That was the question I kept coming back to at Bitcoin Is for Everyone in Portland.
Is bitcoin actually for everyone?
Or is it slowly becoming another tool for the rich to get richer?
It’s a fair question.
We see BlackRock buying bitcoin. We see Michael Saylor and public companies stacking. We see Wall Street building products around bitcoin. We see ETFs, IRAs, custody platforms, and financial institutions all trying to find their place in this new system.
And at the same time, we’re at a grassroots Bitcoin conference called Bitcoin Is for Everyone.
So how do we square that circle?
I asked that question to a few different people throughout the event, and the answers were simple but powerful.
Bitcoin is for everyone because inflation impacts everyone. Censorship impacts everyone. Centralization of money impacts everyone.
Even if you don’t own bitcoin yet, you still live inside a monetary system that affects your time, your energy, your savings, your health, your family, and your future.
You don’t need permission. You don’t need to be an accredited investor. You don’t need to know the right people. You don’t need to live in the right country.
You can simply choose better money.
I spoke with builders working at the intersection of Bitcoin and healthcare, people thinking deeply about health savings accounts, retirement accounts, tax advantages, and how bitcoin can become a long-term savings tool for real human needs.
That part really stood out to me.
And if we’re serious about building a better future, we can’t only think about bitcoin as something we hold. We have to think about how it changes the way we live.
Another big theme was self-custody.
This is where Bitcoin forces you to grow up.
Traditional finance teaches us to outsource responsibility. Give your money to the bank. Give your retirement to the institution. Trust the advisor. Trust the custodian. Trust the system.
Bitcoin gives you another option.
You can hold your own keys, run a node, and learn how the system works.
You can take responsibility.
That doesn’t mean everyone has to do everything perfectly on day one. There are tradeoffs. But the point is that bitcoin gives you the choice.
That choice does not exist in the traditional system.
One of the conversations that hit me hardest was around Wall Street coming into Bitcoin.
A lot of bitcoiners are uncomfortable with it.
I get it.
There’s something strange about watching the same institutions that benefited from the fiat system now build products around bitcoin.
But the reality is simple: they’re here. They’re not going away.
And maybe that’s not a sign that bitcoin has failed.
Maybe it’s a sign that bitcoin is working.
The old system is being forced to respond to the new one.
That doesn’t mean we hand them our keys.
That doesn’t mean we stop caring about sovereignty.
That doesn’t mean we turn bitcoin into another paper asset trapped inside the same broken system.
Because bitcoin is not only for Wall Street, corporations and the wealthy.
Bitcoin is not only for people who got in early.
Bitcoin is for the person trying to protect their savings from inflation.
It’s for the family sending remittances across borders.
It’s for the merchant tired of paying unnecessary fees.
It’s for the artist trying to fund their work.
It’s for the builder who sees a problem and decides to create a solution.
That’s what I love about these in-person Bitcoin events.
Online, it’s easy to get stuck in arguments.
In person, you meet the humans building the future.
And you remember that bitcoin adoption is not some abstract thing happening on a chart.
That’s the part I want to focus on.
Bitcoin may be for everyone, but that doesn’t mean everyone will automatically understand it.
And after spending time in Portland with the people building, teaching, creating, and using bitcoin, I’m more convinced than ever:
Bitcoin is still for everyone.
But only if we keep doing the work.
WE ARE SATOSHI episode 54 is out now.
Kyle Huber 