“Bitcoin’s too volatile!”

“It’s a bubble – a scam even!”

“It doesn’t have any value; it’s not backed by anything!”

As a systematic trading developer in the crypto space for a little under three years, I’ve heard all sorts of narratives surrounding Bitcoin and the crypto market as a whole. From its wasteful energy consumption to its single use case for criminals, these narratives are spoken by those who haven’t fully appreciated the financial innovation this asset class is driving. Invented by the pseudonymous figure Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creation was both a response and a solution to the financial crisis of ’08, offering a decentralised, fixed supply, globally accessible, fully transparent, peer-to-peer monetary system, backed by the most secure computer network ever built, and is separate from the traditional financial system that relies so heavily on accruing more debt to resolve crises of liquidity and solvency.

In this article I’d like to take a macro-orientated outlook by providing a global perspective on this new technology. With Bitcoin comes this strange idea of digital ownership thanks to the blockchain, a disruptive business model expanded upon by all other cryptocurrencies. Network participation now also requires owning a stake in the network, a concept at the heart of “Web3,” and a notable change from “Web2” platforms like Facebook, where only shareholders saw financial gains. This time, the user is the shareholder.

Often misunderstood as a short-term hedge against inflation, Bitcoin more precisely serves as a hedge against currency debasement, a direct outcome of monetary policy, where central banks, cornered by the need to stimulate economies or pay off rising interest on national debt, resort to expanding the money supply, and consequently devaluing the wealth of everyday savers.