And then one of the members of the panel described bitcoin in a way that I\u2019d never heard before. She called it the natural coin or \u201cnatural money.\u201d It was one of those moments when the blinding flash of the obvious hits you like a thunderbolt. \u201cBitcoin is natural money.\u201d Hold it, did she say bitcoin is natural money? Holy crap \u201cbitcoin IS natural money!!\u201d The completely ignorant say bitcoin is backed by nothing but that is so laughably wrong there is no point even engaging with someone who holds that uninformed view. Some bitcoiners like to say bitcoin is \u201cmoney backed by energy\u201d which many bitcoiners {most notably Eric Yakes author of The 7th Property} vigorously refute. Eric says bitcoin is \u201csecured\u201d by energy which I agree is a better framing. <\/p>\n

However, this wise women in the jungle just gave bitcoin the best framing yet it\u2019s: \u201cn a t u r a l m o n e y.\u201d You start with running water or methane gas, or hydrocarbons or wind or solar. ALL THESE ELEMENTS COME FROM NATURE AND ARE THEN CONVERTED TO ELECTRICITY THAT ALLOWS BITCOIN MINERS [ASIC\u2019S] TO BEGIN HASHING WHICH EVENTUALLY RESULTS IN BITCOIN. Without these natural resources there is no bitcoin.<\/em> Statement of fact. Start with something natural and end with bitcoin. The idea that every country in the world has natural resources that were previously unable to be converted to natural money is not lost on people in Africa or Costa Rica. [Note: Anyone reading this who loves this idea of natural money AND wants to author a children\u2019s book on the topic please reach out to me.]<\/p>\n

Fiat Is The Antithesis Of Natural Money<\/h2>\n

Compare what is needed to produce \u201cnatural money\u201d to every fiat currency in the world or any of the top alt coins. Trillions of US dollars can be created out of thin air in seconds as long as you\u2019re the central banker or someone holding an insider position [ONE OF THE PRIVILEGED FEW] who gets to produce money from nothing and certainly NOT FROM NATURE. Fiat is the antithesis of natural money!! \u201cStick that in your pipe and smoke it Senator Warren!\u201d Fiat is artificial. Bitcoin is natural. <\/p>\n

Natural Money NOT Bitcoin<\/h2>\n

Bitcoin is the term for the zealots, the ideologues and the movement. There is nothing wrong with the term bitcoin but consider the adversarial energy that has been built against it? Our adversaries have built some bitter narratives against it. Are they bullshit? You bet!!! Does most of the world know that? NO!!! <\/p>\n

Problem: Bitcoin is used as a derisive term by bitcoin\u2019s biggest enemies, haters and detractors. I\u2019ve personally watched young and old visibly blanche at my mention of the word bitcoin. <\/p>\n

Solution: Natural money is so much more approachable for the uninitiated. Imagine if we asked Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett or Peter Schiff this question: \u201cWhat are your thoughts about natural money?\u201d Their responses will make them sound clownish and ignorant. <\/p>\n

Natural money quietly, peacefully and softly creates curiosity around the idea there is such a thing in the world as natural money. There are all kinds of implied qualities about that term which neutralizes the attack surface on bitcoin. It also reduces the attack surface by bitcoin\u2019s opponents because it\u2019s much harder to attack \u201cnatural money.\u201d Natural money is of the people, for the people and by the people. You can be against \u201cnatural money\u201d of course but it almost seems unnatural to do so. It eviscerates some typical attacks and darts thrown at bitcoin. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first natural money native to the internet. It doesn\u2019t require much explanation beyond saying it\u2019s the only form of money fueled or sourced by natural resources. Who\u2019d want to oppose \u201cnatural money\u201d? [As an experiment, go back and read your favorite or next article about bitcoin but substitute the term \u201cnatural money\u201d each time the word bitcoin appears. How does it land on you?] <\/p>\n

CALL TO ACTION<\/h2>\n

As we gathered round the bonfire on the beach that final night on Playa Hermosa as the festival came to a close I shared this indigenous woman\u2019s insight with other festival goers and it resonated. So as a final thought, I invite you to consider executing a \u201csoft fork\u201d in your use of language from this point forward and share her wisdom far and wide.<\/em> In my view, she captured the gestalt of bitcoin by calling it \u201cnatural money.\u201d <\/p>\n

From now on, when you get the chance I\u2019d suggest you use the phrase natural money 2x more often when describing bitcoin. Why? There is a huge segment of the population that is more likely to be curious about natural money. Psychologically and subconsciously the world has been HUNGERING for natural money since Nixon closed the gold window in 1971. Bitcoin can sound too much like a cult or religious zealots to those who fail to appreciate it\u2019s breakthrough impact on humanity. There have been dozens of negative narratives thrown at bitcoin since inception. For me it seems much more accurate and satisfying to refer to bitcoin as natural money. One of the festival attendees even created a Twitter handle #naturalmoney. As a gesture of respect for this wise lady let us know you agree with her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a guest post by Mark Maraia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I attended the Bitcoin Freedom Festival in Uvita, Costa Rica from January 18th through 20th. It was a unique event that was unlike any bitcoin gathering I\u2019ve ever attended. There were over 30 speakers during the festival so I won\u2019t try to cover each but there was one session that stood out and it involved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crypto-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoins-101.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}