Bitcoin is for Everyone, page 18
My deepest thanks to my dear friend Ryan Tower for introducing me to Bitcoin in the first place, and to Larry, whose encouragement turned my curiosity into action—pushing me to read my first Bitcoin book and launch my podcast.
My heartfelt thanks go to my incredible friends, whose unwavering support has carried me through every chapter of my life. A special thank you Katie Banks, Samantha Cortese, Katie Corder, Kelli DePaolis, Lisa Marie Grimes, Saphia Hall, Meghan Kluth, Lauren Sansone, Ariana Tejero, Jessica Tepas and Casi Ticer.
To the companies and teams whose partnerships have fueled my content and educational efforts, I am deeply grateful—your support makes my work possible.
To the immigrant community, whose resilience and hope continue to inspire me, this book is dedicated to you. I see in you the same drive, the same refusal to accept limitations that I have seen in my own family. Our stories are one of perseverance, of fighting to overcome systemic barriers, and of a belief that, with the right tools, we can create a future that is ours to shape.
To the pioneers of Bitcoin, whose work has inspired this journey, and to the people of all walks of life who continue to push for a more inclusive financial future, your work continues to drive my own. Thank you for your courage in challenging the system and for your vision of a world where financial sovereignty is available to everyone, not just the privileged few.
Thank you to Satoshi, whoever you may be. You have uplifted humanity through the gift that is Bitcoin.
And finally, to all of you reading these words, thank you. This book is for you. It is for the countless individuals who are tired of being left behind by a broken system and who are ready to embrace a new path forward. May you find hope, empowerment, and the strength to create a future where financial freedom is not a distant dream, but a reality for all.
This journey is not mine alone. It is one that is shared with many, and I am grateful for each and every person who has played a part in it.
GLOSSARY AND IMPORTANT TERMS
ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits)
Highly specialized computers designed to perform one simple function: mine bitcoin. ASICs solve the cryptographic puzzles that secure the Bitcoin network and validate transactions.
Asset
A resource with economic value—such as real estate, stocks, gold or Bitcoin—that can be owned or controlled with the expectation that it will hold, or even grow, that value.
Asset Inflation
A rise in the market prices of financial and real assets—such as housing, equities, or art—not due to increased utility or productivity, but as a result of excess capital flowing into these markets (in other words, “more money chasing the same goods”). This often occurs when newly created money seeks returns in investment markets rather than circulating through the broader economy.
Bearer Asset
A form of property—physical or digital—that gives whoever holds it full ownership and control. Cash is a physical bearer asset, and Bitcoin is a digital bearer asset.
Bearer Instrument
A financial instrument that grants rights to the holder, without requiring proof of identity. Like a concert or lottery ticket, possession determines control.
Bitcoin Public Address
The cryptographic identifier used to receive Bitcoin. Often compared to digital P.O. Box, a public address enables individuals to send funds to one another without revealing the recipient’s identity. Public addresses are made up of a string of numbers and letters and can be shared freely.
Bitcoin Wallet
A software or hardware tool that enables users to generate, store, and manage the private keys required to store, send, and receive bitcoin. The wallet does not hold bitcoin itself, but rather the credentials that unlock it on the blockchain.
Blockchain
A distributed ledger that groups transactions into “blocks,” each locked to the one before it by cryptographic hashes, creating an unbroken, append-only chain that’s tamper-evident. Blockchains can be “permissionless” (like Bitcoin) or “permissioned” (managed privately).
Block Reward/Block Subsidy
Newly issued bitcoin awarded to miners for expending real-world energy to solve the cryptographic puzzle and earn the right to validate a block of transactions and add them to the blockchain. The block subsidy is the primary mechanism through which new bitcoin enters circulation and serves as an economic incentive for securing the network.
Bretton Woods Agreement
An international monetary arrangement established in 1944 that pegged global currencies to the U.S. dollar, which was, itself, backed by gold (until 1971). This deal institutionalized the dollar as the global reserve currency.
Cantillon Effect
A phenomenon, named for economist Richard Cantillon, that describes how newly created money disproportionately benefits those closest to the “money printer.” These individuals and institutions have access to that new money before prices rise, while everyone else gets hit with inflation.
Capital
Capital is the buildings, machines, and tools that people invest in to produce goods and services, along with the money used to buy and run them. It represents savings set aside to grow businesses and earn future income.
Capitalism
Capitalism is the system where people use their savings to start businesses and compete freely in the market, driving innovation and economic growth. In this framework, profits reward ideas and efforts that create value, while losses help steer resources away from less successful ventures.
Cold Storage
Accessing your bitcoin through an offline “hard wallet”—via a USB-like device—is the strongest form of self-sovereignty available. Cold storage is considered the most secure way to safeguard bitcoin over the long term, akin to placing gold in a vault.
Collateral
Collateral is an asset you promise to a lender when you take out a loan—if you can’t pay it back, the lender can seize and sell that asset to cover the debt. Common examples are a house for a mortgage or government bonds pledged by banks.
Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
A measurement of the growth of an investment over time, providing a clear picture of long-term performance.
Consensus-Based Mechanism
A method by which decentralized systems reach agreement on shared data—such as the validity of transactions—without relying on a central authority. Bitcoin uses proof-of-work as its consensus mechanism.
Consumer Price Inflation (CPI)
An index calculated by the government to track changes in the cost of everyday goods—like food, gas, and rent. The CPI uses a standard “basket of goods” as a yardstick to measure purchasing power, but it is often criticized for understating real inflation.
Cost of Living
The average amount of money required to meet basic needs, including housing, food, healthcare, and transportation.
Counterparties
The parties on either side of a financial transaction. In traditional systems, intermediaries such as banks act as counterparties. Bitcoin eliminates the need for counterparties by enabling direct, trustless exchange.
Counterparty Risk
The chance that the other party in a transaction won’t fulfill their promise. Bitcoin eliminates this by settling value directly on its blockchain—once a transaction is confirmed, it’s final and guaranteed by the network itself.
Credit
Borrowed money that must be repaid over time, typically with interest.
Cryptocurrency
A digital form of money that uses cryptography to secure transactions and regulate supply on a decentralized network. Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, remains the most decentralized and is the only one with a strictly limited supply.
Cryptography
The practice of using math as a high-tech lock-and-key system to secure information. Cryptography uses math to protect digital information by turning it into a secret code, readable only by someone with the correct digital key.
Curtailment
Losing excess energy—like wind or solar—because the supply is greater than the demand and existing infrastructure cannot absorb the surplus.
Debt (Government Debt)
The running total the government owes to holders of its bonds. Each year the government may borrow to cover spending beyond its tax revenue—creating an annual deficit—and those yearly deficits accumulate into the overall debt.
Decentralized
A system in which control and decision-making are distributed rather than concentrated in a central authority or single point of control.
Deficit
A deficit is the shortfall between what the government earns (through taxes and other income) and what it spends. For instance, if the government collects $3 trillion in a year but spends $3.5 trillion, it runs a $500 billion deficit for that year.
Deflation
A sustained decline in overall prices.
Difficulty Adjustment
A built-in feature of the Bitcoin protocol that changes mining difficulty approximately every two weeks, in order to ensure that blocks are added at a consistent pace regardless of fluctuations in computing power or how many miners join or leave the network at any given moment.
Divisibility
The capacity of money to be broken into smaller units for practical use. Bitcoin is highly divisible: each bitcoin can be split into 100 million smaller units called satoshis, allowing for precise transactions at any scale.
Durability
One of the key properties of sound money: the ability to withstand physical or digital degradation over time. Bitcoin, like gold, is highly durable—it does not erode, corrode, or expire.
Easy Money
Money that’s cheap to borrow and readily available, often created in large quantities by central banks. Typically characterized by low interest rates and abundant credit, easy money can boost spending and asset prices, but also fuels bubbles and inequality.
Equity
An ownership stake in an asset—like a house, stock, or business. Equity is what remains after subtracting any debt owed on the asset, and is a key metric of wealth.
ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund)
An investment vehicle that tracks the price of an underlying asset and is traded on public exchanges like a stock. A Bitcoin ETF enables investment in Bitcoin through traditional brokerage accounts, without holding bitcoins directly.
Federal Funds Rate
The benchmark interest rate at which commercial banks lend reserves to one another overnight. Set by the Federal Reserve, it serves as a foundational reference for interest rates throughout the economy, influencing everything from mortgages to credit card APRs.
Federal Reserve (Fed)
The central banking system of the United States. It manages the nation’s money supply, sets interest rates, and acts as lender of last resort during crises. While designed to maintain economic stability, its policies have come under increasing scrutiny for contributing to asset inflation and wealth inequality.
Federal Reserve Act of 1913
The legislation that established the Federal Reserve System as the central bank of the United States. It granted the Fed authority to issue currency, regulate banks, and manage monetary policy with the stated aim of promoting financial stability.
Fiat
Currency issued by a government that is not backed by a physical commodity such as gold or silver. Its value comes from legal status and public trust in the issuing government. Most modern national currencies operate as fiat money.
Fiat Standard
A global monetary system in which fiat currencies dominate, created and managed by governments or central banks without commodity backing. This system enables expansive monetary policy, widespread credit issuance, and centralization of financial power. Bitcoin was developed as an alternative to this model.
Financialization
The growing dominance of financial institutions, markets, and motives, overtaking real-world production. In a financialized system, profits are increasingly derived from asset speculation rather than production of goods and services.
Fractional Reserve Banking
A banking model in which institutions keep only a fraction of depositors’ funds in reserve, lending out the rest to generate profit. This practice leaves banks vulnerable to “bank runs” when too many depositors demand withdrawals simultaneously, and is a significant contributor to the overall expansion of the money supply.
Free Banking
A time period when private banks issued their own currencies backed by reserves, typically gold or silver. These decentralized systems operated without central banks and were subject to market-based checks and balances.
Fungibility
The property of money that makes its individual units interchangeable with one another: a $20 bill is identical to every other $20 bill.
Global Reserve Currency
A currency held in significant quantities by governments and institutions as part of international reserves and used in global trade. The U.S. dollar currently fulfills this role, granting the United States considerable economic and geopolitical influence.
Gold Standard
A monetary system in which a country’s currency is directly linked to a fixed quantity of gold.
Halving
A pre-programmed event in the Bitcoin protocol that reduces the block reward for miners by 50%, occurring approximately every four years. Halving slows new supply and reinforces Bitcoin’s scarcity.
Hard Assets
Investments with enduring value, such as real estate, precious metals, and productive land. These assets tend to retain value over time and serve as hedges against inflation and currency devaluation.
Hard Money
Currency that is difficult to produce or manipulate, typically due to natural or enforced scarcity.
Hot Wallet
A digital wallet connected to the internet. While ideal for accessibility and frequent transactions, hot wallets carry higher security risks and are generally recommended only for holding small amounts of bitcoin.
Hyperinflation
A scenario in which prices of goods and services rise at an uncontrollable pace of over 50% per month.122 Hyperinflation erodes the value of money to the point of worthlessness, usually triggered by excessive money printing, loss of confidence in the currency, and political or economic instability.
Interest Rate
The cost of borrowing money or the reward for saving it. Central banks heavily influence interest rates, and those rates ripple through the economy, shaping how much people borrow, invest, and spend.
Internet of Money
A phrase used to describe Bitcoin’s transformative role as a natively digital currency, allowing value to move across the internet without banks, borders, or centralized control. Just as the internet decentralized communication, Bitcoin aims to decentralize financial exchange.
Ledger
A structured record of transactions. In the Bitcoin network, the ledger is public, distributed, and cryptographically secured. It is maintained by thousands of nodes to ensure transparency and prevent fraud.
Lender of Last Resort
A function of central banks to provide emergency liquidity to financial institutions during periods of stress or crisis. While intended to prevent systemic collapse, this role can also introduce moral hazard by insulating risky actors from the consequences of failure.
Medium of Exchange
One of the core functions of money: enabling the exchange of goods and services without bartering. For a medium of exchange to succeed, it must be widely accepted, easily transferable, and trusted.
Mining
The competitive process by which Bitcoin transactions are verified and added to the blockchain. Miners expend computational power to solve cryptographic puzzles (see: Proof-of-Work) and are rewarded with newly issued Bitcoin (see: Block Reward) and transaction fees for securing the network.
