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What is Bitcoin's innovation?
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Inclusiveness is a true innovation in the history of human society, built on the principles of equality, autonomy and democracy, which are the cornerstones of a free society. Inclusiveness echoes the old and fascinating idea of direct democracy, but goes further than that. Here, we are not only invited to participate in voting and expressing our opinions, but also given equal rights to the operation of the state. It is no coincidence that Bitcoin was born in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The crisis brought about quantitative easing and the bailout of too-big-to-fail banks. As the number of unbanked people in the world increases and large-scale surveillance gradually penetrates our daily financial transactions, the continued development of Bitcoin is a direct response to this status quo. In other words, the emergence of Bitcoin is a rebellion and response to the continuous erosion of the credibility and inherent integrity of the traditional financial system.
Bitcoin mining is profitable — you are rewarded with Bitcoins for every successful block you mine, and this process is open to everyone! This is perhaps the most amazing and amazing part of Satoshi’s invention. Imagine a world where banks offer equity or revenue to a broad and open network of operators in return; where nations open up their citizens to participate in the operation of their monetary system and reward their contributions with newly issued currency. I believe this is a superior and more democratic way for national currencies to operate. I believe that nations that adopt this higher standard will have more autonomous citizens and more thriving and free societies. Perhaps one day, inspired by Satoshi’s invention of “Bitcoin”, nations will move toward this more ideal system. But at least today, this is not a reality — and if society ever does make this leap, it will be entirely thanks to Satoshi’s invention.
I think the core of Satoshi Nakamoto's innovation is public verifiability. This means that anyone can verify the complete integrity of Bitcoin, including all transactions since the creation of the Genesis Block in 2008. More importantly, you don't need a supercomputer to verify all this, you can do it with just a laptop! This also means that I can use this laptop, typing this right now, to verify the latest Bitcoin block in real time, and personally participate in this broad and democratic integrity and the social consensus it relies on. As long as someone tries to undermine the integrity of Bitcoin, we will all know about it.
Bitcoin means different things to different people. I want to share with you what Bitcoin means to me and explain what I think is Satoshi Nakamoto's core innovation. First, I want to make it clear that the real innovation of Bitcoin is not in cryptography, the Internet, or computer technology. These emerging technologies are just a means to an end. What Satoshi Nakamoto really innovated is one of the most important inventions of mankind, social structure.
Bitcoin’s Global Scalability
Credibility
Incentive Integrity
Public Verifiability
Social structure
