This Revolution is Not a Class Struggle

Bitcoin is not about rich and poor; bourgeoisie or proletariat.

It occurred to me that I’ve explained to many why Bitcoin is better than fiat, and the difference should be evident - but why do I, and so many others, favour Bitcoin so fervently ?

Bitcoiners have been sharing the video of the song “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony who is quite literally an overnight sensation (his music will be released on streaming platforms soon). Bitcoiners on Twitter/X are saying that it is a Bitcoin song, without being about Bitcoin directly. They are claiming the blue-collar song as their, or rather our, own and that it is ideologically compatible due to the fact that it is Blue-collar - but its sentiments go much further than that. It is not my preferred style of music, but it has been on repeat for all of this morning, and as I write this - it strikes a chord.

However, Bitcoin is not White Collar vs Blue Collar. Bitcoin is for the Individuals who work both hard and smart to provide more value to the world than they extract from it at the expense of others.

For those of us from the “Global South”, many of us understand Bitcoin very quickly as we are used to financial seignorage, currency devaluations and capital controls which all affect and greatly limit our ability to do whatever it is that we do to earn a living and make ourselves and our societies thrive; giving us very little or nothing in the way of benefits.

This difference is sometimes marked down to simply rich versus poor amongst bitcoiners - however, funnier still is that many non-bitcoiners mostly from the developed world often say that Bitcoin is only for rich people - likely due to the unit bias that comes from looking at the price of a whole bitcoin, rather than the price of a satoshi (a 100 millionth part of a bitcoin, which is the native unit of the Bitcoin protocol). But it is also in part probably due to the easy credit and the fact that many in the wealthiest nations in the world live paycheque to paycheque; never living below or even simply within their financial means. Many of whom simply blame the greed of the very people who make the luxuries and modern conveniences they indulge in possible. The blinders which come from living in the “Global North” causes many to never consider that it is perhaps a bad form of money (fiat), and its native Keynesian-statist ideology, which corrupts and decays society.

To be a Bitcoiner is to understand the importance of working hard, and preserving that hard work - exemplified by the Proof of Work consensus mechanism which Bitcoin uses; quite literally built into the protocol, I won’t get into in this text but I have written about here, is heralded as something honourable and to be replicated in our own lives with many posting self-improvement videos online, and showcasing their end products of the hard work they have put into their passions, health and livelihoods.

Make no mistake, Bitcoin is a revolution - well at the very least it is a technology which is assisting an ideological revolution. It is perfectly engineered money, with the full consideration of everything that makes a good money, rather than only focusing on the technological aspects. Sound economics, technology and true decentralisation all in perfect concert with one another.

The Bitcoin revolution is an ideological phenomenon which has made many people realise and respect the value of hard work, and one which unites rich and poor alike - so long as ideologically they respect the core principles of working hard, creating value and in turn preserving that value.

It is simply not a class struggle as the French or Bolshevik revolutions, but rather a struggle of the productive class, those who believe in the merits of growth and financial prudence, against the unproductive class who earn their living as second-handers; people who siphon the value that others make and produce nothing of value in turn. It is a war against endless bureaucracy, demagogues and those who decide it is easier to live off the backs of others than put in an honest day’s work of their own.

“Second-handers” is a term which Ayn Rand, the mother of Objectivism and a key promoter of individualism, coined. It refers to people across all economic strata; those at the top who are able to allow and trick others to toil for them with no foresight, contribution or ideas of their own, going down as well to those taught that relying on the beneficence of the state is virtuous - even though it unfairly drains those who work of their value through taxation, inflation and confiscation.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll rephrase it: Bitcoin is Rearden metal - but it is also Galt’s Gulch.

Rearden Metal is the alloy which Henry Rearden creates in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged which has amazingly beneficial properties for industry, growth and productivity - but the state labels it as dangerous and evil because of their own corruption and evil motives. This is much like Bitcoin, and I hope in time others will embrace it.

Galt’s Gulch is the place to which all of the productive members of societies flee to in the very same novel, Atlas Shrugged, and Bitcoin represents the opportunity to remove our labour from the hands of the second-handers and into our own where we can save and build of our own accord - without the impediment of the leeches and mindless sycophants of the state who mean to take everything from you in exchange for nothing, save your sympathy or the mysterious “the human element” which seems to specifically exclude hard workers and the productive.

Make financially prudent decisions. Research Bitcoin for yourself. Reach out to me if you need help as to finding any resources, or would like to have a conversation about it - whether you agree or disagree with me on this I’m always open to engaging in intellectually honest debate without devolving to anger and I trust that no matter your beliefs you can do the same.