MAY 6
Monetisation
How an Experiment Became Somewhere to Keep Your Work
The Signal
Bitcoin became money because people began exchanging something they had worked for to own it.
The Reading
Imagine discovering Bitcoin in 2009. You download a program, leave your computer running, and coins begin appearing on the screen. But what could you do with them?
Satoshi released experimental software in 2009, and ordinary computers could generate bitcoin. Getting it to work was one thing. Getting someone to give you something for it was another. Then people began making that choice.
On 22 May 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz reported exchanging 10,000 bitcoin for two pizzas. Bitcoin had already been exchanged for dollars, but here was something you could put on the kitchen table and eat. Think about what happened there. Someone paid for those pizzas and bitcoin was accepted in return. They gave up money they already used for coins that hardly anybody used.
That is where monetisation becomes real. People begin treating something as money because they see a reason to accept it, keep it, and use it later. Now take that further. Someone decides to put some savings into bitcoin. That money represents things they have done for other people. Repairs completed. Patients cared for. Meals cooked. They are choosing where to keep the value of that contribution.
By January 2024, American regulators had approved spot bitcoin investment products for trading on securities exchanges. Something once shared on a cryptography mailing list had found its way into investment accounts.
Look how far it has come. If more people choose Bitcoin as somewhere to keep their savings, monetisation continues. Each decision expands its role in storing value.
What began with people asking whether the software worked has become people asking whether it could hold something far more important. The value of what they have worked for.
First Principles
Bitcoin gains monetary value through people’s choices.
Saving gives bitcoin a lasting economic purpose.
Monetisation connects Bitcoin with the value people create.
Today’s Challenge
Put a button on your table. Would you accept it for washing someone’s mug?
Now imagine you could use that button tomorrow to pay someone to wash yours.
Would you feel differently about accepting it? The button is unchanged. What changed is your reason to hold it.
Tomorrow’s Signal
Why Volatility Appears