We are fortunate to have a diverse makeup of readers on this site. Our goal is to introduce people to new ideas and to get them thinking about their lives, the world, and their interactions in new ways. We want people to challenge their views. With this in mind, I decided this morning that I would write about Bitcoin when I got home from work. As luck would have it, I read a wonderful article on Bitcoin Magazine written by Julia Tourianski called “The Declaration of Bitcoin’s Independence.” Read it. Digest it.

If you don’t know or understand what Bitcoin is, it’s time to educate yourself. No matter how the government may try to regulate, suppress, or eliminate it, Bitcoin is simply not going away. But they will still try and they will fail.

The crusade to absorb bitcoin into the seams of the State has begun. There is a conscious effort to co-opt. The goal is to swallow bitcoin, process it, integrate it, devolve it, and keep it stagnant in the gears of a failed operating system. Bitcoin’s potential is being hijacked. They have their own idea of what they want bitcoin to be. They have their own plan for its potential, and they have an investment in that plan. But our consent is withdrawn and the power of our ideas is too strong.

The essence of Bitcoin is that it is uncontrollable. What it is today is not what it was yesterday and not what it will be tomorrow. What’s the worst case scenario? Is it that the state somehow figures out how to track and/or stop transactions? They will celebrate only for a moment—soon the realization will come that what they caught is a shadow, a memory of what Bitcoin used to be.

This is not wishful thinking. The state, try as they might, has not yet figured out how to handle Bitcoin. It’s already experienced a significant change. Dark Wallet is a project recently released to increase the anonymity of Bitcoin even further. The state is far behind and the race has just started.

Bitcoin is not just a currency, a commodity, or a convenience. Just like the internet gave information back to the people, Bitcoin will give financial freedom back to the people. But that’s only the first step. There will be a shift in the structure of enterprise, in the way we interact, in the way we voice our opinions, and in the way we fuel our action. Bitcoin will allow us to shape the world without having to ask for permission.

When the Mt. Gox scandal occurred, people declared that it signaled doom for Bitcoin. Some people even appeared happy. Why? Bitcoin is not perfect, but how can it be if it’s subject to the actions of people? Malinvestment is a natural feature of a free market and a crash is by no means necessarily a death sentence. I will explain it this way: in my early days as a musician, my oldest brother gave me these words of advice, “You’re going to make mistakes when you’re playing. But it’s not about the mistakes; it’s about your recovery. You have to be able to jump right back in.” Bitcoin has done just this and the people who use and create Bitcoin have learned.

Bitcoin’s imperfection is one of its greatest weapons: if it’s not perfect, it means that it can be improved.

Speaking of weapons, this is maybe Bitcoin’s most important aspect. It is a weapon more dangerous than any gun, bomb, airplane, or warship. Bitcoin is peaceful and is a means to subvert the systems put in place by the state to control its subjects. The state, however, is unprepared for the nonviolent revolution that Bitcoin is poised to deliver. “Give it something it can’t shoot with firepower and we’ll see what it does” is what Cody Wilson, the director of the aforementioned Dark Wallet project, brilliantly stated in an interview with Tourianski.

What does it say of your system if you want Bitcoin eliminated and you want those who dare to ignore your will thrown in a cage? What does that say about you? There still is time to change.  You have the chance to be on the right side of history.

We declare bitcoin’s independence. Bitcoin is sovereignty. Bitcoin is renaissance. Bitcoin is ours. Bitcoin is.

Bitcoin is…a way out.