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Michael Wilkins
thebitcointransition@primal.net
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Founder, Involve Digital. Founder, The Bitcoin Transition. Focused on sound money, incentives, and systems. Bitcoin as a monetary protocol, not a speculative asset. Exploring how hard money shapes technology, productivity, and long-term human progress.
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Michael Wilkins 3 months ago
Recently I re built the Bitcoin Transition website to better reflect what Bitcoin really is. There is a massive misunderstanding of what #Bitcoin is. Collectively we need to start treating bitcoin as a a monetary protocol. Price things in Bitcoin. Use Bitcoin as our currency and money of choice. Too many people peg it to fiat. This is where the misunderstanding starts.
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
Most people still think in fiat terms. They look at Bitcoin’s price in dollars and try to anchor it to today’s global asset market, which is also measured in dollars. That framing assumes the dollar remains the dominant unit of account indefinitely. If Bitcoin were to reach the final stage of monetary adoption, becoming a widely used unit of account, valuation would invert. Assets would no longer be priced primarily in dollars and then translated into Bitcoin. They would be natively priced in sats. That means every asset and every liability would have a Bitcoin price. Property. Equity. Debt. Commodities. Luxury goods. Intellectual property. Everything that carries economic value. At the same time, global productivity does not stand still. Technology, automation, and innovation continue to expand the quantity and quality of goods and services. The stock of valuable things in the world grows over time. In that scenario, a fixed-supply monetary base measuring a growing pool of productive assets will naturally reflect that expansion in its purchasing power relative to weaker monetary units. The common objection comes from projecting a future Bitcoin-denominated world onto today’s fiat-denominated balance sheets. It assumes today’s dollar aggregates are a hard ceiling. They are not. They are contingent on the monetary system currently in place. If a transition were to occur, the relevant question would not be “how high can Bitcoin go in dollars,” but rather “what happens to the dollar’s purchasing power relative to a fixed monetary supply in a world of expanding output.” Those are two very different analytical frames. #Bitcoin
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
The fiat experiment will go down in history as one of the greatest economic failures of the modern era. For over 50 years, the global monetary system has been built on debt expansion, currency debasement and the belief that inflation is “healthy.” That belief comes straight out of Keynesian thinking. The problem? Inflation is not growth. Debt is not productivity. Money printing is not prosperity. Technology, AI, robotics and automation are inherently deflationary forces. They increase productivity. They reduce real costs. They make abundance possible. In a free market with sound money, life should get cheaper over time. Instead, what do we see? • Housing further out of reach • Healthcare more expensive • Education inflated beyond reason • Asset prices distorted • Savings punished • Debt normalised Even when life improves for some, it costs exponentially more than it should relative to productivity gains. Why? Because the system requires inflation to survive. Debt must grow. Currencies must weaken. Savings must be diluted. When money itself is unstable, everything built on top of it becomes unstable. This is not a political statement. It’s a monetary one. History will not judge the fiat era kindly. Sound money disciplines governments. Unsound money disciplines citizens. And we are living through the consequences.
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
I’m tired of scrolling LinkedIn and seeing the same posts on repeat: “Bitcoin is down $66k.” “Bitcoin is down 50%.” “Bitcoin is failing.” Every speculator has an opinion. Everyone pretends they know what’s happening. Almost none of it matters. Because nothing fundamental about Bitcoin has changed. Bitcoin is not a stock. It is not a tech company. It is not a yield product. It is not a macro trade. Bitcoin is a monetary protocol. Here’s what hasn’t changed: The supply is still fixed at 21 million Blocks are still produced roughly every 10 minutes Nodes still independently verify every rule Miners still secure the network via proof-of-work Difficulty still adjusts automatically No central party can change the rules That’s Bitcoin. The only thing that’s moved is the fiat exchange rate people use to talk about it. When people say “Bitcoin is down,” what they actually mean is: One unit of Bitcoin currently exchanges for fewer dollars. That tells you something about dollars, not about Bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn’t promise price stability in fiat terms. It promises monetary integrity. It removes discretionary money creation. It removes counterparty risk. It removes the need to speculate just to preserve purchasing power. That’s why so many people misunderstand it. Most people don’t want money. They want more fiat. So they trade Bitcoin instead of using it. They time tops and bottoms. They chase narratives. They panic when the unit of account they don’t trust moves against them. But when you stop pricing your life in fiat and start pricing it in Bitcoin, the picture flips: Goods get cheaper over time. Savings stop evaporating. Long-term planning becomes possible again. That’s the point. Bitcoin doesn’t need defending during drawdowns. It needs understanding. Price noise will come and go. The protocol remains consistent. Tick tock. Next Block That’s #Bitcoin
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
In February 2016 an average sirloin from the butcher cost. 2230596 sats Today it costs 21065 This is what living on a Bitcoin Standard is like. Prices drop long term. Life gets better. Retirement comes earlier. That’s #Bitcoin
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
#Bitcoin is not something you price. #Bitcoin is something you price things in.
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
Most debates about #Bitcoin still anchor on the wrong unit of account. Fiat. Bitcoin does not become valuable because its fiat price rises. Its fiat price rises because fiat currencies lose purchasing power over time, while Bitcoin’s supply remains fixed. Today, approximately 19.99 million bitcoin exist. That supply will increase slowly and predictably until it asymptotically approaches 21 million by 2140. No policy decision, emergency, or demand shock can change this issuance schedule. At the same time, global production of goods and services continues to expand. Technology, automation, energy efficiency, and capital accumulation increase output faster than new bitcoin are created. This is not speculative — it is observable economic reality. When productive output grows faster than the monetary base, prices fall in real terms. That is deflation driven by productivity, not collapse. Under a hard money standard, money gains purchasing power because more value is produced per unit of money — not because the money itself changes. Bitcoin was designed for this environment. If Bitcoin were the unit of account, the total value of global production would be expressed across a fixed monetary denominator, rather than an expanding one. Value would not disappear through dilution; it would be redistributed through prices. This does not require Bitcoin’s fiat price to rise for the protocol to function. Even at lower fiat prices: Nodes continue to verify transactions. Proof of work continues. Difficulty adjusts. The rules remain unchanged. Bitcoin does not fail when its fiat price falls. The protocol has no awareness of dollars. What fails is the assumption that Bitcoin’s success is measured by fiat valuation. The debate between #Bitcoin and #Gold — or between different Bitcoin advocates — often misses this point entirely. When arguments hinge on dollar thresholds or “price invalidation levels,” they remain trapped in a fiat unit-of-account framework. A transition to a Bitcoin standard requires a mental shift: From measuring Bitcoin in dollars To measuring goods, services, and time in bitcoin Under such a system: Saving does not require yield Retirement does not depend on perpetual growth or government promises Productivity is rewarded directly through purchasing power This is not speculation. It is the consequence of combining a fixed-supply monetary protocol with rising global productivity. Bitcoin is not an investment vehicle designed to produce more fiat. It is a monetary protocol designed to preserve value across time. Most people are yet to realise this.
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
I have noticed a growing number of Monero supporters lately. After several debates, a pattern becomes clear. Most arguments rest on Keynesian assumptions. This matters. Keynesian economics treats money as a tool to manage outcomes. Issuance is flexible. Inflation is acceptable. Stability is prioritised over constraint. Scarcity is viewed as a problem. Not a requirement. This framework dominates modern finance. It is also why the world looks the way it does today. Persistent inflation. Rising asset prices. Falling purchasing power. Increasing dependence on subsidies and intervention. These outcomes are not accidents. They are features of the model. Monero mirrors this thinking at the protocol level. Supply is not capped. Issuance never reaches zero. Security is subsidised through ongoing dilution. Fees are assumed to be insufficient on their own. This is Keynesian logic expressed in code. The argument is familiar. Some inflation is necessary. The system must be supported. Hard limits are unrealistic. Bitcoin rejects these assumptions. Supply is fixed. Issuance trends to zero. Security must be paid explicitly by users. Scarcity is enforced, not managed. This is a hard money framework. Monero is not fraudulent. It is ideological. It encodes the belief that inflation is functional and necessary. That belief is Keynesian. So the distinction is simple. Bitcoin is sound money. Monero is Keynesian digital cash.
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Michael Wilkins 5 months ago
#Bitcoin is down ~6% today. Emotions are up. This is normal in a fiat-priced world. Short-term price moves are noise created by leveraged markets, traders, and liquidity flows. They do not change what Bitcoin is. If you price your life in Bitcoin terms, something important becomes clear: Over the last10 years, life has become cheaper, not more expensive when living on a Bitcoin standard. While people living entirely in fiat struggle with rising rents, food, energy, and debt, those saving in Bitcoin have seen their purchasing power increase over time. I’ve have personally lived on a Bitcoin standard for over a decade. My cost of living has gone down. My savings have strengthened. I carry no fiat clown world debt. Not because I speculate. But because I focus on producing value in the economy, I get paid for that productivity, and store it in Bitcoin. This is Austrian economics in practice: • Create real value • Avoid debt • Save in hard money • Let time work for you The fiat price of Bitcoin means nothing long term. What matters is: • How many sats you hold • Whether you self-custody • Whether you can earn, save, and eventually spend sats Bitcoin doesn’t need to “go up.” Fiat needs to keep falling — and it always does long term. When measured against an infinite, debasing currency, Bitcoin’s upside is asymmetrical by design. Most people haven’t figured this out yet. Stay calm. Ignore the charts. Be productive. Stack sats.
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Michael Wilkins 6 months ago
You don’t buy Bitcoin. You sell fiat to acquire sats. The price is just an exchange rate between two units. One expands by design. The other does not. Fiat loses purchasing power over time. Bitcoin preserves it. When viewed correctly, timing matters less than direction. You are exchanging a melting asset for a scarce one. People fixate on entry price because they still think in fiat terms. But the goal is not to “get rich.” It is to stop getting poorer. Each sat acquired is stored time and energy. Verified. Portable. Final. Over the long term, the exchange rate will fluctuate. The monetary properties will not. Acquire sats. Hold your keys. Measure wealth in what you keep, not what you trade. #Bitcoin
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Michael Wilkins 6 months ago
Arrived back in London today. At Heathrow, I overheard someone say their Heathrow Express ticket was £30. £30 to take a train from the airport into the city. This is not a transport story. It is a currency story. Purchasing power is what money can buy. When everyday services absorb larger portions of income, purchasing power has declined. Not long ago, £30 represented meaningful optionality. Today, it is consumed by a short, unavoidable trip. The number stayed the same. The value did not. This is how currency decline presents itself. Quietly. Through routine transactions. Most people notice prices. Few notice the unit of account failing. #GBP #Inflation #PurchasingPower #SoundMoney #Bitcoin
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Michael Wilkins 6 months ago
The price barely moved. It proves where price discovery now lives. Bitcoin’s fiat price is set mostly off-chain: derivatives, ETFs, netting, leverage, and internal settlement. Large purchases can be absorbed without touching the base layer. That is not Bitcoin failing. That is financialisation reappearing on top of it. There is no public proof that institutional holdings are unbacked. There is also no cryptographic proof that they are self-custodied. Both statements matter. The risk is not institutions owning bitcoin. The risk is bitcoin becoming something people hold claims on instead of verify. Paperisation does not break Bitcoin. It breaks people’s relationship with it. The protocol remains unchanged. 21 million still exists. Nodes still enforce the rules. The only defence is participation: – self custody – node verification – earning and spending sats Price does not secure Bitcoin. Users do. #Bitcoin image
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Michael Wilkins 6 months ago
Most so-called “crypto educators” are not teaching you how to make money. They don’t even understand the definition of money. They are teaching speculation. Usually in the shitcoin casino. Trading systems, indicators, cycles, narratives. All framed around one goal: increasing a fiat balance. That is not making money. That is chasing units of account that lose purchasing power. Speculation is a zero-sum game. For every winner, there is a loser. No new value is created. No productivity is improved. Only risk is redistributed. Bitcoin was not designed for this. Bitcoin is a monetary protocol, not a trading instrument. It does not generate yield. It does not compound. It does not promise returns. Its function is simple: – fixed supply – predictable issuance – final settlement – ownership without permission When Bitcoin is treated as a vehicle for fiat gains, it becomes misunderstood. When it is treated as money, its purpose becomes clear. Educating people to trade Bitcoin keeps them trapped in the same system Bitcoin was designed to exit. Educating people to earn, save, self-custody, and spend Bitcoin changes behaviour. That distinction matters. If your framework requires charts, leverage, or timing to “win,” you are not teaching money. You are teaching speculation. Bitcoin is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It is a tool for preserving the value of human time and energy over long horizons. Anything else is noise. #Bitcoin #Trading #Speculation