Something changed after the pandemic. Bitcoin crossed a tipping point, and there’s no going back.

The Tipping Point

The pandemic was a turning point for bitcoin — not because of the virus, but because of the response. Debt levels soared all over the world. It was already functionally impossible for global governments to pay their debts, but the pandemic was the nail in the coffin.

The surging inflation that followed the post-pandemic stimulus was proof that we had entered a period of fiscal dominance — where monetary policy tools would be unable to offset the inflationary pressures of government spending.

Then something unprecedented happened: U.S. Treasuries went no-bid. They sold off during a time of crisis. The most liquid and supposedly safest asset on the planet — the asset that’s supposed to be a safe haven — broke. The fact that the Treasury market broke so spectacularly was an omen of times to come. Bonds are no longer the safe asset they once were.

Then came the weaponization of foreign exchange reserves. The seizure of Russian reserves set a precedent that shook the global financial order. As Alex Gladstein put it: “The weaponization of FX reserves and the sinking realization from big powers that they don’t actually control most of their savings will be seen as a turning point in history.”

This marked the end of sovereign immunity for the dollar. Not only are bonds a bad deal in an inflationary environment, but the precedent has now been set that those reserves can be taken away. China noticed — they hold a trillion dollars of U.S. debt. Credit Suisse published a note describing the end of the current monetary order, calling it Bretton Woods III — a new dominance of “outside” money over “inside” central bank money.

Gold and bitcoin are the only two safe haven assets left. And bitcoin is winning.

Bitcoin vs. Gold

First off, and most importantly: gold was captured by governments. It objectively failed as a sound monetary system due to its shortcomings.

Bitcoin was designed to specifically fix the failures of gold — portability, divisibility, and verifiability. The goal of money is to transfer value across space, time, and scales. Gold is great at transporting value across time but terrible at space and scales.

Imagine paying someone in gold. They’d say: “What am I supposed to do with this? How do I know it’s real? How much is it worth?” With bitcoin, a mobile wallet verifies transactions instantly and can transfer value globally in seconds.

Consider the practical differences:

  • Verification: How do you verify $16 trillion of gold? With bitcoin, every satoshi is cryptographically provable.
  • Custody: Gold gets progressively harder to custody at scale. Moving $100 billion of gold out of the market to verify is nearly impossible. With bitcoin, it’s as easy to move $1,000 as $1 trillion.
  • Self-custody: Gold failed as a store of value because centralized custody (banks and vaults) made it easy for governments to confiscate it. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 6102 didn’t require door-to-door raids — the gold was already in bank vaults. Bitcoin doesn’t have this vulnerability.
  • Paper markets: Gold’s price is suppressed by paper gold markets where claims vastly exceed physical supply. With bitcoin, the “bluff” of paper bitcoin can be called — take delivery instantly, digitally, at near-zero cost.
  • Environmental cost: Gold mining is far worse for the environment and can be sourced unethically.

Unlike gold, which fits inside a debt-based system, bitcoin is a network unto itself. Its layers provide unlimited velocity and instant transfer. Satoshi designed bitcoin as the new gold — fixing every shortcoming while adding properties a physical commodity could never possess.

In the end, bitcoin and gold will likely co-exist. But only one is designed for the digital age.

Pristine Collateral

Bitcoin is emerging as the world’s most pristine collateral — an asset with unquestionable integrity, deep liquidity, and zero counterparty risk.

Consider what makes ideal collateral: it must be scarce, liquid, verifiable, portable, and free from counterparty risk. Bitcoin is the only asset that checks every box:

  • No counterparty risk: Unlike government bonds or real estate, bitcoin has no issuer who can default or manipulate its value.
  • Absolute scarcity: Programmatically limited to 21 million — the only asset with a truly fixed supply.
  • 24/7 liquidity: Billions traded daily across global markets, settling instantly rather than in days or weeks.
  • Instant verification: Ownership proven by cryptographic signatures, auditable in real time on the public blockchain — no lawyers, auditors, or paperwork needed.
  • Global portability: Moved anywhere in minutes, unlike gold (heavy and cumbersome) or real estate (immovable).
  • Self-custody: No bank or intermediary required, making it resilient to systemic risks.

The CFTC has launched pilot programs for bitcoin as collateral in derivatives markets. Major financial institutions are recognizing what Bitcoiners have known for years: bitcoin will replace U.S. Treasuries as the ultimate risk-free asset.

Institutional Adoption

Bitcoin is the fastest asset to reach a 0 trillion dollar valuation in history. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) hit $10 billion faster than any ETF in history, reaching nearly $100 billion in assets under management in just 21 months — making it BlackRock’s most profitable fund.

The list of institutional converts is staggering. Legendary Wall Street investor Bill Miller put 60% of his portfolio in bitcoin. Stan Druckenmiller is bullish. Paul Tudor Jones called it “the fastest horse over the next 10 years.” Jack Dorsey resigned as Twitter CEO to focus on bitcoin full-time. Ray Dalio acknowledged “we might be missing something” — then his second-in-command left to join a bitcoin company.

As Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan put it: “BlackRock and Schwab coming in reinforces to the everyday investor that bitcoin is not going away. That’s now been settled. It’s now how big is that future.”

Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar success is attracting interest from the rich and powerful everywhere — from Wall Street to Silicon Valley to sovereign wealth funds. Value is demonstrably flowing out of gold and into bitcoin. Companies are adding it to their balance sheets. The insurance industry is discovering it as a hedge against declining yields.

No asset has evolved from concept to billions of dollars in stored value as fast as bitcoin. And the adoption curve is still in its early stages.

Regulatory Clarity

Bitcoin isn’t getting banned. Not in the United States, not in any major democracy.

Bitcoin is code, and code is speech. The First Amendment protects it. The Fifth Amendment protects the right to keep your private keys in your head. Even the SEC has consistently differentiated bitcoin from “crypto” — both Gary Gensler and Janet Yellen have publicly praised Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovation.

The repeal of SAB 121 — the SEC rule that forced banks to record bitcoin held for customers as liabilities — was a pivotal moment. With that barrier removed, banks are now free to custody bitcoin without punitive accounting treatment. This opens the door for bitcoin-backed lending, institutional collateral markets, and the full integration of bitcoin into traditional finance.

The regulatory landscape has shifted dramatically. The U.S. government has auctioned off over 210,000 seized bitcoin on the open market — they wouldn’t sell contraband. States are passing favorable legislation. And the political coalition behind bitcoin is unlike anything in modern politics:

What issue can bring together a gay Congressman from the Bronx, an environmentalist Democrat from New England, and an anti-woke Republican Governor from Florida? Bitcoin, apparently.

From a national security perspective, key decision-makers are realizing that allowing bitcoin to monetize alongside gold would disproportionately benefit the U.S. — whose citizens and firms hold potentially a majority of all bitcoin. While China and Russia double-down on analog gold, the U.S. can counter-move to digital gold.

The Network Effect

Bitcoin has already won the protocol war.

Just as TCP/IP won out over competing internet protocols in the 1990s, bitcoin has won the monetary protocol war. Not because of complex utility at the base layer, but because it’s an agreed-upon, simple, rules-based system that no one controls.

The network effect for bitcoin spans every dimension: sustainability, decentralization, security, competition, institutional entrenchment, name recognition, the Lindy effect, Metcalfe’s Law. Bitcoin commands 94% of the market cap of all proof-of-work cryptocurrencies.

The network includes developers, institutions, investors, merchants, regulators, and millions of users worldwide. All of them would have to collectively move to a different project — none of which are truly decentralized. It won’t happen. The switching cost is infinite.

Financial advisors are fixated on succession planning, with trillions expected to pass to the next generation. An anti-bitcoin strategy is a death sentence for advisors trying to maintain relevance to younger generations who have grown up digital-native.

Bitcoin’s network effect is its best defense. It was a spontaneous birth. It grew under the radar. Now it’s extremely powerful. And it’s unmatched.

The Culture

Bitcoin is one of the only assets with a revolution behind it.

The core values of the bitcoin community have to do with property rights, individual human dignity, self-determination, privacy, autonomy, and monetary predictability. These aren’t just investment theses — they’re moral convictions.

The conviction of holders is stronger than ever and only growing. Bitcoin keeps getting accumulated by strong hands who are convinced of the long-term value. Even in periods of severe downturn, holders remain resilient. Long-term holders who are profitable even during downturns have not been selling.

This is Nassim Taleb’s intransigent minority at work — a stubborn minority asserting its preference on the broader population. Bitcoin has its own “Fed put” — a mass movement that will buy the dip. Bear markets bleed bitcoin into the hands of true believers who plan never to sell.

Bitcoin has a revolution behind it. No other asset can say that.