There’s a brief scene in the Disney movie Aladdin that sums up international finance pretty nicely. You’ve heard of the golden rule haven’t you? Whoever has the gold makes the rules. Bitcoin is a better financial instrument than Gold in every way except for as a decoration. Ensure that your country comes out financially secure if Bitcoin succeeds. First, I’ll list out some of my assumptions.

It is in the realm of possibility that Bitcoin could become the global currency. I make this assumption because that’s why it was created, and adoption has been steadily growing over the last 9.5 years. BTC was discovered in 2009, started with 1 participant, and had no merchant acceptance. Adoption has no reason to slow or stop. A country is not a government. It’s a group of people who share a similar culture usually organized with help from a government.

Here are some facts about Bitcoin adoption:

With these points in our back pockets, let’s explore why buying and holding (HODLing) Bitcoin is good for your country.

The wealthiest countries around the world make the rules. Look at how the US has influenced the world since WWII. The UK was the global powerhouse of the 19th Century, and before them were the Dutch, Belgians, Austro-Hungarians, etc. all the way back to ancient Sumeria. These countries are/were wealthy in part because of their strong economies, technological innovations, and because they hoarded Gold. Over thousands of years, humanity has converged on Gold as the accepted store of value. If assumption 1 above is correct, Bitcoin has just ended Gold’s multi-thousand year reign as the world’s best store of value. It is a better store of value than gold because of Bitcoin fact 5. Although Gold’s supply increases very slowly at about 1–2% per year, its ultimate supply is unknown, and its supply has the potential to be inflated by technological breakthroughs (asteroid mining?). Bitcoin’s supply is hard coded forever at 21 million. So what does all this have to do with helping your country?

Even if you individually believe that Bitcoin is bullshit, a growing number of countries and people around the world think it’s valuable. It doesn’t matter what you think; it matters what everyone else in the world thinks. Since Bitcoin is an incredibly scarce global resource, those that move the fastest to hoard it ultimately become the wealthiest if adoption of Bitcoin continues (it will, because it’s the best long-term store of value ever discovered). Those that become the wealthiest will influence the trajectory of the future. Let’s work together to prevent a Maduro or a Putin, currently in the process of hoarding BTC, from having any more power than they already do. Buy Bitcoin just in case it becomes the global currency. Every satoshi you own is one fewer satoshi that your opponents can ever possibly have. Ensure your personal and your country’s success even if you don’t think Bitcoin will ultimately succeed. 1 million satoshis currently costs about $67, and gives you 1/2.1 billion of the total supply of Bitcoin that could ever possibly exist. There are over 7 billion people in the world, and most of them do not live in your country.

Additional Resources:

My guide to getting started with Bitcoin: https://medium.com/@philgeiger/a-gentle-introduction-to-bitcoin-c8f6e55855c1

Find a Bitcoin ATM near you to try it out: CoinATMradar

USD Exchanges/Bitcoin banks: Coinbase, Gemini

Euro Exchanges: Bitonic, Bitstamp

Be your own bank on your phone or computer with a BTC wallet: Android — Samourai, iOS- Coinomi, Edge, from a computer — Electrum