It feels that Bitcoin is related to philosophy. In the paper that was published under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, it was proposed in the thought that “What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party”(1) as written in the introductory part. As known, “The very first bitcoin block that was mined famously included a message containing a reference to a newspaper headline: ‘The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.'”(2)

Exchanging things between two parties at the same time has restriction. Bartering cannot happen without those two parties’ having what can be exchanged at that moment and physically being in the place. Currency and bookkeeping lifted this restriction. It enabled people to behave in a broader time scale than being limited to just the moment. As for the relationship between trust and currency, “the value of a unit of currency is not the measure of the value of an object, but the measure of one’s trust in other human beings”(3).

It feels that people need to get support from others in their daily life, or in the perspective of developing their civilisation it is efficient to collaborate with others to meet the necessity arising out of their daily life. When one gets support from another, but one didn’t have things to pay back to another, they use the currency which is in use in their community so that another can get the benefit of what they offered then.

Besides “did money serve largely as an accounting measure rather than physically changing hands, merchants and tradespeople developed credit arrangements of their own” mostly in “clay tablets” in the civilisation of Mesopotamia(4).

Apart from that two parties exchange product, one may give the money equivalent to the product received. Money as a medium works as useful, but it needs to have trust.

It is described that “Credit system, tabs, even expense accounts, all existed long before cash. These things are as old as civilization itself”(5). At a point in the latter half of 20th century, “The world’s transition to a full fiat money system took place as recently as 1971 when President Nixon announced the suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold (i.e., the gold standard)”(6). After 1971, one can see “a marked increase in the money supply and monetary debasement globally”(7).

In the world where capitalism prevailed, it is difficult to have a business of not seeking profit at its first priority. Perception of capitalism by people in general puts those who most earn at the top of hierarchy, and if that governs the world, it is mono-cultural. Those who wanted to be the one but couldn’t get a success in that rule need to be saved by other values. Selling goods or services towards customers outside their company and putting the priority in their sales often lead their company to look at the customers and care less about their labourers. Lack of insights into the inside of their firm undermines the happiness of their labourers. Only seeking capital is to become exploitative in some sense, what for capital is required what is the purpose needs to be in higher priority.

Those who are typically in the managing position manages the schedule and try to make their team and people around to meet the deadline even if they need to work overtime. If one works hard to meet the deadline, one sacrifices something. Does it lead to one’s happiness?

Happiness to a person isn’t what another can determine. It is what one would feel. People have different interests and from what they feel happiness is different. Empathy to another also depends on individual sense as one may feel empathy in a situation but another may not feel that way. This subjective aspect of empathy is partly related to that the reason why people behave kindly to the elderly. It is because they know when getting older they would face the same kind of difficulty the elder person in front of them is facing. They can feel the trouble as their own one. It also is that previously the kindness given from another remained in one’s heart that encouraged to behave kindly to others.

This characteristic of thinking it as one’s own comes needs thinking. It is subjective in the sense that one needs to think in oneself but it is a cycle of taking things outside into oneself through the process of thinking. Besides, anyone cannot know what another thinks as they are different individuals.

In the society of more freedom, a variety of standards is in place so that different people are valued. Even what is not measurable should be recognised as the important. Seeking profit is on the top of the list at company in capitalism, and it often makes their labourers suffer from their labouring conditions.

Economy resonates with the rapid cycle of decision-making. Increasing power of computation catches the future. In order to move things forward, people often require one step further for those who are involved to take action as demanded. That makes them feel uncomfortable and everyday labouring it accumulates stress to them. It is better to let them have some flexibility to decide by their will as, not just labouring, labourers have their own conditions of life that are not just labouring but stemming from other factors in their life.

I believe there are cases that in tiny tiny details it is correct, not wrong, to do that way but in larger scale, reflected on the original purpose, doing it can disturb the success of original purpose. Investing time and effort in that tiny details without enough consideration to the larger picture may lead to the collapse of the work in progress. One of the reasons to this could be related to the available resources. That is why thinking from the perspective of primary principle works.

Just because one is told to do doesn’t guarantee that one will follow that order. It has incentives around that order such as reward, motivation, trust. To the object it refers to, there are objects other than that which could affect the execution. Logic seems creating a dimension based on which they talk about things in line. People do not necessarily be on that dimension as they can be influenced by factors outside.

Machines that follow instructions would be evaluated more than those which halts or malfunctions. However the latter may lead to discovery of unfound aspects.

The world focuses too much on the present, or the pleasures. Rapid flow of information on the Internet excites the feelings of people, rather than spending time in tranquility, people tend more to spend time effectively. Spending time in thinking about the future may make the history of the human beings prospective.

(1) Satoshi Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, accessed 28 June 2023, written date 21 August 2008, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3440802. Posted date 22 August 2019.

(2) Vijay Selvam, Principles of Bitcoin: Technology, Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2025), p.121.

(3) David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years (Brooklyn: Melville House Publishing, 2014), p.47. New and expanded edition.

(4) David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years (Brooklyn: Melville House Publishing, 2014), p.214. New and expanded edition.

(5) David Graeber, Debt: The First 5000 Years (Brooklyn: Melville House Publishing, 2014), p.18. New and expanded edition.

(6) Vijay Selvam, Principles of Bitcoin: Technology, Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2025), p.33.

(7) Vijay Selvam, Principles of Bitcoin: Technology, Economics, Politics, and Philosophy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2025), p.127.