The Bitcoin Socrates

Greetings,

Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian here, back this week to unpack the life and legacy of another Bitcoin legend – Andreas M. Antonopoulos.

Still considered the greatest Bitcoin educator of all time, Andreas has fallen out of grace with some bitcoiners because of his belief in broader applications for cryptocurrencies and controversial takes toward scaling. It’s a pity, because I learned a ton about Bitcoin from Andreas, as did many others.

Rumor has it Saylor even used Andreas’ videos to orange pill the Microstrategy leadership team. Even if it isn’t true, the message is – Andreas taught millions the importance of Bitcoin.

Let’s dive in.

Fugue state

Much like most of us, Andreas dismissed Bitcoin when he first heard about it.

“Nerd money,” he curiously called it, considering his prolific geek background, with degrees in computer science and distributed systems from the University College of London.

However, Bitcoin catches many of us by surprise not the first time, but the second. Andreas’s second response was infatuation.

“I went into a fugue state,” he said back in 2011. The dissociative state refers to a rare psychiatric phenomenon characterized by reversible amnesia for one's identity in conjunction with unexpected wandering or travel. 

Andreas spent the next four months toying away at Bitcoin in every way, shape, or form. He studied the system during 18 hours a day, forgetting to eat, forgetting to exercise, forgetting to call his mother. 

All was not lost, though, he emerged as one of the most (if not the most) exceptional Bitcoin educators of our time. 

Here he is explaining what that was like:

Before those early days in Bitcoin, Andreas founded Nemertes Research, a firm that would analyze and quantify the business value of emerging technologies. 

While there Andreas researched computer security, stating that the greatest threat to computer security was not experienced hackers, but overly complex systems that resulted from rapid change in business. He realized the power of simplicity early on, something that would influence his early day understanding of Bitcoin.

After his fugue state, Andreas couldn’t think of anything else than dedicate his life to Satoshi’s creation.

By 2013, Andreas was all-in on Bitcoin. He became the host of its most popular podcast, “Let’s Talk Bitcoin,” where he held conversations with other Bitcoin legends like Adam Back. 

But it was his own fiery–and creative–speeches that really set him apart. His early day evanglizing wasn’t always glamorous, however.

At the Bitcoin 2013 conference in San José, he gave a talk to an audience of people you could count with just one hand.

Bitcoin was a mere $80 at the time. How the times would change.

Andreas persevered. Later that year, and after a near-vertical price trajectory, Bitcoin topped $1,000, and he took his message to the place where 21st century technology was born: Silicon Valley. 

His message was simple yet sharp: Bitcoin should resist calls for radical change. Andreas became an early champion of the idea that Bitcoin lets you “be your own bank,” advocating for self-custody long before Mt. Gox and its epic collapse proved him right. 

Here he is, talking about the importance of self-custody and hardware wallets.

Which, if you haven’t taken care of, maybe now is the right time to do it. Head to Casa to unlock your peace of mind, and get 10% off with the promo code PETERIZZO. It’s never too early to take proper control of your money.

While today most of the industry is infatuated with the idea of BlackRock and the spot Bitcoin ETFs, Andreas was a different breed of bitcoiner. 

“There's 6.5 billion on this planet who have no connection to money,” he said signaling that the so-called Global South and emerging markets are an obvious place for Bitcoin to proliferate. And he pointed his finger at the banksters, calling out their demise: “In the age of the internet, I will replace your entire industry with 100 lines of code.”

Even if we weren’t acquainted with Bitcoin back then, we all remember the 2013 Cyprus crisis that saw millions lose their savings in yet another fiat currency cataclysm.

During the same year, Andreas made his way over to the mediterranean nation and began teaching Bitcoin at the University of Nicosia, an institution that continues to offer the course.

By 2014, Andreas published what I consider to be one of the industry’s seminal pieces: Mastering Bitcoin. To this day, many still consider it the greatest book ever published on Bitcoin. 

That same year, authorities began to pay attention. 

But Andreas planted his flag. He was invited to the Canadian Congress, and told those assembled – with a purely stoic expression – that it would be a “really good idea” to wait before they passed regulations. 

But his impact wasn’t limited to academics or politicians. 

Andreas’s eloquence, rhetoric, and flaming fluency to explain Bitcoin landed him on the largest podcast in the world, the Joe Rogan experience.

He orange-pilled one of the most influential internet men of our times, and gifted him his first 5 BTC. 

Later that year, a little-known Californian named Dorian Nakamoto was falsely accused of being Satoshi Nakamoto. Andreas stepped up, once again, and helped raise 102.2 BTC for his pain and suffering.

As Bitcoin grew, so did the criticisms and misconceptions. Armed with his acute understanding of Bitcoin, Andreas was always ready with a rebuttal. 

Nearly 10 years ago, when asked about 51% attacks–the idea that a group of nodes can collude to rearrange transactions or double spend BTC–he didn’t hold back.

“They can spend billions of dollars in a covert operation that would give them access to the next block for 10 minutes where they can make one double spend before we kick the bastards off,” he said in what is one of his most classic videos to this day.

These were the golden years for Andreas, really getting into a stride. A personal favorite, this is his talk about Bitcoin being punk rock money:

Between 2016 and 2017, Andreas was taking everybody on. He roasted blockchains built by big banks for inventing “edible blockchains,” and asked if governments were against citizens owning their own money then “what the hell is wrong with my government?”

Since then, Andreas has faded into the background a bit. Much of this owes to his support of former lead developer Gavin Andresen’s plan to scale Bitcoin with bigger blocks. (In hindsight, his views weren’t much different than the mainstream consensus – the block size was effectively raised), but nonetheless, Andreas’ influence has faded.

That said, his impact lives on in his YouTube videos, and the sporadic online appearance. He recently surfaced to give his take on Bitcoin covenants, and why he still supports future block size increases.

For me, whenever Andreas talks, it’s worth a listen.

I’d like to end this week with another quote: “One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present” — Golda Meir

Have a great weekend – and don’t forget to secure your Bitcoin.

Rizzo