to the arbitrary decisions of a few powerful people at the head of an outdated system.
Conclusion
Bitcoin is the biggest technological revolution since the Internet was first introduced. Everyone agrees on this. This would almost make some people forget that this Bitcoin revolution goes far beyond technology. Bitcoin is a complete paradigm shift that has strong ideological and social impacts.
In order to best benefit from the Bitcoin revolution, you need to be able to move beyond certain thought patterns that lock you into the current monetary and financial system.
If you can truly understand the goals of Bitcoin, you will be able to move beyond those thought patterns. You will then be able to use Bitcoin as a way to opt-out of a fiat system that is reaching its limits more and more every day after 49 years of experimentation.