We need to educate as many as we can about #Bitcoin because it’s the best lens for understanding what’s happening with the world today. Then they get to decide what’s best for them.

To speak of “the price” of #Bitcoin is to think in fiat terms.

Twitter is Fiat; Nostr is #Bitcoin Ever since Elon bought Twitter, it’s become ever more messy. People keep seeing posts of people they don’t follow; Elon’s narcissism makes him a single point of failure; and bitcoiners suspect they’re shadowbanned for some reason (endorsing Nostr?). This is why open protocols matter. As we continue to migrate ideas and value onto the digital realm, the struggle for freedoms over the internet will intensify.

NOTE 1: “The University as Home for Bitcoin Education” available at

Florin T. Hilbay

Those who buy bitcoin aren’t simply buying a digital asset. They are buying into a new world or, more precisely, entering a new universe. The close approximation here is learning a new language, which has a different set of rules for connecting ideas in both time and space. The universe of fiat is the universe of inflation, fractional reserve banking, central banking. The universe of #Bitcoin, with its different set of rules, has a different language. It’s a world of deflation, not inflation; of sovereign individuals who themselves are full-reserves banks. It is that, and so much more. few.

BOOK REVIEW Bitcoin for individuals is easy, either a person gets it by gut or gets it five or 10 years later. To bastardize a famous Satoshi quote: Either you get it now or you don’t, I don’t have time for you now. I’m already on to the next step, bitcoin for institutions (e.g. conglomerates, corporations, and co-operatives). It is in this context that I’d like to give Prof. Florin’s bitcoin book its plaudits and critique. The book is a game of two halves. The first (Chapters 1 to 7), a disguised deconstruction of our mental concept of “money,” masquerading as a series of bedtime stories. The second (Chapters 8 to 15), a careful construction of the rational argument for bitcoin. Two faces of the same coin, pun intended. The writing is at once free and cohesive for such a normally elusive subject. Tempered and disciplined in the details it covers and what it doesn’t. Measured, without being compromising. Deep dives, without getting lost in the moment. This work is firm on its foundations, without getting distracted by things that usually elicit the vitriol of bitcoiners the world over: the highway robberies being conducted in broad daylight by charlatans and barons in the parallel universe of crypto, altcoins, and “shitcoins.” The message seems to be, “Not now. Pick your battles. There’s time for everything.” This is a time of congratulations. Half of it goes to Dean Hilbay. Half of it has to go to Silliman University (est. 1901) for launching the book and for putting its academic armada behind it. This is a first-mover advantage, a unique intellectual value proposition that will serve the university very well in the years to come. As founder of http://Lightning.coop, through which we advocate for the adoption of open protocols such as Lightning (bitcoin’s 2nd layer) under the shibboleth “Coops for collective freedom, bitcoin for individual liberty,” our audience are boards of directors, conglomerates, groups of companies, cooperatives, CEOs, and law firms. This is the book I have been waiting for. This is the book I wish I had written. Overall, this book was written by sound money, literally. It is no coincidence that Chapter 3 of this book tells the story of how in 1252, the fiorino d’oro (the florin) came about. Prof. Florin is a bitcoiner’s bitcoiner. In our secret nooks around the world, this book will be read by the candlelight. — Lyman A. Manzanares, a “pleb” whose primary mission is to arm the Philippines’ more than 10,000 co-operatives and more than 10M cooperators with what Prof. Florin refers to as “the gift from a faceless man” (Chapter 8)

Florin T. Hilbay

#Bitcoin is priceless. few.

“Bitcoin: An introduction…” has launched.

Florin T. Hilbay

#Bitcoin allows every individual on the planet to become a full reserve bank. Billions = sovereign individuals.

Fiat is a system of debt that inflates just enough to keep the pyramid going, while people are unaware and without reasonable means of exit. #Bitcoin fixes this.

dictators and tyrants are products of a system that allows them to rise and thrive. you can fight them. or you can play a different game. #bitcoin

Fiat is debt. It is only acceptable because of legal tender laws. To make it attractive, governments promise yield on the debt they issue. Effectively, this is a promise to pay with more fiat money. As this process progresses, this pile of debt and debt on debt soon becomes one giant pyramid. Like any other pyramid, it is only a matter of ‘when’ until everything comes crashing down. Thankfully, people all over the world now have an alternative. #Bitcoin

Don’t look at #Bitcoin merely as an opportunity to invest or profit from volatility. Look at Bitcoin as a path to understanding how the world works.

See you!

#Bitcoin

Dear all: we’ve set up a website that will allow you to order my forthcoming book on #Bitcoin. I’ll be posting essays and announcements of bitcoin-related activities in the Philippines on this site. Thanks!

Florin T. Hilbay

If you want to empower people not w empty rights but with actual material freedoms, give them control over their money. #Bitcoin

The relevant comparison is not between satoshis or dollars or pesos but among different satoshis or dollars or pesos in space and time (in the US, the Philippines, the Antarctic AND yesterday, today, and tomorrow). Satoshis are all the same, identical in value, permanent, and unchanging across space and time, protected by energy and math. The test is internal consistency or system integrity. Now apply this test to fiat moneys and see how they have fluctuated and depreciated across space and time. You still think #Bitcoin is volatile?

Getting paid in fiat gives you satisfaction your work has value. Getting paid in #Bitcoin isn’t just recognition of your proof-of-work: it’s electrifying!