In my November 5th, 2024, article, “The Great Escape: Fleeing the Fiat Fortress,” I explored the increasing shift of individuals and institutions away from traditional fiat currencies. This movement is driven by a growing interest in alternative assets such as gold, silver, and the burgeoning cryptocurrency Bitcoin, and a corresponding movement away from the U.S. dollar.
So, what’s behind this major shift in the financial world? It’s simple: exploding government debt and governments worldwide printing vast amounts of new money while spending without restraint. This is a concerning trend that may threaten the financial system if our broken monetary system isn’t addressed.
What is the current solution? Simply print even more money and pile on more debt. Frankly, this is not sustainable.
Gold and silver have long been recognized as sound money, consistently holding their value. Bitcoin, while still relatively new, is rapidly gaining traction as a viable alternative. Its frequent appearance in financial news and discussions highlights its growing acceptance and potential for mainstream adoption.
The other day, a client I’ve known for over two decades asked me, “Does Bitcoin keep you up at night?” I quipped, “No, my neighbor’s dog does.” He laughed, then, realizing my dry wit, pressed, “Really, I’m serious.” My response was the same: “So am I.” Bitcoin does not keep me up at night; it helps me sleep, as do gold and silver.
Like many of you, I was initially a skeptic of Bitcoin (BTC) and quickly dismissed it. It wasn’t until early 2019 that I truly began to dig deep. I dedicated hundreds of hours to understanding BTC, and the more I learned, the more intrigued I became.
What really captured my attention was Bitcoin’s fundamental principle of “No Single Point of Control.” Think about that for a moment: there isn’t one person, group, or even a government that holds all the power or makes all the decisions regarding Bitcoin. In essence, if you own Bitcoin, you are in control. That’s why my favorite word to describe Bitcoin has become freedom—freedom from the system. I think every person on this planet should own a Bitcoin. Unfortunately, that is mathematically impossible.
To put this in perspective, consider the long history of money. We can trace its origins back to 7th-century BCE Turkey, with the early Lydian coins. Throughout history, countless currencies have risen and fallen, each eventually replaced by a new medium of exchange. Bitcoin represents the latest evolution in this ongoing story. Only time will tell how its role will be written into history.
There are now three certainties in life: death, taxes, and 21 million Bitcoin. Currently, about 19.9 million Bitcoin have already been mined, leaving roughly 1.1 million yet to be mined. What’s truly remarkable is that every one of us alive today will be long gone before the very last Bitcoin is mined, which is expected to happen around the year 2140.
To put that into perspective, by 2035, about 99% of all Bitcoin will be in circulation. This means it will take approximately another 100 years for that final 1% to be fully mined and enter the system.
Now I want to contrast Bitcoin with the U.S. dollar.
Imagine all the U.S. dollars in existence as a giant pool of water. This isn’t just the cash in your wallet but also the money in your checking and savings accounts, and even certain types of investments that are easy to turn into cash. Economists call this whole pool the “M2 money supply.”
Now, picture this: about one-quarter of that entire pool of U.S. dollars has been added in just the last five years.
Think about it: from April 2020 to April 2025, the total amount of money in circulation in the U.S. grew by roughly $5.83 trillion. That’s a huge amount of new money entering the system in a relatively short period.
I spend a significant amount of time contemplating Bitcoin’s eventual role in our global financial landscape. I’ve even dedicated articles to exploring my vision for its future place within the monetary system.
Here’s where the truly fascinating, yet challenging, questions arise:
Currently, we price Bitcoin using the very metrics of the traditional financial system it aims to disrupt. You see it constantly in headlines: “Bitcoin hits an all-time high of $112,000 per coin.” We’re still measuring its value in U.S. dollar terms. This reliance on the existing fiat system for its valuation creates an intriguing paradox.
When does this dynamic shift? What does the world look like where Bitcoin is no longer primarily valued against the dollar, or any fiat currency for that matter?
Imagine a future where goods, services, and even other assets are directly priced in satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin: 1 BTC = 100,000,000 satoshis or 1 satoshi = 0.00000001 BTC) or whole Bitcoins, without needing a conversion to dollars first. Perhaps you will buy a house for 5 BTC or a coffee for 1,000 satoshis. This would imply a monumental change in how we perceive and measure value, moving us away from a dollar-centric world.
This transition isn’t just about a price tag; it’s about a fundamental reorientation of economic thought. It would mean Bitcoin has achieved a level of adoption and stability where its own units become the default measure of wealth and exchange. This could stem from a weakening of faith in fiat currencies, a broad acceptance of Bitcoin’s scarcity and decentralized nature as superior properties for money, or a combination of factors.
Given what you’ve just learned, a crucial question emerges: Which would you rather hold for the long term, Bitcoin or the U.S. dollar? You decide, but don’t let it keep you up at night.
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Copyright © 2025 Bill Puplava
