True or BS? ‘These signals support the idea that Bitcoin is evolving into a globally relevant, energy-backed financial infrastructure, which aligns with Lowery’s framing of it as a security system for digital property. This follows because each signal reinforces one of the core components required for such a system to exist at scale. Institutional products increase capital inflow and liquidity, which strengthens the economic incentives that fund mining and therefore the network’s security budget. Merchant adoption and payment integrations expand real-world usage, turning Bitcoin from a speculative asset into an operational settlement layer. The use of Bitcoin in constrained geopolitical contexts shows that, when traditional financial rails are limited or unreliable, it can function independently. Together, these factors indicate that Bitcoin is not just maintained by ideology or niche use, but by continuous economic activity that directly funds its energy-based security model, making it a persistent and globally relevant infrastructure for recording and settling digital value without centralized enforcement. If these dynamics continue, the system’s security and relevance would increasingly be driven by market participation rather than institutional mandate. Higher adoption would translate into greater economic value secured on-chain, which in turn incentivizes more energy expenditure and raises the cost of interference. Over time, this could solidify Bitcoin’s role as a parallel settlement layer for digital value, particularly in environments where traditional systems are constrained or contested, reinforcing its function as an economically sustained, non-sovereign mechanism for enforcing digital ownership.’ View quoted note →