Here’s the reality and wake up call about digital credit.
Digital credit really is the best thing we have going on in Bitcoin.
There is nothing else that is as meaningful right now as the development of digital credit. The numbers do not lie.
Yes, digital credit is very fiat and the AI videos aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Yes, it is more credit and yield. Yes some building on top of it are using shipcoin rails. And yes, corporate finance and math are hard subjects to wrap one's head around.
We get it.
BUT - what else do we have going on?
Genuinely curious. I invite anyone reading this with an opposing view to make their case. I invite others to tag those with opposing views for them to make their case.
I know about Ark, Bark, Clark, Spark, and the STARKs and SNARKs. I know about Fedimints and Lightning scaling up. I know that Ocean is decentralizing template construction and its been gaining more hash. I know that more node implementations are being adopted and this is great for the network. It’s awesome that there are more solo blocks and Bitaxes running too.
I see Taproot Assets and BTKN and RGB for stablecoins on Bitcoin rails. I also know that several wallets are upgrading with more privacy solutions integrated such as Silent Payments and Payjoin. I know that Square is making BTC easier for merchants.
I am even aware of very niche Bitcoin projects that I am quite sure most Bitcoiners have never even heard of. A way to make the 2-of-2 lightning channels more institutionally friendly by attaching multisigs on either side of the channel. A kind of meta node implementation that codifies and separates the consensus rules from the node implementation. I know of an bitcoin elastic currency protocol that use mints and service-backed redemptions to conduct trade finance in Bitcoin. I know of a non-custodial, BTC backed lending app without margin calls or liquidations.
But I do not think these are a bigger deal than digital credit. In fact, I would even assert that everything I mentioned combined are not even half as impactful as digital credit.
Again, I invite anyone reading this with an opposing view to make their case.
I think these aren't anywhere near digital credit because I can see the numbers and the incentives.
Digital credit has brought a ton of money into Bitcoin. Bringing digital credit to more people brings all their money into Bitcoin. There are now more than a dozen Bitcoin ETFs and so far they've sold billions of dollars in Bitcoin this year. In contrast, digital credit has purchased billions of dollars in Bitcoin this year.
Everyone with money who was going to buy Bitcoin has already bought it, either UTXO or ETF or IOU.
Everyone on earth with a bank account living anywhere has had Binance and Bybit available to them for years. Coinbase is now worldwide. Those who don't have a bank account don't really have enough money anyway to move the needle. It sucks to say it, but it is the truth.
The rest of the money out there hasn't flowed into Bitcoin because Bitcoiners haven't made it attractive enough. No amount of podcast or book or article is gonna help. Someone actually has to go and make Bitcoin attractive to those other people.
And that is digital credit. It is the business model of Strategy and Strive.