๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐?
๐๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง โ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ช๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ", ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต #Ai-๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ #Bitcoin ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ.
Several contributors to this book offered answers to this question, including @Samson Mow, @Peter St Onge, @Guy Swann, @Svetski, and @Max. When those new to Bitcoin understand the vital role that money plays in our lives and society, they will begin to see why Bitcoin is so important for our future.
Below is Peter St Ongeโs answer, as written in "๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐":
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ป๐ด๐ฒโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Money is how strangers cooperate; without money we would only engage with friends and family and our economy would remain at a subsistence level. This is eroded when the money itself is no longer a store of value, which happens if new supply is produced at a faster pace than wealth is created, which is typical for easily counterfeited monies like paper. If the counterfeiting comes from the government, it arbitrarily seizes the wealth of society while causing poverty and crisis.
Peter St Onge, Ph.D. is the Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, a Fellow at the Mises Institute, and a former professor at Taiwanโs Feng Chia University. Before academia he worked in corporate strategy in Latin America and Asia and bartended at a dive bar in Osaka. He makes daily videos on economics and freedom.
Preorder your copy of "๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐", and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฌ%, by contributing to our @Geyser initiative:
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ป๐ด๐ฒโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Money is how strangers cooperate; without money we would only engage with friends and family and our economy would remain at a subsistence level. This is eroded when the money itself is no longer a store of value, which happens if new supply is produced at a faster pace than wealth is created, which is typical for easily counterfeited monies like paper. If the counterfeiting comes from the government, it arbitrarily seizes the wealth of society while causing poverty and crisis.
Peter St Onge, Ph.D. is the Mark A. Kolokotrones Fellow in Economic Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, a Fellow at the Mises Institute, and a former professor at Taiwanโs Feng Chia University. Before academia he worked in corporate strategy in Latin America and Asia and bartended at a dive bar in Osaka. He makes daily videos on economics and freedom.
Preorder your copy of "๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐", and ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฌ%, by contributing to our @Geyser initiative:
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Itโs crucial that you both ๐ต๐ผ๐ฑ๐น your bitcoin and ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ it to help drive adoption and increase its utility as a medium of exchange. While hodling your bitcoin as a store of value is important due to its disinflationary nature and potential for long-term price appreciation, spending it is equally essential, in order to realize its full potential as a decentralized digital currency.
Spending your bitcoin and selling it differ in the sense that selling typically involves converting it back into fiat currency, which adds downward pressure (albeit minor) to Bitcoinโs price. On the other hand, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ bitcoin involves using it directly as a means of payment for goods and services, thereby bypassing legacy fiat intermediaries, and promoting financial sovereignty.
By actively spending bitcoin, you can contribute to the growing ecosystem of merchants and businesses that accept it, thus ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด. This not only strengthens bitcoin's use case as a medium of exchange, but also helps to solidify its position as a viable alternative to fiat.
Furthermore, spending bitcoin helps to circulate the currency within the economy, facilitating economic activity, and promoting a more robust and self-sustaining bitcoin ecosystem. As more individuals use bitcoin for everyday transactions, its utility and acceptance will continue to grow, ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฝ-๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ.
In conclusion, itโs essential to strike a balance between hodling bitcoin for its long-term value proposition, and actively spending it to support its use as a currency. By doing both, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐น๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ป.
Remember to give this a ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ค and a ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐, and add this to your ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐๐.
๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฒ๐น ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
In Austrian economics, money is viewed as a commodity that has evolved naturally in the market to facilitate exchange. Austrian economists, including figures like Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, emphasize the decentralized and spontaneous nature of the emergence of money. In layman's terms, money is an agreed-upon medium of exchange used between two parties to execute a mutually beneficial transaction.
Over time, a commodity with specific desirable characteristics, such as durability, divisibility, portability, and recognizability, comes to be widely accepted in transactions. Without the emergence of a medium of exchange, humans would have been confined to using a barter system and would have not evolved to form complex societies and civilizations. The problem with a barter system is that it doesn't solve the economic phenomenon of โThe Coincidence of Wantsโ, whereby one party does not value or desire another party's goods or services. โMoneyโ solves this problem when both parties agree on a medium of exchange to use to transact peacefully and prosperously with each other.
Furthermore, Austrian economists argue against the notion of a central authority (like a government or central bank) having a monopoly on the issuance and control of money. They contend that a competitive and decentralized market for money is more likely to produce a stable and efficient monetary system and a more productive and peaceful society.
Daniel Prince is the host of the Once Bitten Podcast, with a mission to help educate as many people about Bitcoin as possible so that they can gain financial freedom, and the InspirEd Podcast, showcasing world thought leaders in the 'alternative' education space. He is also the author of "๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ฆ: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด, ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ-๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ด". He hosted the Homeschool Global Summits 2019 and 2020.
A liquidity triangle is ๐ฎ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ who run their own nodes. It allows for sats to be easily moved in either direction along the channel, so every participant has enough liquidity for inbound and outbound transactions.
When a Lightning channel is opened, all the sats that are locked up in the channel are typically only on one side of the channel. There are ways to open a channel with sats on both sides, but this is seldom done. When all the sats are on a userโs side of the channel, they may ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ up to that many sats to the other side, but they cannot ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ any sats from the other side.
But with liquidity triangles, ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐ to allow for sending ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ receiving, without having to trust the other party to compensate them for the sats they send to their side. Hereโs how it works:
๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐, who opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐, who opens a channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐. Each of their channels have the same number of sats; for this example, letโs say 1M sats each. Then any of the users (letโs say ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐) can send ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด half the amount in the channels, sending ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ the channel with outbound liquidity, and ๐ต๐ฐ the channel with inbound liquidity.
In this example, this would bump 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side, 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side, and 500K sats from ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side of the channel with ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ to ๐จ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐โs side. In the end, everyone still has the same number of sats on their sides of the channels, but now divided in half in each channel. This allows each of them to send and receive up to 500K sats, freeing them to transact as they wish.
Each of the users will likely be connected to other users with other channels, and ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, which will better enable them to use the Lightning Network to send and receive bitcoin instantly, and nearly for free. And other liquidity โshapesโ like squares, pentagons, and others can be created, depending on the number of participants. But triangles are the smallest and simplest.
You can create liquidity triangles and other shapes with your friends (if they run their own nodes), or you can use Lightning Network+โs website, LightningNetwork.plus, to find others to open Lightning channels with.
Liquidity triangles effectively balance Lightning Network channels for ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐น๐ฒ๐๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐, allowing users to both send and receive sats. This method enhances the network's utility and scalability by ensuring participants can transact freely. It exemplifies the ingenuity of the Lightning Network, offering a blueprint for more complex liquidity solutions and underscoring the network's potential for facilitating instant, cost-effective Bitcoin transactions.
Make sure you ๐๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ค, ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐, and ๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ this for future reference.
Have you created any liquidity triangles before?
Tell me how it went in the ๐๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐โฌ๏ธ
๐๐ป๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ต๐ผ๐น๐บโ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ:
Since the only way to get something out of your bitcoin holdings is to trade them away for goods or services, there are no ways for the filthy rich to leverage their stacks. At least not in the long run. Anyone on Earth with a smartphone can easily accept sats for anything by simply downloading an app. Furthermore, on-chain data show us that addresses with one bitcoin or less are growing in number while addresses with 10,000 bitcoin or more are shrinking in number.
Knut Svanholm is a former sea captain whose biggest claim to fame is the infamous bitcoin meme "Everything divided by 21 million", which is also the title of his best-selling book.
Nowadays, he spends his time hosting the Freedom Footprint Show and advising a handful of Bitcoin companies and non-profit organizations.
He recently wrote a book about praxeology โ the science of human action.
Occasionally, you'll find him entertaining people at conferences by speaking, playing guitar, moderating panels, or reciting inappropriate dad jokes to the wrong people.
You can count on Knut to deliver a healthy dose of real stupidity amidst the AI revolution.
Each chapter begins with one of the most pertinent questions about Bitcoin, and is answered by some of the best and brightest Bitcoin plebs, including