I am really just a simple human....
This conference, the politics, the grandstanding, the who posted what first and why, the who understands Bitcoin best, the what's best for Bitcoin know-it-alls....its all just amazing to watch and listen to and be a small, small, small part of....and it is all for naught!
Bitcoin doesn't care about any of it....Bitcoin doesn't listen to any of it....Bitcoin is Bitcoin!!!
We should all take care to remember that as we are communicating value back and forth... From my "cheap seat" it sure sounds louder and louder and more divisive every day and as far as my simple pleb brain understands, it takes "Consensus" among us to make any change(s) to the Code....so long as that Code continues operating in a decentralized and secure manner...
It further seems to me that we would do ourselves a much better "service" if we focussed our collective attention on maintaining that decentralized and secure state instead of arguing about who did what to whom first....
If I were thinking about trying to change the current "state" I would first create as much "noise" as possible in order to distract or disenfranchise as many stakeholders as possible....maybe by offering an ETF that would suck up a shit-ton of the underlying asset (the bitcoin) in a manner and then rug-pull all the poor people that "invested" in said etf's which likely leads to not only those in power getting a shit-ton more power but also pisses off or turns a majority of the population (of the world) against the one thing that could likely save them from being manipulated and enslaved by the "money" holders....
Fuck - me - running....
I have said this before (as have others) Bitcoin needs to stay decentralized and secure in order to succeed.
That's it - period - if we allow anyone company, organization, government or nation-state to mess with the current "State"....it is a sure thing that this world is in for a whole lot of pain and despair.
I know it is difficult to comprehend....but if your entire use case is simply number go up (NGU) we are not the same.... If your entire reason for being in Bitcoin is the "FIAT" value.... we are not the same.... If your business or organization has ever concerned itself with "shareholder" or "investor" returns....we are not the same....
The value of Bitcoin is Bitcoin. Bitcoin being in the most hands, and in self-custody, is among my most core beliefs and goals for Bitcoin. It is very difficult to think clearly and deeply about Bitcoin as a system while you are living in a FIAT system, just as it is very hard to live in a FIAT system while knowing and understanding that there is actually another system....