As the US experiences its second-largest banking collapse ever, Bitcoin continues to go from strength to strength

</figure><em>Dies ist ein Meinungsleitartikel von Carlos Cardenas, einem institutionellen Account Manager, der bei alten Banken und Cryptowährungsbörsen gearbeitet hat.</em>

Author Nassim Taleb published an interview titled “Bitcoin Is The Detector Of Imbeciles” in which he restated his arguments that Bitcoin cannot play the role of currency or store of value and suggested that it will “collapse.” But is that really true?

Sure, bitcoin has suffered catastrophic falls in value over the past decade, including as much as 58% in the last year, but overall it has had a compound annual return of 1,576% between 2010 and 2021 thanks to a thriving global network of miners and over a million active addresses. Thanks to Bitcoin, we are now seeing a burgeoning crypto economy, including others cryptocurrencies and digital assets (utility tokens and NFTs) valued at more than $1 trillion. Through all the innovations and even the negative events related to bitcoin (bans, confiscations, scams, scams, etc.), bitcoin and its user base have adapted and prevailed.

Meanwhile, the recent collapses of financial institutions such as SVB, Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank have once again highlighted the fragility of the old financial system. We have the systematic destruction of wealth through debasement and inflation experienced, aided by the traditional financial system, bad actors and bad policy making while we are alive.

If you remember 2008, 1999 or 1987 or are paying attention today, you’ve been aware of all these issues for a while, but you knew there was no real alternative until Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin.

Bitcoin’s power isn’t its price (although I would have happily bought some in 2011, believe me). The power of Bitcoin is the freedom to transact in a convoluted world, its programmatic money supply, and its democratized form for adoption with relatively low barriers to entry. You can participate in the network by running a node, mining, or simply buying or selling it. Today, thanks to the Ordinal Theory, you can write digital files to a Satoshi and stay free of censorship, achieve immutability, and enjoy a truly decentralized file storage system. This opens up a range of opportunities for communication, artists and collectors and paves the way to better Bitcoin infrastructure. This is antifragility: adaptability, resilience and evolution in a system subject to shocks.

Fourteen years ago, the Bitcoin Genesis block shared a message: “The Times 03/Jan/2009, Chancellor on brink of second bank bailout.” Today we face the aftermath of the second largest bank failure in US history. This teaches me that while we haven’t learned our lessons, we still have time for current and future generations to embrace Bitcoin technology and create a more solid and efficient financial system.

Despite the recent financial turmoil, bitcoin remains unscathed and has proven its worth by making more than one more investment in a portfolio is, but a truly modern version of the financial system.

This is a guest post by Carlos Cardenas. The opinions expressed are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.