“Take all your money. Buy Bitcoin. Then take all your time, figure out how to borrow money to buy more Bitcoin, then take all your time and figure out what you can sell to buy Bitcoin… Go mortgage your house to buy Bitcoin... finance your business to [buy Bitcoin].”
- Michael Saylor, Founder of Microstrategy
“F**K ELON, WE'RE NOT SELLING!”
- Max Keiser, Content Creator and BTC Maximalist
“Bitcoin and digital currency is just this thing that was always going to happen.”
- Tyler Winklevoss, Co-Founder of Gemini Cryptocurrency Exchange
“Don't be manipulated. #HODL”
- Changpeng Zhao, Founder of Binance
“Bitcoin is a swarm of cyber hornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy.”
- Michael Saylor, Founder of Microstrategy
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For investors who are reading these quotes, let’s put into perspective that all of these are said by people who are heavily invested in assets into the crypto ecosystem. You might think that these beliefs are in no way helpful for making money over the long term. And I think you’re probably right on that.
But what if the purpose of these statements is not simply to help people make money or build ambitious products that can potentially change our world, but rather, to affirm membership in this burgeoning religion. Looking through this frame, these statements make a lot more sense and don’t sound outlandish at all. If you’re a member of the church of ‘small block anti-central bank’ BTC, often referred to as Bitcoin Maximalists, planning ahead and making sure to avoid selling your BTC at all costs makes a lot of sense.
What better way to show your dedication to the cause than putting all your money behind it? You can say a lot about BTC Maximalists, however, you can’t generally find much fault with their commitment to the cause and dedication to their missionary work in popular locales like local bars and on twitter.
How should one interact with members of the different crypto religions? You need to tread carefully - it’s like discussing religion with an orthodox Jew or a devout Christian, challenging foundational beliefs doesn’t always result in pleasant and productive interactions. And with crypto, these religions have made the majority of their disciples richer (on paper) than they could have ever possibly imagined. This combination generally doesn’t make for the best foundation for discourse.
While there are lots of different religions within the crypto sphere, they all share a general affiliation to an incredibly volatile crypto-asset that is likely to be up significantly since when it was created. This often has the effect of making people even more devout. Most people reading this have chatted with Bitcoin maximalists or other crypto religious folk but for those that haven’t, think of an experience criticizing or questioning someone’s religion. Then layer that with a conversation you’ve had where you question the merits of an investment choice made by someone, where this someone has made a significant amount of money from that choice. You’re left with an unlikely chance of having a productive conversation that diverges from the orthodox views of the crypto-holder you have the pleasure of speaking with.
In almost every financial bubble, you have irrational exuberance bordering on what might look like religion, but the degree and depths of the religious nature of crypto-holders goes far beyond the most zealous mortgage salesman in 2007 who believed that mortgages would provide prosperity for the American middle class. Even more so than those in the late 90s who thought that the internet was going to change everything and as a result, became insensitive to the price of stocks that promised this future.
While this is great for those pragmatically trying to change the world with blockchain or simply trying to make money over the long term in this asset class, this religious faith applied to assets will not end well for the true believers and those who put a lot into their asset of choice.
From the start of this article, we’ve made use of religious context as a metaphor that parallels the actions of those in crypto. These people aren’t wildly irrational. What they’re trying to get out of crypto, whether they know of themselves or not, is simply more religious in nature.