Celearly, it is not the easy choice. However, this is the price associated with freedom. The bitcoin holder now has full control over their monetary energy (all money is simply the energy of a unit of value) and the ability to do business with whomever they wish, without permission from any bank or government. Imagine then that an individual could more than just carry out valuable transactions without the permission of outside forces, but also lead all parts of his daily life without such pressure. When a person is able to do this, they will become a sovereign individual, and Bitcoin is the first step in making this possible. Going back to the original question I asked of whether individuals are capable of governing themselves, Bitcoin can provide a roadmap for changing the answer from a no to a yes. The Bitcoin network is made up of individuals who are motivated to take an interest in themselves, and yet, even without a central entity in place, the network does not collapse. This is a blueprint for how decentralized protocols of the future can create an infrastructure in which interested individuals can interact with each other, without requiring an external centralized party to ensure that everything runs smoothly. clashes.
Sovereignty, like freedom, is not meant to be easy. For this reason, it can be difficult to convince the general population, as most people still choose the simple over the difficult. That being said, with changes in the geopolitical landscape like a shift against civil liberties and the creation of central bank digital currencies that will only serve to cede more control from the individual to the state, the hands of the layman. could be forced.
Fintech companies like Square and PayPal can provide the bridge between using accounts with traditional financial institutions and becoming a die-hard Bitcoiner running your own node, bringing hundreds of millions of users into the world of Bitcoin. Sending bitcoin to your friend by simply typing their name in a user-friendly interface rather than a clunky address on a Bitcoin wallet (a feature recently introduced by Cash App) is an easier proposition for newcomers to accept. Needless to say, once these new users get into the Bitcoin rabbit hole a bit, they will become just as freedom-demanding as the rest of us Bitcoiners.
Bitcoin unlocks financial sovereignty, but its ideals and technology pave the way for the possibility of a fully sovereign individual. When the idea of the sovereign individual comes true, the constraints imposed on citizens by modern nations will disappear. Instead, individuals are released from the mandate to organize themselves based on arbitrary lines drawn on a piece of paper and will be free to form communities of their own accord. This is similar to the way people already interact in the digital world. The communities people form on sites like Twitter and Reddit ignore traditional boundaries and form organically from people looking for other like-minded people. Interaction on the Internet seeks to be borderless and soon our interaction in the physical world will be too.The idea of the sovereign individual is certainly utopian, as is the future of Bitcoin and it now seems almost inevitable. Many Bitcoiners are preparing for a Bitcoin future in which there is little need for nation-states, and in that future they must also be prepared to become sovereign individuals capable of governing themselves.
This is a guest post from Jack Kriesel. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
