Why I Dismissed Bitcoin for a Decade

Opening - "Why did I ignore it?"

Hey and welcome to Slow Builds.

I remember a friend telling me about Bitcoin in early 2012.

He started talking about how he watched a video introducing it. He had a friend who was mining it and told him about it.

Back then, the idea that we could "mine money" on our own computers made zero sense to me.

He was saying it was going to disrupt financial institutions.

And I completely ignored it.

And I'm a developer. I have a computer science degree. I have a math degree. I love investing. I love technology.

So why did I ignore it?

The dismissal - "It felt unserious"

For years I completely shunned Bitcoin.

I considered it hype. Vapor. Speculative noise.

Every cycle looked the same:

Up. Crash. Memes. Crypto bros.

It felt unserious.

There was no real backing to it.

The price swings felt random. They didn't seem to have any logical reason for why it would go up and then drop right back down.

And I told myself I was being rational.

I told myself I was being financially responsible by staying away from it.

I thought I was protecting myself from the nonsense around Bitcoin.

I thought I was protecting my money.

And I'm not saying I made the wrong choices.

I did make the right choices on some things.

Some things... no.

But Bitcoin is one I think I misjudged.

The turning point - a calm conversation

And what's funny is...

It didn't take one of my tech friends.

It didn't take a financial advisor.

It didn't take someone I look up to from an investment point of view.

It was one of my non-tech friends.

We were at a Hozier concert, out in a field.

He wasn't trying to pitch me on it. He didn't hype it up.

He just asked: "Did you see this about Bitcoin?"

And I basically said straight up:

"I don't buy into the hype. I don't invest in Bitcoin. I don't believe in it."

And he just started talking.

Not hype. Not "to the moon."

Just calm.

He talked about scarcity.

He talked about investment firms quietly buying it up.

He talked about governments experimenting with it.

He did the whole "futuristic gold" comparison - as an asset with limited supply.

He was measured.

And it stuck with me.

I walked away from that conversation thinking differently.

Going off-script: governments, debt, and narratives

I'm gonna go a bit off-script here.

This was around the time when Trump was coming into power again - I think it was that time.

And there was all this talk about debt, and government money, and bills that would allow treasury money to go into Bitcoin... and how that could offset debt.

A lot of it sounded like nonsense.

But it still opened my eyes.

Because it made me pay attention to something I hadn't really considered:

Governments are trying to use it.

They're trying to re-leverage debt.

And that kind of pressure could force Bitcoin into the "new asset" category.

Stores of value: gold, real estate, art, stocks... then Bitcoin

And that's where it comes down to this:

There are only so many stores of value in the world.

Gold is limited. It's hard to find.

You dig massive holes, go deep, just to find a tiny amount.

And even if you had gold...

In the future you don't want to be carrying coins and bricks around, chipping pieces off, weighing it like it's the old days.

Then you have real estate.

Land has always been valuable.

But land is expensive - and getting more expensive.

And it's not liquid.

You can't move a property "on a dime."

And owning property has overhead.

There's friction.

I've owned several rentals. I still have a rental, but it's family.

Still... there's headaches.

Floods. Mold. Vacancy. Collecting rent.

Property tax. Heat. Light. Water.

It's overhead.

Then you have art and collectibles.

Also limited. Also valuable.

But it takes a lot of money to buy in.

You can't buy "half" a collectible. You buy the whole thing.

And when you sell, you still need someone willing to pay for it.

Then you have stocks - tied to companies, revenue, growth, and what shareholders are willing to pay.

Outside of that...

You're kind of limited.

Shares.

Art.

Gold.

Material stuff - silver, bronze, diamonds...

Even diamonds are getting weird now because synthetic ones are flooding the market.

And then you have Bitcoin.

Digital scarcity - "21 million matters"

Bitcoin is a whole different kind of scarcity.

Digital scarcity.

There are only 21 million.

There's still about a million left to go, and that matters right now.

That's not like most cryptos where there isn't a real limit.

Where the supply can just keep expanding and the price can swing.

Bitcoin isn't like cash.

The US can print more money.

Canada can print more money.

You don't have that with Bitcoin.

It's not infinite.

And that's a structural constraint that forces value.

Once people agree it's worth something...

Because it's limited, each fraction becomes more valuable - as long as someone is willing to pay for it.

Theories: grounded, practical... and the wild AI one

So I have a few theories.

Including a pretty wild one.

The grounded one:

It becomes digital gold.

A reserve asset.

The practical one:

It's borderless value.

A way to transfer value between individuals and institutions without relying on banks, fees, currencies, cross-border friction, or regulatory overhead.

It's just... move value.

That alone makes it valuable in my mind.

Now personally?

I don't want to be the guy who buys pizza with Bitcoin.

I don't want to be the "40 Bitcoin Domino's pizza" story.

So for me it's set it and forget it.

Buy it slowly.

Take your time.

Slow Builds.

I bought some other stuff too - Ether, and a couple others.

But the majority of anything I put into crypto goes into Bitcoin.

Not most of my money.

But most of that crypto money goes into Bitcoin.

AI agents + money: what do they use?

And this is where my wild theory comes in.

It sounds crazy when you say it out loud...

But maybe there's something to it.

We've got OpenClaw.

We've got all these AI models.

You build agents.

Your agents go out, talk to each other, do work on your behalf.

And there are already stories of people giving agents access to bank accounts and credit cards...

And then they get wiped out.

Or the agent buys something insane.

Or signs up for some random course.

So if agents are going to go out and do things...

They're going to need to purchase things.

They can't just freely pass everything back and forth.

In my mind, they'll use some kind of digital currency.

And I think it's going to be Bitcoin.

Because AI agents could transfer it back and forth without relying on bank accounts.

Without currencies and fees.

Without all the limits and regulatory friction.

It's borderless. Frictionless.

A digital way to purchase and transfer value - agent to agent - to complete tasks.

We have no idea where this goes.

But it's a thought.

Bitcoin as the "measuring stick"

And even if Bitcoin isn't the one they use directly...

I still think Bitcoin becomes the underlying measuring stick.

Like gold used to be.

Gold to USD.

We don't do that now, but things start somewhere.

Bitcoin is finite.

Limited.

It's established.

It hasn't been "cracked."

It works.

So I think it becomes the default standard that everything else gets compared to.

When it drops: fear, opportunity, and narratives

Right now the price is dropping.

And I don't panic.

Maybe it's macro.

Maybe it's liquidity cycles.

Maybe it's big players moving markets.

Or maybe it's just human pattern-seeking.

I don't know.

But what I do know is...

It's a scarce asset.

And it doesn't feel "safe" when it's falling.

Bitcoin feels stupid to talk about with people who aren't tech.

People who can barely use an iPhone.

People who still use cash to buy a candy bar.

They'll never understand it.

But when I see the market drop...

I see opportunity.

Yes, it's still way higher than it was in 2012.

But it's also a better opportunity than it was six months ago... maybe a year ago.

Now I can get in at a better baseline.

Manipulation theory + "losing the middle"

And this is where I go off on my own theory again.

I have a feeling the Bitcoin market is being manipulated.

I think governments and financial institutions are still moving forward with their plan.

They didn't just drop massive amounts of money and walk away.

They put in orders.

They don't care what the price is in the moment.

They're buying.

And they already own a lot of Bitcoin.

And I think what happens next is...

They try to lower the price so they can buy more.

They scare retail investors.

People sell at the lows.

And the big players scoop it up.

Meanwhile, for poor people - it still feels too expensive.

Sure, they can buy tiny fractions... but most won't.

And don't listen to me - this is not advice - I'm just rambling.

But the point is:

They lower the price.

They buy more.

And people who panic lose their chance.

For me?

I see it and I want to buy a bit more.

So when it jumps back up, I'm not chasing it.

And this is how we lose the middle again.

More poor.

More rich.

Less middle.

That bothers me.

It ties into AI, money, everything.

We keep losing the middle.

Compounding, holding, and leverage (not selling)

I'm not rich.

I'm not in the rich category.

I'm just trying to keep my head above water.

But with Slow Builds - the way I buy things and hold things - I believe in compounding.

That's why I want to buy Bitcoin.

And I don't plan on selling it.

I'd rather leverage it later.

If the value goes up and I still own it...

I can use that asset as leverage.

Just like I leveraged my home for a line of credit.

You leverage assets.

You don't sell them.

Because once you sell them, they're gone.

If you own land, shares, art, collectibles, real estate, Bitcoin...

If you own it, you can leverage it.

So if one Bitcoin is worth $100,000...

I should be able to get a loan for $50,000.

Minimum.

And then maybe you use that money to buy other assets.

Again - my numbers might be off.

This is not advice.

I'm just thinking out loud.

Please don't go spend all your money because of anything I'm saying.

Closing - "I'm not laughing anymore"

So this isn't about going all in.

It's about recognizing something I dismissed.

Bitcoin used to be a joke in my head.

A meme coin at best.

But Slow Builds isn't about chasing hype.

It's about noticing structural shifts early enough to participate...

Without betting the house.

If Bitcoin is hype, it fades.

If it's digital scarcity, it compounds over decades.

I don't know which it will be.

But I'm not laughing at Bitcoin anymore.

That's the shift.

I buy it regularly.

I believe in it.

And even if it doesn't become what I think...

I'm no worse off.

At worst, it's still an asset worth something to somebody.

Maybe I lose some money.

Maybe I make some money.

Maybe it becomes something we all need later.

Or maybe it disappears.

But I'm in the game.

I'm in it for the long term.

And it's one of my slow builds.

Hey - thank you.