No really why are we here in the Bitcoin space? As we turn the calendar on a new year you should ask yourself again and again. I think too often people get lost in the Bitcoin hype or death dips.
Let's start here, knowledge is about understanding first principles. Step 1, read the white paper (https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf). No I mean really read it and read it again, often. Go back and read what Satoshi posted online (https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/). Know what Bitcoin is and why it was created. This bad boy came out of a lack of trust for central banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Now, those same banks are bigger than ever! What does this mean?
Well, first it was we are in the "they ignore you phase." See how Bitcoin has died 500 times https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-obituaries/. Well guess what? That didn't work. This is no tulip mania. This phoenix rises from the ashes like nothing you've ever seen and has a band of HODLers like nothing history has seen, Ok OK, so what's next?
Now we are in the "they fight you phase." They are trying laws, energy FUD, etc. But the latest is the ETF's . Back to the wake of the 2008 Financial crisis. Satoshi wrote in the Genesisis block "‘Chancellor on the Brink of Second Bailout for Banks’." Think about this...
So now these banks bigger than ever want you to trust them holding your keys and your Bitcoin? This is what Bitcoin attempted to stop. As the white paper states in the TITLE "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." Get a clue people they are not with you. They keep your fiat and you don’t even get a paper Bitcoin promise, you get a fiat promise. This is NOT Bicoin, you can not say "I own Bitcoin in an ETF."
So what can you do? Well we all have our own journey, but I'd recommend getting to self custody as soon as possible. Maybe you start on lightning, but I would work on getting to the base layer while you still can for reasonable fees. Personally, I sleep like a baby with my sats in cold storage with a multi-sig. My family isn't super tech savy so they would need help when I'm gone.
What not to do? Stake sats. Embarrassingly last cycle I was humming along, did my research on Gemini and staked some sats there. I didn't do in dept research on the Gemini Earn program like I did on Gemini itself assuming it was THEIR product. It was not. It was under Genesis which has a parent owner of DCG who has the GBTC ETF now. Well they rugged me and I've never seen those paper Bitcoin since late 2022.
So please I beg you don't stake sats or trust GBTC with Barry S or any of these other guys that Satoshi was trying to protect us against. For his legacy and for your legacy believe in you, believe in a peer to peer system. We can and we will win if we fight the right fight of self custody for a better you, better me, better world!
Bitcoin.Is.The.Future
FEW!