Last Thursday I talked about why you should trust Bitcoin and continue to do so. 

Now, I want to talk about the end game.

Bitcoin’s endgame.

In 1687, Isaac Newton published his Principia, arguably the single greatest piece of intellectual writing in the history of mankind. This book made Newton famous because for the first time in history, someone had discovered simple mathematical formulas that could precisely describe the motion of the planets and other objects under the influence of gravity.

Trust me. If you’ve ever studied physics, you know.

As grand an achievement as Einstein’s Theory Of General Relativity was (E=MC^2), I still place Newton’s laws higher simply because I am awestruck that they were derived in 1687.

Regardless, as great as this achievement was, the Principia had hidden within it another idea of even greater significance: the idea of infinitesimal calculus. Most of the technology on which modern society depends—computers, cell phones, and even atom bombs—could have existed in a world without a theory of gravitation; however, it is highly unlikely this technology could have existed in a world without calculus.

In 17th century Europe, not everyone could appreciate the value of calculus. Newton had crafted this very abstract innovation almost solely as a tool to solve the far more romantic and poetic problem of explaining the motions of the planets for the first time.

Certainly, it is far too early to estimate where and whether Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper will appear in the annals of important scientific publications. But one fact is clear: In the same way that Newton had to first discover calculus to explain the motions of the stars, so Satoshi had to first discover the idea of a distributed anonymous ledger, the blockchain, to invent the idealistic notion of a fully distributed cryptocurrency.

However, unlike calculus and the laws of gravitation, the concepts of a blockchain and cryptocurrency are inextricably linked; they are yin and yang. A distributed form of money simply cannot exist without the security provided to it by the blockchain. Similarly, a blockchain cannot be created without giving people incentives to create it, and the only possible incentive that could work is a distributed form of money!

So therein lies the genius of Satoshi Nakamoto: A person who was able to imagine two distinct technologies that on their own were clearly impossible and impractical. Sometime in the mid-2000’s when Satoshi formulated his original whitepaper, for the first time in the world a person was able to clearly realize that although both technologies were impossible on their own, if you combine the two ideas into one enmeshed system, they become not only possible, but actually practical!

The true future of Bitcoin is evident: The technology of the distributed asset ledger combined with an incentive-producing currency is certain to remain with us for all time.

It is a mechanism that allows for great gains in efficiency in many situations in which trust previously had to be delegated to a central arbiter. Although there is no question that governments and central authorities will continue to exist and play a meaningful role in the world’s future, much of the current work performed by these governments and other authorities is also needlessly repetitive and mundane.

Just as robots have helped the world reduce menial physical labor, so cryptocurrency technology now gives us the tools to automate the menial labor of bureaucracy.

Optimistically, the entirety of humanity will benefit as a result.

That, I think, is a worthy end game for any technology.