Everything has cost and everything requires sacrifice. If you want to be a great swimmer you must put hours into swimming, workouts and maybe even give up certain foods. If you want a college degree you will probably need to give up a full time job, put hours into studying, and spend a lot of money on tuition and books. Even having pets requires time, energy, money, and frustration. Are these things worth it?

They are if you value them.

So is Bitcoin worth it?

• Do you appreciate what the technology is trying to accomplish?
• Do you appreciate the social and political implications of Bitcoin?
• Do you appreciate it as a way to build wealth?
• Do you appreciate the community surrounding it?

At least some of these things need to appeal to you for Bitcoin to be “worth it”. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time. A Buddhist monk meditating on the top of Mount Everest probably won’t care about Bitcoin. The technology does not lead him towards “enlightenment”, he lives as a hermit in the mountains and doesn’t deal with politics, he owns nothing, and he has no internet connection. For him Bitcoin would not be worth it.

I am not a Buddhist monk living alone on a mountain.

• I appreciate Bitcoin’s open, decentralized model of internet money.
• I believe in the separation of Money and State just as much as I believe in the separation of Church and State. Nor do I want a few central banks controlling it either. I like the social and political implications of cryptocurrency.
• I like building wealth.
• The cryptocurrency community isn’t perfect but they are intelligent and seek to give more financial freedom to the world. I like being part of the movement and agree with the overall goals.

Is Bitcoin worth it for you? You must research it and decide if it aligns with your values.

I will leave you with one final thought.

Unless something radically changes (Nuclear war, Skynet taking over, or society voluntarily abandoning the internet) society will abandon paper cash and adopt digital currency. The question is what kind of digital currency will we use?

If it is decided by government and big banks:

• You will have a digital wallet that will connect you directly with a Central Bank. They will automatically tax you, put money in your account for stimulus, take it away for taxes, charge negative interest if you are too wealthy, tax you for spending it on things they don’t like, give extra money if you buy things they do like. It will be government and banking manipulation on steroids. There will be good things about it. Doing taxes SHOULD become easier. If there is another Covid-19 scenario everyone will receive money far more quickly. Government bureaucracy could be eliminated. But in return they will manipulate you.
• All of your spending habits will be tracked and if a dictator gains power he will know who all of his political opponents are. He will then be able to freeze all of his political opponents bank accounts and have a very accurate “shit list”. And when I say political opponent I mean anyone who donated to the wrong party.