Why Bitcoin, Why Now?

If you have not read the gold primer, please do. The Bitcoin case has many parallels but has different drivers and timing than gold. There are benefits to diversifying between these debasement investments. My personal interest in digital assets developed around the same time I started pounding the table on gold, after the market corrections of the COVID-19 crisis. Bitcoin, the largest and most established digital asset, is also the most proven store of value. In a world of decreasing trust in financial counterparties, it provides a safer means to transfer value with much less friction than the existing global financial system.

The Bitcoin network is secured via an energy intensive "mining" process that verifies the legitimacy of transactions earns Bitcoin when successful. It is also an energy and infrastructure growth play that enables more efficient usage of lower cost or stranded power, as well as a catalyst for bringing new power generation capacity online. We choose to invest in Bitcoin via ETF exposure, not by holding tokens directly on-chain. This is most common for institutional investors as the assets can be held safely in custody. The US is increasingly becoming a friendly regulatory jurisdiction for Bitcoin and other higher quality digital assets.

Blockchain is the underlying technology behind Bitcoin and other digital assets. The real innovation comes from having distributed ledger such that all transaction history is transparent and that is the basis for how security can be maintained without the need to trust the counterparty in a transaction. We consider most other digital assets to fall as technology opportunities, not debasement hedges. Bitcoin is unique in that it is not as subject to a technology leapfrog as other cutting edge blockchains. It is more suited to building a position and holding for a long time.