Crypto News
The Reformation of Money: Bitcoin’s Whitepaper And Its Parallels To Martin Luther
It’s that time of year when the leaves are changing, the chill of winter is in the air, and many of us in the Western world are once again gearing up for the holiday season. Thanksgiving and Christmas are important holidays for many and one of the best times to gather with family. Still, I would argue that one of the most important holidays is only celebrated by .01 percent of the global population.
That’s right, I am talking about Whitepaper Day. It was 15 years ago today that one of the most important documents ever written was released to the world. The importance of this document is akin to Martin Luther, who published his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517.
Satoshi Nakamoto must have been a student of history because there is little chance this was a coincidence and Satoshi must have understood the significance of publishing the Whitepaper on this day. The parallels between the Whitepaper and the 95 Theses simply can’t be ignored.
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses directly challenged the established moral authority and teachings of the Catholic Church that were never questioned by the average person in those days due to blind obedience to the powers that be.
To the typical citizen back then, the Church had the final say on everything and was never to be questioned. This system worked for a very long time until, one day, people started asking questions.
Such meaningful changes to how people see the world, such as what occurred during the Reformation, don’t happen in a vacuum. There was a series of events that led people to this paradigm shift.
The Catholic Church in the 1500s operated more like a government than a religious institution. Popes in those days were in charge of massive bureaucracies that dealt with everything from forging alliances, building armies, and preying on the fears of their congregants to create a corrupt money-making enterprise.
Essentially, over the centuries, the Catholic Church diverged from the original mission of spreading the Gospel and obeying God’s commandments and became more focused on worldly issues of money and power.
The same paradigm shift about money and power is occurring right now and is present in the genesis block. “ The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” is more than an observation of the news: It is a realization that the global monetary system is irreparably broken.
Man has proven time and time again over the centuries that when given absolute power over the lives of others, even the most pious and well-meaning among us will become corrupt. It is a fatal flaw of the human condition. The only thing that we as humans can do is to mitigate this urge as much as possible.
This is what makes the Bitcoin Whitepaper such a profound and essential part of world history.
Money Makes The World Go Round
Everybody knows, young and old, that money makes the world go round. This is why most people roll out of bed and head to a job they hate to earn little pieces of paper that their governments say have value. People do this because they want what the pieces of paper represent.
These pieces of paper represent time, labor, and desires for goods and services that can benefit their lives. Just like in the days of Martin Luther, the masses were content with the Church having all the power. People today are content with governments controlling the money printer. But a few are starting to ask questions and notice things.
The surging inflation of the last two years is becoming hard for the average consumer to ignore, and the burgeoning global debt crisis is an intractable problem that central banks can only solve by printing more political currency units, thus further devaluing them in a vicious debt spiral until monetary collapse.
The publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper and the widespread dissemination of this information has shown the world that there is a better way to create money, in a way that takes the power and temptation away from our so-called leaders to print new money at will for their own benefit. Bitcoin binds this innate temptation towards corruption in an unbreakable chain of positive incentives, decentralization, transparency, and hard-capped supply, enabled by the ingenious difficulty adjustment and backed by the world’s energy.
These features never existed in the barter system, the gold standard, or the fiat system we are living under right now. Today, we have the opportunity to remake the world with better money that works for everyone and not just the elite. This is a social experiment that has never been tried in human history and is one that we can ill afford not to try.
We have seen the results of other types of money. Why not try money that can’t be created out of thin air or confiscated by governments? What else do we have to lose? Our backs are against the wall, folks; it’s either freedom or tyranny. Liberty or death. Which way will humanity go?
On this glorious Whitepaper day, choose hope over despair. Stand up to the powers that be like Martin Luther did so long ago and change the world with each action you take.
Remember, “ It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” – Samuel Adams
The Bitcoin Whitepaper challenged the unquestioned orthodoxy of government control over money the same way Martin Luther challenged the unquestioned orthodoxy of the Catholic Church.
The day Bitcoiners have been waiting for is finally here. Donald Trump, the first-ever pro-Bitcoin president of the United States, is officially being inaugurated today, January 20, 2025. After a historic campaign in which he famously turned his stance around and championed Bitcoin and crypto throughout 2024, Bitcoiners are eagerly watching to see his promises come to life.
Trump’s campaign was filled with bold commitments to the Bitcoin and crypto industry: national bitcoin reserves, freeing Ross Ulbricht, making the United States the crypto capital of the world, and more. Today marks the beginning of his presidency, and these promises are expected to roll out in the days ahead.
Bitcoin Magazine is thrilled to celebrate this monumental moment in Bitcoin history by bringing you live coverage of the inauguration from PubKey NYC starting at 10:00 a.m. EST.
LIVE: DONALD TRUMP INAUGURATION | AMERICA’S FIRST #BITCOIN PRESIDENT https://t.co/KuwGYgUukP
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) January 20, 2025
The livestream will feature a recap of Trump’s campaign trail, highlighting key moments when he voiced his support for Bitcoin. We’ll be joined by well-known leaders in the Bitcoin space, who will share their predictions and debate the potential impact of the Trump administration on Bitcoin’s future.
This celebratory event brings together Bitcoin and crypto community members to discuss, debate, and reflect on what Trump’s presidency could mean for Bitcoin adoption and regulation.
Don’t miss the action—Catch the Bitcoin Magazine livestream coverage on X, YouTube and Rumble starting today, January 20, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EST.
Donald Trump’s inauguration as the first pro-Bitcoin U.S. president is here—join Bitcoin Magazine’s live coverage at 10 a.m. EST!
Today, the BTCPay Server Foundation was awarded a $25,000 grant paid directly in bitcoin from Unbank, a cash focused Bitcoin exchange, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. The grant will be paid out to contributors working on developing new features, open-source payment innovation, and maintenance of BTCPay Server’s Greenfield APIs and codebase.
“Unbank’s support is a testament to the growing recognition of open-source payment solutions in the Bitcoin ecosystem,” said BTCPay Server core contributor R0ckstar Dev. “This grant will help our efforts to enhance BTCPay Server’s capabilities and reach.”
Unbank, which has become a leading bitcoin ATM network with over 830 ATMs and over 30,000 partner locations, is also utilizing BTCPay Server to process bitcoin sell transactions within their app.
“We love using BTCPay Server in our operations,” Emilio Pagan-Yourno, CEO and COO of Unbank. “When customers buy Bitcoin at our ATMs, we rely on their API to batch and broadcast transactions every 15 minutes. Supporting BTCPay Server is not just essential for our business — it’s a privilege to contribute to the FOSS ecosystem that powers financial freedom.”
Last summer, BTCPay filmed and released a documentary covering the use of bitcoin as a means of exchange at the world’s largest Bitcoin conference in Nashville. BTCPay, in collaboration with Jack Maller’s company Strike, enabled every vendor at the conference to accept bitcoin as payment.
The grant will help BTCPay continue to work on open-source payment development.
When the $TRUMP meme coin dropped Friday evening, no one was surprised. Or at least, they shouldn’t have been. He has a knack for jumping headfirst into endeavors he thinks he can make money on, in self-promoting fashion, that often end in disaster. Some of these ventures include Trump Airlines, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, Trump University, Trump Magazine, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, Trump Mortgage, Trump: The Game. Crypto is the next game in town he’s decided to throw his hat into.
I’ve already written articles and talked at various lengths about Trump leaning into the crypto space to earn votes in this past election that in many ways was quite successful. At Bitcoin Nashville this past summer, in an effort to garner support for his presidential candidacy, Trump said some notable things including that America will become “the crypto capital of the planet and bitcoin superpower of the world,” that he would fire Gary Gensler, and that he wants all remaining bitcoin to be made in America (concerning from a decentralized point of view, and highly implausible in reality). He also famously said that he would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht on Day one, which if he does I will be the first to give credit where credit is due. (For more on this I recommend watching the recent Reason documentary on why Ross should be freed).
Crypto is Donald Trump’s next frontier and combines several things he absolutely loves when it comes to business deals – Quick easy money, self-promotion, America first messaging, and little bureaucratic friction standing in his way. So, what is $TRUMP coin?
It’s built on the Solana blockchain with a total supply of 1 billion tokens. Initially, 200 million tokens are available for circulation, while the remaining 800 million are held by CIC Digital, a Trump Organization affiliate, subject to a three-year lock-up period (which means the Trump family holds 80% of supply…). Following its launch, the $TRUMP coin’s market cap surged, reaching approximately $6 billion. The coin’s price peaked at $33.7. The $TRUMP coin was marketed as a means for supporters to express their alignment with Trump’s ideals, rather than as an investment opportunity, which is hogwash for the pump and dump self-enrichment scheme that he is in my opinion immoral and unethical for creating, and investors (oops, guess we should say “fans”) are stupid for taking part in.
With inauguration on Monday, we’re entering uncharted territory where it’s likely Trump will issue Executive Orders relating to bitcoin and crypto, and now emboldened by the presidency, lack of legal worries, and supporters that I truly believe would be fine with whatever he does. As he famously quoted, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”
Some of these actions could be positive for the Bitcoin industry and advocates in the United States. But many of his actions could also equally benefit the broader crypto space that is rife with pump-and-dump scam coins and useless get rich quick schemes for wealthy insiders and people who have lobbied him throughout this last cycle. The pump and dump crypto landscape, his goofy coins and NFT’s, make sense to Trump. In fact, I’m betting he truly believes this is crypto’s purpose, while knowing little about Bitcoin. Trump has repeatedly said he has “fun with crypto” and ended his keynote address at the Bitcoin Conference this past summer by saying “have a good time with your bitcoin and your crypto and everything else that you’re playing with.” Trump’s experience in and views of crypto and bitcoin are around fun and making easy money. But with Bitcoin, many of us in the space are fighting for much more, which includes Bitcoin’s many use-cases as censorship resistance digital currency, digital gold, a medium of exchange to use in self-custody and via privacy preserving tools, a powerful tool for human rights, and much more. This isn’t a gamble for us…it’s the future of money that challenges the dollar and central bank rule.
If Trump really began to grasp this, based on his track record and previous statements on Bitcoin, he’d be quite against this use of Bitcoin. Or perhaps he knows what Bitcoin is at some level, and would rather promote the “fun” meme coins, and maybe Bitcoin as digital gold, but nothing more. He did after all say in 2021, quite clearly, “Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar.” He added that he wanted the dollar to be “the currency of the world.” (For more on this concept I’d highly recommend following Mark Goodwin and his work on the bitcoin dollar.)
Trump wants you to keep playing with crypto, funneling money to his organizations, but it’s unlikely he’d be a fan of anyone using bitcoin as a competitor to the dollar, circumventing traditional finance or using privacy tools (particularly if you are an adversary or from what he deems a left/woke cause, which perhaps one day he’d classify our nonprofit The Progressive Bitcoiner as). I’ll keep promoting Bitcoin as resistance money, and hope you’ll join me, rather than endlessly gambling on crypto “and everything else you’re playing with.”
This is a guest post by Trey Walsh. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
$TRUMP Coin is nothing more than a way to extract money from the crypto ecosystem.
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