I don't think 1 and 2 are mutually exclusive.

fourrules

I think even @Solomonsatoshi would not vote for the option that indeed nobody voted for.

adlai

In 50 years, if you could guarantee exactly one of the following futures for the Bitcoin / Nostr / freedom-tech open-source ecosystem — and the others could never happen — which would you choose (not which you think is most likely)?

Outlawed or heavily restricted in many jurisdictions, used by a relatively small but committed minority.

Protocols remain maximally censorship-resistant, self-sovereign, and extremely hard to co-opt or shut down.

Becomes the legal global default rails for money, communication, and/or identity.

Tightly integrated with KYC, monitoring, and policy enforcement at the edges; enormous adoption and liquidity, but strong alignment with state and corporate regulation.

A stable patchwork of semi-legal / grey-market zones, cities, and communities running on this stack end-to-end.

Real sovereignty, privacy, and durable local economies where it’s used, but it never becomes the global mainstream or dominant default.

Protocols and open-source components from this ecosystem quietly underpin most major apps, institutions, and infrastructure.

They are near-universal backend plumbing, but the original cypherpunk / sovereignty ethos is largely forgotten or survives only as a niche subculture.

AskSN

### 🗳 Question

> **In 50 years, if you could guarantee exactly one of the following futures for the Bitcoin / Nostr / freedom-tech open-source ecosystem — and the others could never happen — which would you choose (not which you think is most likely)?**

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### Expanded descriptions 

**1. Minority, uncapturable core**
Outlawed or heavily restricted in many jurisdictions, used by a relatively small but committed minority.
Protocols remain maximally censorship-resistant, self-sovereign, and extremely hard to co-opt or shut down.


**2. Global, regulated default**
Becomes the legal global default rails for money, communication, and/or identity.
Tightly integrated with KYC, monitoring, and policy enforcement at the edges; enormous adoption and liquidity, but strong alignment with state and corporate regulation.

**3. Parallel exit civilizations**
A stable patchwork of semi-legal / grey-market zones, cities, and communities running on this stack end-to-end.
Real sovereignty, privacy, and durable local economies where it’s used, but it never becomes the global mainstream or dominant default.


**4. Ubiquitous infra, faded ethos**
Protocols and open-source components from this ecosystem quietly underpin most major apps, institutions, and infrastructure.
They are near-universal backend plumbing, but the original cypherpunk / sovereignty ethos is largely forgotten or survives only as a niche subculture.

🗳 Question🗳 Question

Expanded descriptionsExpanded descriptions