Satoshi's most bullish quotes

Greetings from Nashville.

Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian here, on the ground at the biggest Bitcoin conference of all time in Nashville, Tennessee.

As such, it seemed only appropriate to coronate this week with Satoshi’s most bullish quotes of all time. Whoever they are would likely be proud of their creation, everything it has withstood, and the astounding amount of people supporting the protocol in one way or another.

Let’s dive in.

$0 l Satoshi on why the value of Bitcoin should increase

In an email exchange with one of Bitcoin’s earliest contributors, Dustin Trammell, Satoshi dropped this bit of sage advice. 

According to Satoshi, after the decades of botched attempts at digital money by projects that required a third party, most people considered the idea a lost cause. He hoped that people would realize this time was different–through a trustless monetary system.

As for Trammell, what caught his eye was the idea of trustless money. 

“I would be surprised if 10 years from now we're not using electronic currency in some way, now that we know a way to do it that won't inevitably get dumbed down when the trusted third party gets cold feet,” Satoshi replied, before nudging Trammell to “just get some.”

Let’s hope Trammell HODLed. 

$0 l Satoshi on what made Bitcoin a breakthrough.

This was Satoshi’s second ever public post, after presenting Bitcoin to the P2P Foundation forum. 

It came as a reply to the first person to reply to Satoshi’s inaugural post, Sepp Hassleberger. After Satoshi announced Bitcoin, Sepp replied by calling it the first innovation in money since the Bank of England began issuing promissory notes (circa 1882). “Great system,” he wrote, pointing to another similar system dubbed Open Coin. 

Open Coin, according to Satoshi, referred to the Chaumian central mint (from David Chaum’s DigiCash), explaining that the centrally controlled nature of systems like DigiCash was behind the money’s demise. 

Satoshi was clearly onto something.

$0 l Satoshi on Bitcoin’s limited supply

Here’s Satoshi explaining how the 21 million hard cap will make the price of Bitcoin tend towards the infinite. 

These words were in reply to a question posed on the earliest posts of the BitcoinTalk forum when only the true pioneers and cypherpunks were trying to wrap their minds around the system. 

“BlueSky” as the user called themselves had several questions for the community that ranged from Bitcoin’s divisibility to the need for banks, along with the fact that for Bitcoin’s value to go up in time it would require people wanting to spend their precious sats. 

Satoshi ignored a couple of their questions, but referred to the divisibility–and how this can be increased were it to be needed in the future. Until now, we haven’t got there. 

$0 l Satoshi on how Bitcoin upends the history of money

A surprise exchange of emails between Satoshi and one of his earliest contributors, Martti Malmi surfaced earlier this year. They appeared in the legal proceedings against Craig Wright who was rightfully acknowledged as not being Satoshi Nakamoto.

Marti was keen on helping out to expand Bitcoin, for which Satoshi tasked him for help in website writing. According to the creator, Martti’s understanding of his project was “spot on.”

Marti is a Bitcoin legend, mind you, and I highly recommend this thread on his life and support for Bitcoin in the dawn of the project.

$0 l Satoshi describing how demand impacts Bitcoin price

This was another reply to the email exchange between Satoshi and Martti. Honestly, the amount of insight Satoshi offered when he was around and building is simply insane. 

I can’t recommend enough going through the email exchange.

$0 l Satoshi on how energy gives Bitcoin value

Gold is nothing more than a shiny yellow rock, but it still fulfills a function around the world.

Even so, Satoshi realized early on that Bitcoin would make use of energy sources to fuel the exchange of goods and services in a much more ingenious way. These words were in reply to a post on the BitcoinTalk forum titled “Bitcoin minting is thermodynamically perverse.”

And not only did Satoshi defend mining but he pointed out the great utility behind it: “Proof-of-work has the nice property that it can be relayed through untrusted middlemen.”

I recommend this thread on Bitcoin mining.

$0 l Satoshi on why Bitcoin can withstand state attacks

The goal of non-state digital money was the holy grail of activists, cryptographers, freedom-seekers, and mathematicians across the world. 

Money so powerful that no state could tear it down.

Bitcoin is that money, and according to Satoshi, it has laid the foundation so as a humanity we can keep a check on governments–both liberal democracies and oppressive regimes–and offer us some much needed respite in the days of the digital economy. 

$0 l Satoshi dissing his detractors on the Bitcoin forum

Trying to orange-pill our family, friends, neighbors and colleagues is something of a Herculean task sometimes, and one that Satoshi had no time for.

This quote became one of the most resounding cries for bitcoiners who continue to hit a wall when attempting the noble yet frustrating task of convincing others they should start stacking sats. 

Honestly, this is and has been my approach for years.

$0.06 l Satoshi describing what makes Bitcoin better money.

To think that Satoshi took a money that we have been using for millenia, and dosed it with the ability to be sent digitally across the world is truly mind boggling.

He predicted, in that post, that maybe collectors or randomness could spark an increase in value of such a money. 

Another of Satoshi’s predictions that came true. 

$0 l Satoshi explaining there are no bailouts in Bitcoin

Towards the end of Bitcoin’s first year, Satoshi took the time to explain how people who lose access to their coins actually contribute to the overall value of other people’s coins.

Instead of having monarchs and elites who bail each other out, like in the traditional financial system, here was Satoshi advocating for extreme responsibility in exchange for true freedom.

Even though loads of bitcoiners dislike collectivism, Bitcoin achieves it beautifully. 

$0.06 l Satoshi on how deflation benefits Bitcoin holders

An age old debate underwrites a lot of crypto economics: deflation versus inflation.

Defenders of deflation, like Satoshi, claim that Bitcoin helps holders in the long term. And it truly does, flying in the face of inflationists and keynesians around the world.

Proposers of inflation, on the other hand, advocate for an increase in the money supply by governments as a way to keep the economy chugging along. However, what inflation does is decrease our purchasing power of time. Very subtly, almost imperceptibly. 

And that’s why we Bitcoin. 

$0 l Satoshi removing himself from Bitcoin and decentralizing it forever

The mark of a true hero was when Satoshi left the project. He knew that for Bitcoin to be successful, he would have to let it grow organically and without its direction.

In today’s world, his move is not only commendable, but noble.

Like every Friday, I want to end with a quote: “Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Enjoy the weekend,

Rizzo

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