Seems like becoming a bitcoiner has a few different entry points. I'm sure it wasn't just one aspect of bitcoin that convinced you to get off zero (all of us would normally select "all of the above", but I'm curious which one resonated with you the most on your journey. In which category was your "aha" moment?
Was it the innovation of blockchain as a technology? Was it your economic or political perspective?
You might be able to guess which was mine based on the options below.
Genius Application of Cryptography7.7%
Bitcoin Protocol / Network / Mining9.6%
Economic Perspective15.4%
Political Perspective7.7%
"What is Money?" / History of Money55.8%
Something Else3.8%
52 votes \ poll ended
"What is money?", "Economic perspective", and "Political perspective" all got me interested, but I still had doubts.
My "aha moment" was realizing that the network effects bitcoin had built up make it very difficult for a competitor to challenge it.
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The incentives. The fact that it didn't rely on someone's goodwill to continue operating (as so many fragile, larping, "decentralized" things do).
My interest timeline was:
  1. dark market utility
  2. NGU
  3. technoanarchy
  4. hard money
  5. new tech toy
  6. incentives
  7. what is money
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I like the majestic mosaic which is Bitcoin. It brings together many fascinating concepts is a way which inspires awe:
Proof of work
Byzantine Generals’ Problem
P2P, self-custody
Distribution over time, the halving
Difficulty adjustment
The disappearance of the founder
Tripe entry ledger
Difficulty adjustment
An interesting social layer: toxicity, sovereignty, free-market economics, distrust of the state, aware of incentive structures, personal responsibility
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I’m gonna say “what is money”.. I was sucked in after already diving into the benefits of decentralization and 3D printing for local, circular manufacturing.
Then when the question came of how exchanges can be carried out in a local economy without human corruption, some friends who know much more about money showed me the light :)
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I would say "what is money" for the most part. I had never really considered what money should be. I listened to a lot of breedlove a while back. Learned a lot.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zed 9 Apr
Definitely this one for me, it felt like something in my mind was awakened. I hadn’t considered the implications before.
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Peeling back the onion on what is money! Don’t teach that in school!
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So true, and I feel like it's such a philosophical blind spot. Such an inherently confusing thought experiment.
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"Digital Scarcity" ranks pretty high for me. But it is not one thing. It is the confluence of all these factors, and more, that make Bitcoin a revolution.
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A mixture of them all.
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It was a number of things at once.
  • Hard money / Austrian economics
  • Lack of government control / freedom tool
  • NGU
  • Ingenious tech
But they're all interlinked.
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In my case it was a process, not an a-ha moment, and I think it keeps going on. The more you study Bitcoin and his role today, the more a-ha moments you get.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @MB 9 Apr
Definitely what is money for me. Friends laughed when I told them I had first got involved in Bitcoin. I just believed in it from the moment I first discovered BTC and that belief grows more & more each day. These same friends now want advice about everything & anything to do with Bitcoin.
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If your are underage and you need to receive some money, you have no alternatives. Bitcoin fits gracefully in the category of the tools that you need.
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Incorruptible.
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I won't lie. I only want one thing by Bitcoin and that's make me real free from the perspective of money. I mean I should have that much that I don't need to think about money.
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Erm the day when the magic Internet money from Cointiply faucet arrived safe n sound in my Gemini account. Wooooah! This thing is for real! I exclaimed
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