Everyone loves a good origin story. The origin story of Bitcoin is
a fascinating one, and the details of it are more important than one might
think at first. Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? Was he one person or a group of
people? Was he a she? Time-traveling alien, or advanced AI? Outlandish
theories aside, we will probably never know. And this is
important.

Satoshi chose to be anonymous. He planted the seed of Bitcoin. He
stuck around for long enough to make sure the network won’t die in
its infancy. And then he vanished.

What might look like a weird anonymity stunt is actually crucial
for a truly decentralized system. No centralized control. No centralized
authority. No inventor. No-one to prosecute, torture, blackmail, or extort.
An immaculate conception of technology.

“One of
the greatest things that Satoshi did was
disappear.” href="https://medium.com/@jimmysong/why-bitcoin-is-different-e17b813fd947">Jimmy
Song

Since the birth of Bitcoin, thousands of other cryptocurrencies
were created. None of these clones share its origin story. If you want to
supersede Bitcoin, you will have to transcend its origin story. In a war of
ideas, narratives dictate survival.

“Gold was
first fashioned into jewelry and used for barter over 7,000 years ago.
Gold’s captivating gleam led to it being considered a gift from
the gods.” href="https://www.muenzeoesterreich.at/eng/discover/for-investors/gold-the-extraordinary-metal">Gold:
The Extraordinary Metal

Like gold in ancient times, Bitcoin might be considered a gift from
the gods. Unlike gold, Bitcoins origins are all too human. And this time, we
know who the gods of development and maintenance are: people all over the
world, anonymous or not.

Bitcoin taught me that narratives are important.

Down the Rabbit
Hole

href="https://medium.com/@francispouliot/catallaxy-the-origins-of-bitcoin-and-innovation-93dbc3190eac"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Catallaxy - the
origins of Bitcoin, innovation and spontaneous order by
Francis Pouliot

href="https://medium.com/@jimmysong/why-bitcoin-is-different-e17b813fd947"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why Bitcoin is
Different by Jimmy Song

href="https://www.uncerto.com/only-the-strong-survive"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Only The Strong
Survive by Allen Farrington and Big Al

href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterizzo/2021/09/29/against-cryptocurrency-the-ethical-argument-for-bitcoin-maximalism/"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Against Cryptocurrency
- The Ethical Argument for Bitcoin Maximalism by Pete
Rizzo

href="https://www.muenzeoesterreich.at/eng/discover/for-investors/gold-the-extraordinary-metal"
target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gold - The
Extraordinary Metal by the Austrian Mint

🎧  href="https://anchor.fm/tales-from-the-crypt/episodes/162-Robert-Breedlove-ee9e6t">Robert
Breedlove on Bitcoin and the Number Zero
TFTC#162
hosted by Marty Bent

📚 The
Black Swan - The Impact of the Highly Improbable by
Nassim Nicholas Taleb