HODL - You may come across this acronym, but the true meaning of holding on to your satoshis for dear life will only be realized after understanding the road to hyperbitcoinization.
Hyperbitcoinization depicts the Bitcoin network becoming the global settlement layer for trustless transfer of value in an uncensorable manner. However there will be resistance in various forms as this means giving away the power to control the monetary supply for governments. This monetary supply is basically what makes holding bitcoin special. No matter what: 1 bitcoin will always be 1/21 milllionth of the value stored in the network and will only become more scare due to the halving events every four years.
The perspective to hodl onto your bitcoin will be thought by some as a way to generate a profit due to the fiat price increase of BTC. However from a bitcoiners perspective hodling appears differently. First and foremost we understand that Bitcoin is the unevitable democratisation and digitalization of money and value. Secondly we understand that the price discovery in fiat terms will be a bumpy rollercoaster. Hodl means to be blind for the fiat exchange rate of your BTC. However what it does not mean is that the price of BTC is irrelevant.
The fiat exchange rate is ultimately our measuring stick to see how far hyperbitcoinization has progressed. The genesis of Bitcoin in itself is a zero to one moment after which it can not be undone. However hyperbitcoinization is the zero to zero moment, where Bitcoin started with a value of zero leading to fiat being of value zero. Embracing this concept will lead to the conclusion that no matter what, the price of BTC will rise as it will become the black hole of the financial world.
Ultimately the Bitcoins system of sound money will prevail, but the length of the struggle to get there will depend on our actions today. Therefore bitcoiner strictly obey the rule number: You never sell bitcoin. After being a veteran bitcoiner you understand that this hodling through the dips, crashes, news, tweets is just what builds a (bitcoiners) character. Our measuring stick for personal wealth is the satoshi balance which increases day by day through our daily charitable act (DCA) to the system of sound money.
The power to hodl means to self-custody your coins knowing that humanity will need to wake up or is woken up by the force of bitcoin's price discovery.
At the time of writing bitcoins fiat exchange rate is falling, but our BTC balance is constant and increasing. By the time most of humanity has woken up from the legacy fiat system, strong hands with the low time preference mindset are well ahead stacking satoshis and can build back better on a standard that treats everyone equal. There is no one that can withdraw your right to HODL BTC.
In the end HODLING will be the greatest tool to accelerate hyperbitcoinization since no one can stop you to decrease the available supply of BTC.
This will lead to increased perception of scarcity, the most distinct feature of bitcoin. The fiat price will follow supply which follows scarcity beautifully implemented by satoshi in a way that is slow to be felt but fast to be understood. And that is the power of a bitcoiner: Understanding the monetary framework and embracing it, while potentially suffering in fiat terms during the transition process for a greater social good.
For further reading on the daily charitable act of the DCA Army that will drive price to new all time highs and a more detailed mathematical model of hodling the following two articles are suggested:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/the-hodl-model
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/dca-army-drives-1-million-bitcoin-price
PS: RULE 2 - KEEP YOUR COINS OF EXCHANGES!