Trust is For Closer to Home

We can all probably agree that some level of trust in our lives is not only helpful, but optimal. A good marriage, friendships, dealings with local businesses… they’re all built on some degree of trust, largely external to the wave breakers of government oversight or regulatory decree.

‍

But the further from home that you rely on trust, the more fragile and precarious this arrangement becomes. You can trust a large grocery chain to not poison their food (except for all the junk they intentionally push) because you haven’t experienced acute sickness from eating the food. But you are one E. coli outbreak from that trust being greatly diminished.

‍

You can trust your doctor because up to this point, they’ve provided antibiotics for infections, kept an eye on your blood markers, and otherwise “helped” you on your medical journey. But you are one misdiagnosis, dangerous vaccine, or epiphany moment from realizing your trust has likely been misplaced.

‍

You can trust the media… well, ok. You can’t trust the media. But you get the gist of it.

‍

Point is, the closer you can preserve your trust for situations where you can verify its worthiness, the better.

‍

This is why more and more people are turning to growing their own foods or buying from a local farm. It is the reason more are transitioning to wholistic medicine and removing themselves from mainstream medical treatments (“LDL bad, seed oils good”). It’s why independent media with a range of voices - locals, “experts,” and otherwise - have proliferated as technology has made it easier.

‍

So, what does this have to do with Bitcoin?

‍

Well, the reason you trust your bank today is because, up till now, you’ve been able to access cash at the ATM, send wire transfers as needed, and pay your bills through their online portal.

‍

But what this means is that you’ve abstracted the trust of your most important earthly possession - your wealth - to an institution that is not only hard to verify, but has by proxy already violated your trust.

‍

Do you really think your local bank operates much differently than the Big Banks that were bailed out in 2008? Of course not. They may mean well and have less pull on the levers of power, but they also don’t hold all of your money (fractional reserve banking) and exclusively offer services around a monetary good (the dollar, euro, yen, etc.) that is itself one big Ponzi scheme.

‍

In short, you are one frozen account, bank run, or financial crisis away from completely distrusting your bank.

‍

Any meaningful interaction with the real economy effectively mandates that you use the banking system; giving away your trust is required if you want to feed your family, heat your home, or otherwise live a normal life of modern convenience. Historically, if you’ve wanted to protect your wealth, you’ve had to maintain it within this system through acquisition of stocks, bonds, or real estate proxies, thereby trusting various financial and commercial institutions. That is the contract thrust upon us by the State.

‍

Bitcoin is an unwritten termination clause. It allows you to move trust closer to home; in fact, it allows you to trust only yourself. Unlike fiat money, you can be your own bank and fully possess and own the keys to your savings in an unconfiscatable way.

‍

This is powerful and aligns more fully with how most people prefer to live their lives, if only the consideration and option had been there before.

‍

“Trust,” as we know it today, is overrated, but only because we must place it blindly into a distant system in which we have no choice but to partake.

‍