Lofoten Islands, Norway

Cheers Laszlo

First time traveling through mainland Italy. Lucky Airbnb find with a great view.

@jack mallers is such a boss. Politicians need Bitcoin more than Bitcoin needs them. That's what we really learned at Bitcoin 2024.

Hayek warned about government control of money in his 1944 book, 'The Road to Serfdom', and it rings true today with the continued attacks against Bitcoin and the cypherpunks pushing privacy solutions forward. His basic argument was that government control of our economic lives amounts to totalitarianism. “Economic control is not merely control of a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest,” he wrote, “it is the control of the means for all our ends.” Stay vigilant.

This is an interesting take on the argument for why 'Bitcoin is inevitable' from Mises in 1932. This essay talks about how the powerful try to plan and organize and collude to maintain control (CBDC's), but free markets create inertia that can't be stopped. Eventually, the powerful must submit to the laws of economics just as they are subject to the laws of nature. Inevitable doesn't mean we don't continue to build better technology around Bitcoin, orange pill our friends, or fight for freedom of speech and money. It simply means that market forces are very hard to stop, and Bitcoin solves very fundamental market problems. Inertia is on our side. https://mises.org/library/myth-failure-capitalism

This legend had some great one liners. If you haven't read any of his works, I highly recommend. Absurd, funny, and quite philosophical all in one go.

I often reflect on this Hayek quote when thinking about Bitcoin and self custody. It is more work, but that is the burden of liberty, the cost of free money.