Dear crypto community
As I sit down to pen this letter I feel called to write about the very thing that lies at the heart of crypto, the essence perhaps of why you are here reading this, the essential aspect of our modern World....today I am called to write about money.
For it was the reimagining of money, for the modern age, that gave birth to Bitcoin; the very first cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin redefined the global system of exchanging value (money) by enabling the global movement of money (currency) from one person to another without going through a central authority (i.e a bank or government). It created a system of tracking and executing transactions that was in-corruptable, and created a ledger of all transaction history that was in-destructable.
And it did all this while staying true to Aristotle's four defining characteristics of money (or rather a commodity/item that could be used as money):
Money must be:
1. Divisible
2. Durable
3. Portable
4. Scarce (rare)
The fact that Bitcoin achieved all this successfully is masterful, and is testament to why so many people in the space admire Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoins' anonymous creator/s and see the powerful benefits of Bitcoin as both a store of value and as legal tender.
But what Bitcoin has achieved goes further than fulfilling the objectives of a suitable form of money, and creating a suitable system with which to allow that money to move around the World. Bitcoin did what no other form of contemporary money has done, it facilitated the open discussion and education about the nature of money, monetary policy, economics and the very concept of governance, decentralization, personal sovereignty, financial empowerment and self determination.
And so Bitcoin doesn't just change money, it changes mindsets.
It reminds us who we are, the nature of our power and the structure of current systems of money, and it shows us a new way, a new story, a new system.
And it shows us something else. With all our bitcoin sitting on a digital ledger on a screen and being able to move from person to person as we choose without a central authority having any oversight, there is an understanding of money as energy. For all we are truly passing one another is a 'concept' of value (regardless of the monetary form ie whether it be gold, paper notes or coins), and with Bitcoin we even see its' value fluctuating. And what this shows is energy, energy moving from one person to another, energy of value that goes up and down and suddenly the whole concept of money is seen to be fluid.
Turning our attention to the exterior World we find the price of food fluctuating, the price of services fluctuating, the price of energy fluctuating (and going up). Our bank balance value moves up and down as money flows in and flows back out.
Money is energy, and that energy is fluid. It flows. In fact, for everyone to participate is has to flow.
And so, with the flow of money in mind the question we then may ask ourselves is no longer 'how much money can I make/hold', But 'what would do I want to direct the flow of money toward in my life? Where should that energy go?' And as it comes in, 'how can I invite and orchestrate more money energy to flow into my life'?
It's worth noting that the energy of money is neutral, it is neither good nor bad, and so it is not money that holds the power to change our life, we hold the power to change our life.
Because money flows, it then makes sense that money comes and money goes.
And so just as much as money can be earned, inherited, gifted it can also be lost, spent, stolen, depleted, devalued... and so knowing this how do we want our relationship to money to unfold over the next days, months, years? How do we want to feel in response to monetary gain or monetary depletion? Do we want it to define us? To give or take our joy? To make or break us?
Money is there to aid and support us, it is not there to control us.
And yet, if it is determining all our moves, occupying the majority of our thoughts and colouring every decision. It is in control, we have given it our power.
And if we have, it is time to take it back.
However taking it back is, as I feel Satoshi recognised with Bitcoin, not about simply redesigning our system of money, but reframing our mindset around it.
It is about embracing fluidity and a mindset of non-attachment. This doesn't mean we do not invite it in, it means we do not hold so tight to it that we are attached to it. For it is attachment, as Buddhists will tell you, that leads to the greatest suffering.
Instead nurturing a deep sense of gratitude toward money and our journey through life with it by our side, allows us to free ourselves from any control, and ride the monetary ebbs and flows with grace and compassion.
We can of course create structure and approach our income and expenditure with care and sensibility, but to ensure we leave plenty of space for life; both the good and the challenging.
With love and crypto blessings..
Tansy