LETTER #15: BITCOIN IS A REVOLUTION IN PROPERTY RIGHTS.
Bitcoin offers inviolable property rights that NO ONE can violate.
When we hear the word “property”, something like real estate or land comes to the mind.
But do we know what property actually mean?
Property is anything that can be owned, and to own something means to be able to determine how it is used. A television is a property because you can own it, but the weather isn’t.
In today’s world, we have law enforcement agencies that enable the ownership of a property.
A television is mine because I paid for it and I have all the receipts/documents that prove my ownership of it. Anybody who tries to steal it from me can be punished according to the law. Only I have the power to determine/choose who can use my television.
But there’s one problem:
We have to depend upon the law enforcement agencies or the governments to make sure that nobody can steal our property, and, in case, if our property rights get violated, we have to take help from the justice system to get our property rights back.
What if the governments themselves start violating property rights - like they do in some dictatorial countries - and the justice system stop working in people’s favor?
There’ll be no property rights, people will not be able to have possession of something. When the governments - who real job is to protect property rights of everyone - start violating property rights, civilization collapses.
We saw it during the past two years as the governments have been trying hard to take away our most basic form of property right: our body.
Why did Soviet Union fall? How America became the superpower?
The answer lies in the property rights. The former was violating them and the latter was the first country to embrace and promote property rights.
BITCOIN CHANGES THE GAME.
Up until Bitcoin, there was no such thing as digital property rights.
The Internet was supposed to be a tool for freedom, but over time it became a tool to censor people because we are using the centralized platforms - such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Google, etc. - that can suspend the account of anyone who speaks something they don’t like. There’s no freedom of speech on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, or any other centralized platform that rule the world today.
Up until now, property rights were protected by violence. If somebody tries to steal your property, you’d have to use the violence to stop that person or you’d have to hire the guys with guns and knives to protect your property.
In addition, property rights were not global. A guy living in Nigeria doesn’t enjoy as many property rights as the one living in United States.
Bitcoin is unique.
It works the same for both the poorest and richest person on the planet. Anyone can use it in any way they like. If you hold the keys to your Bitcoin, not even the strongest government in the world can take it away from you.
Bitcoin doesn’t depend upon governments or violence to protect our property rights. Still, it’s orders of magnitude more secure than the systems that use violence.
It depends upon the laws of mathematics that are equal for everyone and can’t be compromised.
Consciously or sub-consciously, people want property rights. That’s the reason people flee from dictatorial countries to the ones where they are provided with property rights.
If you want prosperity for your country/people, start with offering property rights and sound money to them. Bitcoin is the only thing in the world that enables both in a perfect manner.
Everything else that you can point your finger towards - your house, car, land, business, etc. - can be taken away from you by brute force. Therefore, in my opinion, they are not a property.
Bitcoin is the only property that exists.
FINAL THOUGHT….
Coffee + writing a newsletter = a match made in heaven.