It is my opinion that the Bitcoin community focuses too much on the flaws of central banking, when discussing why Bitcoin is valuable to the world.

Bitcoin is a solution to a problem that every wealth creator faces, and it frankly has nothing to do with central banking.

The world is generating new wealth at a rate unprecedented in human history. The result is that the goods and services that are valued most by the wealthy (education, prime real estate, art, etc.) appreciate at a rate far greater than that of commodity goods and services, which is the typical measure of inflation.

What the wealthy desire is a way to efficiently retain their relative share of the world’s wealth. They care not about retaining their purchasing power in an absolute sense, but rather their ability to retain their lifestyle and relative standing in society.

The only way to do so today is by constructing a diversified portfolio consisting of ownership in every asset in the world. This is impractical unless one employs a legion of professional capital allocators, and even then, it does not account for new assets created through entrepreneurship.

Humanity benefits from reaching consensus on an asset whose value rises and falls with global real wealth. Before Bitcoin, however, no asset existed that possessed the necessary properties for such consensus to emerge. Humanity is steadily reaching the understanding that Bitcoin is that asset, and the result is purely a net positive for society. By giving wealth creators a simple way to retain their relative share of the world’s wealth, a considerable amount of human intellect is freed up, which can focus on more productive tasks.

This is not to suggest that Bitcoin is purely for the wealthy. It is for everyone who seeks to maintain their relative share of the world’s wealth, not over a 1 month or 1 year period, but over 5, 10, 20, or even 50 years. Central bank monetary policy could be absolutely perfect with respect to inflation, but without Bitcoin, maintaining one’s share of the world’s wealth would be effectively impossible.

Bitcoin would benefit from a more positive narrative in my opinion, and I think many would be more receptive to this aspect of the technology. If Bitcoin’s success requires the collapse of the existing financial system, many will be turned off, but if it is wholly net new, and a net positive for society, it is likely to find a much more receptive audience. I for one am much more excited about Bitcoin’s potential to positively change the world.