Bitcoin Fixes This, But Only If We Fix Ourselves First
This is a round clay ball that fits in the palms of your hand. It’s not very heavy, but definitely has presence. The clay is bare, no glaze, and you can feel the cool temperature and mildly rough surface touching your hands.
If you look through the hole at the top, you can see orange clay tokens that have a Bitcoin symbol on them, my signature as the issuer, and the block height they were created in.
Five thousand years ago, something very similar was invented. It was the earliest known tamper-proof, verifiable accounting system.
what was a bulla?
Tokens that recorded a transaction between two parties were sealed in clay envelopes, making the transaction record tamper-proof and verifiable only by breaking the envelope. This was an invention that could keep track of economic life without a trusted third party. It was a system that had the potential to be peer to peer, trustless, permissionless, and decentralized.
the tool was sound
The system worked. It was tamper-proof, transparent, and verifiable. It helped build the first cities, organize grain storage, and enable trade at a larger scale. The need to record transactions gave birth to symbols, which gave birth to writing. The first ledger humanity invented led to a huge change in the course of history.
Bitcoin is a decentralized ledger, tamper-proof, verified by code. It is also giving birth to new symbols and hopefully to a new civilization.
When I found out about the Mesopotamian Bullae, I was immediately intrigued. I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of pre-history and what we can learn from ancient civilizations. What are the things they practiced that have been corrupted since, and that maybe we can return to if we learn enough about them? Humanity has always had its dark sides and its beautiful sides, and to not repeat history, we need to learn from it. Pre-history asks us to go a step further, since there is no written record. We need to be able to step outside the world views of today and try to imagine different ways of thinking. That’s an exercise I have been enjoying very much.
When I started this series, I thought that the Bulla was the ancestor of Bitcoin. But after learning more, maybe it’s also the ancestor of the system we’re trying to leave.
Sound tools aren’t enough. We need to decide how and what we use them for.
The Bullae didn’t exist in a vacuum. Here’s a little peek at the way things worked (maybe it can seem familiar to us today):
“Debt was a central mechanism of the Mesopotamian economy and one of its most powerful instruments of social control. Loans were commonly issued in silver or grain to cover agricultural losses, household shortages, or commercial ventures. Borrowing was not exceptional behavior; it was a routine response to environmental and economic instability.”
“Interest rates were standardized and legally regulated, yet repayment remained uncertain. Crop failure, trade loss, or illness could quickly turn temporary borrowing into long-term dependence. When debts could not be repaid, borrowers were often forced to pledge labor, property, or family members as security.”
“After a thousand years, the priests who ran the temples had so much money that the concept of banking came up.”
On the other hand:
“Mesopotamia was the first place where crop surpluses were produced to such a degree that enough labor was freed that it could be harnessed to build cities and monuments, produce art and crafts, and support merchants, temples, and monarchs.”
Recorded transactions led to the ability to create bigger markets. (You can read the full sources here and here.)
The tool remained sound, but the institution around it changed from a custodian of records to a centralized power that controlled.
Tools don’t have agency. They are used by human beings.
How much impact do the world views, beliefs, and aspirations of the humans using the tool actually have on the final result?
“bitcoin fixes this” (or at least has the potential to)
Bitcoin has the potential to be sound money, permissionless, uncontrollable, trustless, decentralized, led by rules and not rulers.
We need to remember this is only potential.
Bitcoin is seventeen years old and we are already seeing the formation of centralized mining. Most people use custodial wallets and exchanges (I haven’t verified this, but I’m pretty sure it’s true, and in the case of mass adoption, will become more so). Bitcoin ETFs and loans are probably candidates for bail outs.
I’m sure you who are reading this can think of more ways it can be corrupted.
None of what I’m writing here is new. Much of it is the source of the wildest discussions and battles in this space. That’s why I love this space so much and have hope. This matters to so many plebs that they will enter virtual and not so virtual battles to protect this tool.
history started with an act of disobedience
The disobedience in the original Genesis story was eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The knowledge was self-awareness: awareness that there is good and evil. The expulsion from the Garden of Eden was the moment the work began.
If you want to create heaven on earth, you need to do the work.
Bitcoin gives us the key. The knowledge of what is possible.
But awareness of good and evil means we are capable of both. I say we, because no one thinks they are evil. Everyone is the good guy in their story. The only way to go down a better path is to verify yourself. Look in the mirror, look inside, and ask what you are building and where you want this to go.
The laser eyes need to start focusing on something other than the price.
This time, eating from the tree of knowledge gives you another gift. We already know good and evil exist. We already know there is work to be done and it’s not easy.
The eight Bullae in this series name eight problems in the fiat system which Bitcoin promises to fix. Whether that promise holds depends on what we do with the knowledge.
The first one is on auction at BTC Prague: timechainartifacts.com. The rest will be shown at other conferences throughout the year and can be purchased directly by contacting Yonat at info@yonatvaks.com.
The question isn’t whether Bitcoin is sound money.
The question is, will it stay that way.
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