Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a monetary commodity, and a payment system all rolled into one. Uniquely, all three components share the same name: Bitcoin. Traditionally, these roles were separate. During the classical gold standard era, for example, the U.S. dollar was the currency, gold was the money, and payment infrastructure was handled by private banks and clearinghouses. Bitcoin merges all of these into a single, self-sustaining system that operates without intermediaries. It’s a brilliantly engineered network with no historical precedent in finance. Weakening or removing any of its core components risks undermining the entire system and threatening its continued existence.