Unpopular opinion: if you don’t spend Bitcoin on ‘Bitcoin Pizza Day’, you’re probably not a Bitcoiner, more likely just an investor. Bitcoin isn’t going to replace Fiat if we don’t replace Fiat. Use Bitcoin as money.

Q: What can you use Bitcoin for?
A: Smooth, easy, and inexpensive international payments.
Here's my real-life experience from this weekend.

I tried to buy from a UK online store I've purchased from before. My usual credit card declined — flagged as suspicious. I tried a debit card and a second credit card. Both declined. The next day the vendor emailed me an alternative payment link. My card flagged it again, but this time texted me to authorize it. I had a 30-minute window to retry before it would be rejected again. Two days, three cards, one alternative link, and a text authorization later — success. The vendor's reward for all that friction? About $3.11 in merchant fees were paid to the credit card company.

Same day. Different transaction. I paid a business owner in Tanzania via Bitcoin's Lightning Network. Total time: under two minutes — and it only took that long because I was stopping to document the process for friends. My cost: $0.03. The recipient's cost: $0.00.

Same day. Two transactions. One took two days and five attempts. The other took two minutes and cost a quarter of a dime.

Bitcoin is permissionless money — the freedom to transact when, where, and with whomever you choose.

Bitcoin is power. Bitcoin is freedom.

@Jeff Booth outlines the difference between Bitcoin and Fiat like no one else. Thanks @Paula for the best interview ever. https://youtu.be/1TVma39EOqY?si=4Viag6fA62nfEVdb

Node running needs to stay accessible to non-technical users.
@Start9, Parman Node, & @Umbrel ☂️ are doing important work here. If running a full node requires Linux expertise, the node-running population self-selects toward a narrow demographic that doesn't represent the global user base Bitcoin needs. Thank you to those who simplify running a node.

Bitcoin's censorship resistance is only real for people who actually use it directly through self-custody. Every person who holds Bitcoin through an ETF, a custodial exchange, or a wrapped token is free-riding on the network's security properties without contributing to them or actually accessing them. Worse, they're providing political cover for regulatory capture — governments can regulate custodians without touching the protocol, and a majority-custodial Bitcoin userbase makes that politically easy.

Amazing reminder of the importance of Bitcoin culture. A must watch video. https://youtu.be/_56PaDGTSzE?si=aWCi4SDFe0FwUSId

The whitepaper title wasn't accidental. A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Peer to peer — no intermediaries. Electronic — borderless and digital. Cash — for transactions, not just storage. System — the whole thing working together.

The whitepaper title wasn't accidental. A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Peer to peer — no intermediaries. Electronic — borderless and digital. Cash — for transactions, not just storage. System — the whole thing working together.

Citrea - 40% is premined for founders, etc. Classical setup for pump and dump. Don't confuse games played with Bitcoin's purpose... Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

Facts!

Ultimately, the most durable protection against threats to Bitcoin — protocol capture, regulatory capture, custodial abstraction — is a large population of people who understand what Bitcoin actually is and why the specific properties matter.

Citrea will never use my node.