In the final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo and Sam trek through Mordor and up Mount Doom to destroy the Ring of Power. Let’s frame this journey through the lens of a precoiner and his path to discovering Bitcoin.
Let me start by painting a scenario that is all too common in the cryptocurrency space. A precoiner, brand new to cryptocurrency investing, let’s call him, noobie, signs up for an exchange. Quickly, he falls victim to the exchange’s flashy marketing scheme that leads him to invest in worthless shitcoins.
The exchange profits off of noobies when they pay fees while making small trades over and over again. So the noobie ends up buying a bunch of crypto shitcoins, probably the ones he heard mentioned by one of the many “YouTube Crypto bros” who shill scams by preaching buzzwords like “innovative use case,” “blockchain technology,” “DeFi,” and “Web3.” The noobie maintains a false hope that one of those shitcoins he bought could possibly “be the next bitcoin” and potentially 1000x in a short period of time. In this scenario, Gollum, labeled above as “CRYPTO,” feels more powerful when in possession of the Ring. But over time, the ring corrupts and tortures Gollum. Like the precoiner who hoped to “get rich quick”, Gollum fell victim to the temptation to quickly acquire power.
Now we flash forward in time, and the noobie experiences a few ups and downs of the market. The volatility and speculation toys with the noobies’ willpower: “Oh no! My coins are dropping in price…should I sell everything?…Wait! Now they’re going back up…We’re going to the moon!” This charade goes on for a while until one day, the founders of the coins that the noobie invested in decide to dump their share of the supply they unfairly acquired in the coin’s premine.
The coins’ price plummets 90% in classic, rug pull fashion, and the noobie gets rekt, instantly losing most of his money. With nothing to fall back on, the noobie feels completely discouraged and vows to exit the cryptocurrency space, never to return again. He completely gives up. Similarly, back on Mount Doom, a combination of Frodo’s exhaustion, hunger, and depleting sanity leads him to collapse on the mountain side. He loses hope and doesn’t have the strength to continue the journey.
Some time passes for the noobie, and he doesn’t think about cryptocurrency for a while. Then, through some unforeseen circumstance, the noobie stumbles upon an educational Bitcoin resource. His curiosity awakens. “Maybe there’s a reason Bitcoin has always maintained the highest market cap since it launched,” he thinks. “Could there be something special about Bitcoin that I’m unaware of?” he wonders. The noobie works up the motivation to begin to study Bitcoin, and verify its value for himself. Just like Sam came to the rescue and lifted Frodo, carrying him through the last stage of the hike up Mt. Doom, this newly acquired Bitcoin knowledge manages to lift the spirit of the noobie. ‘Come, Mr. Frodo!’ Sam cried. ‘I can’t carry the Ring for you, but I can carry you and it as well. So up you get!’
Without looking back, and with a full head of steam powered by the noobies’ newfound realization of Bitcoin’s revolutionary innovation, he dives down into the rabbit hole of truth and goes from one Bitcoin resource to the next, rapidly gaining conviction of Bitcoin’s true value. Then, the noobie buys some Bitcoin. Next, the noobie continues to learn some more great things about Bitcoin. Again, the noobie is convinced to buy more Bitcoin. And this cycle repeats.
There is Bitcoin, and then there is everything else. Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, but it is not the same as the coins and projects that get lumped into “crypto” discussions on social media. What’s the difference? Quite simply, one is a financial revolution that will save billions of people from currency debasement, corruption and oppression.
The other is a scam designed to enrich the founders who created the coin and there are over 20,000 of them! They all claim to be “faster” or “more private” or “more secure” or “more decentralized” than Bitcoin. All of this is a false marketing scheme to fool you and distract you from the real deal. Bitcoin is the real deal.
Bitcoin is “the one coin to rule them all.” There are a handful of fabulous Bitcoin educational resources linked in this article. Have a great time going through them and learning more about Bitcoin. Follow the signal, and stack as much Bitcoin as you possibly can.
This is a guest post by Phillip. Follow him on Twitter @needcreations. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Satoshi’s Journal or Satoshi’s Entertainment Company.
