Reference guide:
List of readings that are beneficial in understanding Bitcoin and its importance:
- Anti-money laundering: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/25741292.2020.1725366
- Bitcoin basics: https://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works
- Bitcoin whitepaper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- Bullish case for bitcoin: https://vijayboyapati.medium.com/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1
- Energy innovation: https://squ.re/BCEI-whitepaper
- Environmental impact: https://blockworks.co/the-investors-guide-to-bitcoin-the-environment/
- Government and bitcoin: https://quillette.com/2021/02/21/can-governments-stop-bitcoin/
- Money as energy: https://cryptohayes.medium.com/pumping-iron-ae8a54a32ea2
- Recent history of the dollar: https://www.lynalden.com/fraying-petrodollar-system
- US Regulation: https://www.coindesk.com/building-crypto-america-saving-banks-extinction
- Yield farming: https://www.danheld.com/blog/2020/9/17/yield-farming-with-bitcoin
NOTE: I plan to add a tl;dr; to each reference and keep this list updated with the most important succinct narratives as I come across them.
Random thoughts
Bitcoin is in high demand in emerging markets experiencing hyper inflation due to failed monetary policy. Citizens are forced into alternative currencies or assets such as Bitcoin. Some of these nations have enacted measures to restrict access to Bitcoin that have caused the demand and price of Bitcoin to skyrocket in local currency - see Nigeria and Lebanon.
The United States has an advantage with the dollar as the world reserve currency so demand for the dollar is high. I don't anticipate the US passing any draconian measures restricting Bitcoin owership / usage because currently capital outflows are not currently a problem. However the dollar's dominance due to its necessity in oil trade is certainly past its peak. If / when the dollar does start to weaken, Bitcoin arbitrage will not be the cause but rather the result.
Game theory has an interesting application to the scenario of nation states accumulating and/or banning Bitcoin. There is a non-zero chance of Bitcoin becoming a world reserve currency, and a much greater chance of becoming an element in the next world reserve standard. Does one nation really want to prevent local accumulation exclude themselves from that upside? Bitcoin is decentralized its impossible to tell what direction adoption will take us.
The United States has an advantage with the dollar as the world reserve currency so demand for the dollar is high. I don't anticipate the US passing any draconian measures restricting Bitcoin owership / usage because currently capital outflows are not currently a problem. However the dollar's dominance due to its necessity in oil trade is certainly past its peak. If / when the dollar does start to weaken, Bitcoin arbitrage will not be the cause but rather the result.
Game theory has an interesting application to the scenario of nation states accumulating and/or banning Bitcoin. There is a non-zero chance of Bitcoin becoming a world reserve currency, and a much greater chance of becoming an element in the next world reserve standard. Does one nation really want to prevent local accumulation exclude themselves from that upside? Bitcoin is decentralized its impossible to tell what direction adoption will take us.