We Are Year 13 After Bitcoin Network Came Into Existence. Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again. | by Sylvain Saurel | Jan, 2022

It is January 3, 2022. Thirteen years ago today, Satoshi Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin network. A few weeks after presenting his white paper to the world, Satoshi Nakamoto made his revolutionary idea a reality. On this day, I think it is essential to wish Bitcoin a happy birthday!

This birthday is also the birthday of all Bitcoiners, and more generally of all those who want to live their lives on their own terms.

This day is also the day of the Proof of Keys. This event takes place every year on January 3rd. It is a special time when all Bitcoiners are called upon to simultaneously withdraw their Bitcoin from the centralized exchange platforms to take possession of their Bitcoin’s private keys.

This event has several purposes. The first is to make sure that the exchange platforms have the BTC funds they claim to have. After all, you have no guarantee until you have the private keys to your Bitcoin in your possession.

The second purpose of this event is to remind newcomers of the importance of taking possession of your Bitcoin’s private keys by once again emphasizing the following golden rule: Not your Keys, Not your Bitcoin.

The final goal of the Proof of Keys is to celebrate the official creation of the Bitcoin network. As I write this, we are in Year 13 since the creation of the Bitcoin network. Nothing will ever be the same again.

While no one knows exactly why Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin, it is clear from his various Internet posts that he was greatly motivated by the flaws in the banking system. The 2008 crisis that started shortly before the official publication of the Bitcoin white paper on October 31, 2008, must also have motivated Satoshi Nakamoto to finalize his invention.

In his eyes, it became vital that the people have at their disposal a weapon to protect themselves from the powerful people of the current system that locks us in an infinite vicious circle of generalized impoverishment:

This vicious circle is made up of six major stages which have been in an infinite loop since the establishment of the current monetary and financial system in August 1971:

1. An economic crisis intervenes. The reasons can be a banking crisis as in 2008 or a health crisis as in 2020 with the coronavirus pandemic.
2. Faced with this economic crisis, the Fed and the other central banks always end up opting for the same solution: to print more and more fiat money. This fiat money printed out of thin air is then injected directly into the monetary and financial system.
3. The governments of the major economic powers implement stimulus plans, which are almost always financed by an increase in public debt. The public debt-to-GDP ratio of most G20 countries is now above 100% or even worse.
4. All of these decisions lead to great monetary inflation. The value of the U.S. dollar, which is the world’s reserve currency, has been steadily declining over time, as shown by the change in purchasing power in the U.S. dollar since 1971.
5. The injections of money benefit the richest people. Each economic crisis further strengthens their wealth. The poorest, who need help the most, are put in even greater difficulty by these decisions. The current system, therefore, benefits a minority of people who are already rich.
6. The real problems of the monetary and financial system are known, but they are never really addressed. Injections of money in almost infinite amounts only serve to postpone the resolution of problems. As these are never solved, a new economic crisis always occurs about ten years later.

The vicious circle of the current system is dramatic because from crisis to crisis, the magnitude of the problems increases. Each economic crisis is much worse than the previous one. While a few hundred billion dollars were enough in 2008 to postpone the economic crisis, the economic crisis of 2020 has already required the injection of more than 10,000 billion dollars from the world’s major central banks.

The creation of the Bitcoin network became a necessity and will mark a turning point in human history. It will correspond to the moment when humans started to take back the power over money by separating it from the hands of the state. So there is a before and after Bitcoin as the diagram below highlights:

Before the Bitcoin network grew to the size it is today, we were stuck with an imperfect system in many ways. The original sin of the current system is the ability of central banks to print as much fiat money as they want. A minority who is not representative of the people, therefore, has the possibility of impoverishing the majority by a simple arbitrary decision.

The infinite inflation of the U.S. dollar induces a devaluation of its value which impoverishes all those who cannot do anything else but keep their wealth in cash. The great monetary inflation we are experiencing since March 2020 makes it possible to understand the consequences of the easy money policy of central banks.

This favors the constant increase in the public debt of the governments of the major economic powers. Since fiat money can be printed in unlimited quantities, governments are not even looking for policies that would limit this debt madness. This system excludes a majority of people from the banking world. This is a real injustice for hundreds of millions in Africa in particular, and it is something that few people in Western countries understand.

Worse still, the banking system is corrupt. Money laundering scandals have increased in recent years, so you can no longer blindly trust the banks when the current system is based on this notion of blind trust.

Governments and banks can censor you as they see fit under the current system. The fiat money that you believe is yours is not yours, because the powerful people can confiscate it from you at any time, or prevent you from using it as you wish.

Since March 2020, many people are opening their eyes to this ugly truth that I have just described to you. Those fortunate enough to open their eyes today often discover with joy that a credible alternative is already available with Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been growing steadily for just over thirteen years, to the point where it is now increasingly seen as a solution to be adopted by bankers, executives of large companies, and institutional investors.

For all these people, it is now clear that Bitcoin is here to stay. Bitcoin is a real revolution, and you know as well as I do that the sooner you embrace a revolution, the better chance you have of benefiting fully from it.

With Bitcoin, it’s the same thing. Today, we are Year 13 after the creation of Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto. The Bitcoin price, which is around $47K, is still extremely cheap given its incredible potential for the future. Don’t listen to those who tell you that Bitcoin will never see its price reach $1 million in the future. These are the same people who said at the time that Bitcoin would never reach a price of $10, $100, $1K, then $10K.

You know what happened next. Bitcoin surpassed everyone’s expectations every time it was challenged or announced for death. Bitcoin was built on criticism and opposition. This made it much stronger, and that’s why in Year 13 after Bitcoin was created, more and more people are coming to the same conclusion: Bitcoin is the future of money.

It must be said that Bitcoin brings something completely new by putting people back at the center of the system. Bitcoin is the first step in the separation of money and the State.

Bitcoin’s monetary policy is automatic and predictable. It is written in its source code, which makes it immune to the arbitrary decisions of humans who give in all too easily to corruption. When you buy a Bitcoin, you know that you are buying 1 Bitcoin out of 21 million, and that will never change. The advantage of Bitcoin, which is the hardest money in the world, is easy to understand: its supply is limited.

Bitcoin is a transparent system that gives all its users the same chances. This will allow for the financial inclusion of as many people as possible in the future. It is no coincidence that Bitcoin is already so successful in Africa.

In Year 13 after the Bitcoin network came into existence, unbanked people all over the world can access basic banking services thanks to Bitcoin. The only requirement is to have the Internet and a smartphone. As a reminder, more than 60% of the world’s population has the Internet in 2022.

This paves the way for hundreds of millions of people to become banked in the coming years. Of course, this will strongly boost Bitcoin’s adoption. More and more people are deciding to make Bitcoin their own bank. This is made possible by the fact that everyone can connect their full node to the Bitcoin network. The Bitcoin Blockchain is trustless and permissionless.

No one asks you to believe a certain truth in the Bitcoin world, you can search for your truth at any time. The incredible success of Bitcoin is also due to this incredible opportunity given to all its users.

Bitcoin is a tremendous store of value that is constantly increasing in price over time due to its monetary policy that highlights the virtues of quantitative hardening. As inflation in the supply of new Bitcoin approaches zero over time, the units already in circulation continue to increase in value.

In the coming years, more and more people will realize that Bitcoin is the money of the people supported by the people. Bitcoin has no leader, which means that no one can confiscate your wealth in Bitcoin, or prevent you from making the transactions of your choice.

Bitcoin meets the great need that is emerging in the wake of the economic crisis of 2020: to have an easily accessible store of value that is resistant to censorship.

In the future, a lot of people all over the world will have this need, and Bitcoin will be there to meet it as the perfect alternative system to the U.S. dollar that does not respect the citizens of the world.

If you are still not in the Bitcoin world in Year 13 after its creation, you should ask yourself some questions. You must dare to step outside what the education system has taught you to think for yourself. Try to understand what money is, and how the current system works.

Don’t blindly follow the masses, because you are the only one who can take care of yourself when it comes to money. If you do that, you will come to the same conclusion as me and the other Bitcoiners: there is something wrong with the current system, and no one will be able to change it because it is not fixable.

At that point, you will be ready to discover Bitcoin. I just hope for your sake that you won’t wait until the Year 20 of Bitcoin, or even the Year 30, because by then the Bitcoin price will be much less cheap than it is today.

Finally, don’t forget to celebrate this special day for Bitcoin by taking possession of your Bitcoin’s private keys. Because that’s the only way to truly take control of your life.