A couple of years in the past, I made an unlikely guess: to construct a Bitcoin round economic system within the coronary heart of a fishing village in Brazil’s Northeast. No enterprise capitalists, no “crypto,” no empty guarantees. Solely nodes, satoshis, in‑individual training and loads of sidewalk conversations.
That’s how Praia Bitcoin Jericoacoara was born: a radical experiment in monetary sovereignty constructed with open supply instruments and toes within the sand.
In 4 years at Praia Bitcoin Jericoacoara, we turned a seashore city right into a residing Bitcoin classroom: We onboarded households, shopkeepers and road distributors; taught self‑custody in small teams; put in dependable Lightning routes and level‑of‑sale instruments; ran social packages paid in sats; and hosted meetups that made Bitcoin a part of every day life.
Dwelling on the Bitcoin customary, I started to see what is admittedly occurring on the technological edge.
In August 2025, I printed 4 brief articles on X. Totally different in kind and tone, they converged on the identical query: What function ought to Bitcoin play, and what function ought to we play in constructing it? They got here in fours:
- a discipline report on our work with the Bitcoin Neighborhood Financial institution in Jericoacoara
- a critique of bitcoin maximalism’s rigidity
- a diplomatic letter inviting Bhutan’s prime minister to think about the satoshi as a unit of account, and
- a public enchantment to maintain Bitcoin a peer‑to‑peer money system.
What they share is the need to align observe, idea, and a future‑dealing with imaginative and prescient.
Within the first piece, I shared the challenges and classes from an actual experiment: constructing a Bitcoin‑based mostly circular economy in Northeast Brazil. Impressed by Bitcoin Seaside in El Salvador, we rooted the Jericoacoara challenge in training, inclusion and native infrastructure. We put in servers, onboarded retailers and neighbors, created social packages and sought institutional recognition as a Neighborhood Bitcoin Financial institution.
We had been rejected by the native authorities. Even within the face of the state’s authorized and political unpreparedness, we moved ahead with conviction. We consider that when Bitcoin is rooted in place, it may be greater than cash; it may be a device for neighborhood transformation. But authorities struggled to know this, and so they denied our request to register what would have been the primary Bitcoin neighborhood financial institution.
Within the second piece, I confronted an ideological pressure throughout the neighborhood itself. Maximalist rhetoric, which defends Bitcoin as the one respectable challenge and treats the remainder of “crypto” as scams, had its historic function. It helped defend the integrity of the ecosystem, uncovered frauds and accelerated market maturation. However does it nonetheless serve the objective of huge‑scale adoption? Does it assist talk Bitcoin’s worth to newcomers? I caught myself ignoring related technological options just because they had been exterior the maximalist bubble.
After revisiting the dialogue and studying each reply and quote, my conclusion was that different initiatives find yourself serving as funnels, sandboxes or distribution channels that drive folks towards actual Bitcoin adoption. Stablecoins, altcoins, memecoins, and centralized cryptocurrencies are transferring towards Bitcoin, absorbing inflation and even serving to to determine the costs of different commodities. Maybe it’s time for a brand new posture: not abandoning ideas, however embracing a Bitcoin that retains the concentrate on the essence whereas remaining prepared to interact with a world in fixed transformation, with skepticism and an open thoughts; by educating regulators that Bitcoin is the decentralized cryptocurrency and that every one different initiatives are centralized cryptocurrencies.
Within the third piece, I took this imaginative and prescient into the diplomatic enviornment. I wrote an open letter to Bhutan’s prime minister suggesting that the nation think about adopting the satoshi as its nationwide unit of account.
The proposal, extra symbolic than technical, had a transparent objective: to think about how Bitcoin can have interaction with different improvement fashions that don’t rely on the IMF or the greenback and that respect native tradition and sovereignty. The response to the letter revealed one thing necessary: even throughout the Bitcoin ecosystem there are ideological lanes: conservatives, centrists and progressives, every making an attempt to interpret the protocol by means of a definite worldview.
This text is due to this fact some extent of convergence. It ties collectively these three experiences (sensible, ideological and diplomatic) to suggest a contemporary take a look at what we’re actually making an attempt to construct. Greater than repeating dogmas, this second requires discernment. Greater than speaking about freedom, it’s time to observe it the place it’s most wanted — on the bottom, in our language, in our establishments and in {our relationships}.
Within the fourth piece, I distilled my open word to Bitcoin Core right into a easy level: preserve Bitcoin a peer‑to‑peer money system, not a generic information host.
I argued that loosening default information‑carrying settings invitations bloat, authorized threat and reputational injury, and requested builders to suppose in centuries, not launch cycles. I additionally famous that current Core releases, v29 and v30, revisited how a lot further information transactions might carry by default. That lives on the technical edge of the protocol — software program defaults, not the financial guidelines. Bitcoin is money. Like a banknote you may scribble on however not use to publish a guide, transactions can embody small notes however shouldn’t be hijacked for unrelated content material.
This context raised an even bigger query: What do we wish Bitcoin to be? The trade made the fault strains clear: different groups love Bitcoin for various causes and settle for completely different commerce‑offs. Within the subsequent part, I identify these lanes and present how they match collectively.
Watching Bitcoin Knots achieve visibility relative to Bitcoin Core, and listening to builders complain about its pull‑request course of, jogged my memory of the First Follower lesson. Knots is essentially maintained by a single developer.
Actions don’t scale as a result of a lone chief is sensible. They scale when early followers make participation seen and straightforward, reducing social threat and displaying others precisely the way to behave.
From contained in the trade, spending numerous hours analyzing geopolitics and future traits, I started to see Bitcoiners in 4 principal classes, with the extremes on either side clearly outlined so let’s break them down.
The 4 Archetypes of Bitcoin
Bitcoin Database, Coordination Builders
Core perception: Bitcoin is a impartial public file. It may coordinate folks and software program. Cash is one highly effective use, not the one one.
What they prioritize: Time‑stamps and proofs; public information; id attestations; new media on Bitcoin; social protocols like Nostr; constructing most options on higher layers so L1 stays steady.
What they get proper: They appeal to builders and new customers with contemporary concepts and on‑ramps. Extra experiments imply extra probabilities to seek out lasting utility.
Dangers and blind spots: The highlight can drift away from cash. An excessive amount of nonmonetary information can waste block house and invite controversy. New techniques typically reintroduce trusted middlemen.
Perspective to Lightning: Open, when it helps apps really feel immediate. Additionally discover different rails. Hold L1 easy.
North Star checks: Helpful apps with actual customers; lively builders; low, respectful footprint on L1.
Frequent examples: Casey Rodarmor and Ordinals; Muneeb Ali and Stacks; Burak and Ark analysis; Maxim Orlovsky and RGB; fiatjaf and Nostr; OpenTimestamps. (Word: that is illustrative, not endorsements.)
Tagline: “Bitcoin is a database.”
Bitcoin Central, Market Pragmatists
Core perception: Bitcoin is cash and an asset. Worth and liquidity drive adoption at scale and assist fund safety and improvement.
What they prioritize: ETFs and treasuries; compliant on‑ramps and off‑ramps; deep, wholesome markets; training for traders and establishments.
What they get proper: Liquidity brings the next wave of users and pays for builders, mining and training.
Dangers and blind spots: Comfort custody and brief‑time period pondering. Distribution can focus in just a few giant fingers.
Perspective to Lightning: Pragmatic. Use it when it helps attain extra folks.
North Star checks: Market depth and volumes; hashrate safety price range; ETF and retail participation.
Frequent examples: Michael Saylor; iShares and Constancy Bitcoin ETFs; market makers; on‑chain analysts. Edge Case: Excessive leverage and over‑reliance on company treasuries.
Tagline: “We care about worth.”
Bitcoin Conservatives, Financial Purists
Core perception: Bitcoin is cash. Defend the bottom layer. Shortage, neutrality and self‑custody are nonnegotiable. Save first, then spend (e.g., in a round economic system).
What they prioritize: Easy, steady guidelines on L1; run your individual node; training on keys, UTXOs, and costs; miner and consumer variety; very long time horizons.
What they get proper: Clear incentives and powerful tradition. If cash is damaged, each worth within the economic system is improper. Repair cash first.
Dangers and blind spots: UX and funds can lag. Newcomers might really feel gatekept. Adoption can sluggish if on a regular basis use is ignored.
Perspective to Lightning: Typically skeptical. Want on‑chain finality and warn about complexity and custodial drift.
North Star checks: Extra cash in self‑custody; wholesome node rely; decentralized mining; rising lengthy‑time period holder provide.
Frequent examples: Saifedean Ammous; Pierre Rochard; proof‑of‑keys model campaigns; full‑node tradition and chilly storage. Edge Case: By no means promote. Deal with each altcoin as a rip-off.
Tagline: “Bitcoin is digital gold.”
Bitcoin Minimalists: Digital Gold and Digital Money, Device for Social Transformation
Core perception: Bitcoin needs to be digital gold for saving and digital money for spending, with the smallest potential belief floor.
What they prioritize: Save on‑chain with remaining settlement; spend by way of noncustodial Lightning the place potential; use ecash mints like Cashu for privateness with easy exit to keys; service provider flows that settle to self custody.
What they get proper: Align financial savings and every day use with out giving up sovereignty.
Dangers and blind spots: Friction and slower distribution; reluctance to undertake UX abstractions; fragmentation throughout minimal stacks.
Perspective to Lightning: Sure, however strict. Want noncustodial or minimally trusted setups. Be cautious with giant custodial hubs.
North‑star checks: Customers who each save on‑chain and spend by way of non‑custodial L2; simple withdrawals to keys; excessive cost success with out custodians.
Tagline: “Purchase, spend, substitute.”
Conclusion
Bitcoin’s tradition consists of 4 trustworthy defaults that always discuss previous each other. Builders increase the floor space, market pragmatists show on a regular basis utility, financial purists scale distribution and minimalists defend the bottom.
Collectively. they create a productive pressure that retains Bitcoin helpful and resilient for actual folks.
After years of working in a circular economy and writing publicly about these debates, my view is straightforward. Bitcoin is cash. Hold the bottom layer easy. Save in bitcoin on-chain. Spend in sats when it serves folks, because it does in a round economic system. Assist Lightning solely when the exit to your individual keys stays clear and easy. I don’t assist the “Bitcoin as Database” path, as a result of turning Bitcoin right into a common information host distracts from its financial mission and invitations waste, confusion, and reputational hurt.
The way in which ahead is sensible and principled. Decide concepts by whether or not they develop self custody, make funds dependable with out custodians, deepen liquidity that funds safety and training and respect the bounds of the bottom layer. If we maintain to that customary, the lanes can complement each other and extra folks will share in the advantages of a free, impartial and credibly decentralized cash.
BM Big Reads are weekly, in-depth articles on some present subject related to Bitcoin and Bitcoiners. Opinions expressed are these of the authors and don’t essentially replicate these of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Journal. If in case you have a submission you suppose suits the mannequin, be happy to achieve out at editor[at]bitcoinmagazine.com.
