The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword? Bitcoin's White Paper Proves It

We live under many delusions, and for the last 100 years, at least, one such delusion has been that of fiat currency.

The promise of Bitcoin is but for a chance at that moment.

The goal, if I may presume the core of Bitcoin's purpose, is to end the global system of fiat money within which we have trapped ourselves, to end the delusion, and it will do so by simply providing an open and unstoppable alternative to it; by illuminating a path out of the cave.

Bitcoin exists to separate the essence of value from any particular person or group of people.

Despite its decentralization, Bitcoin exudes an irresistible financial gravity, pulling into it people, resources, technology and energy itself.

The technology works: for years now Bitcoin has operated correctly, growing swiftly in the hostile wilds, spawning countless other species, both competitive and collaborative.

Ten years in and Bitcoin could hardly be more successful - indeed since its genesis it has clearly been the most successful form of money ever invented.

Bitcoin grew 10,000-fold without the anointment of any king, nor the blessing of any banker.

Despite every professional condemnation, Bitcoin stands as proof that money can emerge through decentralized market forces, with no institutional prerequisite, no fiat diktat.

10 years on, begun as nothing more than the written word, first on paper and then in code, Bitcoin stands as proof of the pen's omnipotence, and of my early naiveté on the topic of its sharper counterpart.