The OG Philosopher of Bitcoin
@philosopherbtc.bsky.social
Bitcoin since ’09.
Engineer turned philosopher.
I decode money, markets & human behavior.
Daily reflections: substack.com/@thephilosophersbitcoin
Engineer turned philosopher.
I decode money, markets & human behavior.
Daily reflections: substack.com/@thephilosophersbitcoin
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WHY I DON'T TELL PEOPLE I HOLD BITCOIN ANYMORE
So how much do you have? The question that ended my evangelism.
open.substack.com
I used to explain Bitcoin.
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
A struggling market doesn’t mean the thesis failed.
It means the noise got louder than the signal.
It means the noise got louder than the signal.
December 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
A struggling market doesn’t mean the thesis failed.
It means the noise got louder than the signal.
It means the noise got louder than the signal.
Conviction doesn’t always sound loud. Sometimes it sounds like restraint.
December 16, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Conviction doesn’t always sound loud. Sometimes it sounds like restraint.
I used to explain Bitcoin.
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
WHY I DON'T TELL PEOPLE I HOLD BITCOIN ANYMORE
So how much do you have? The question that ended my evangelism.
open.substack.com
December 14, 2025 at 9:01 AM
I used to explain Bitcoin.
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Now I mostly stay quiet.
Some questions aren’t curiosity, they’re extraction.
open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Most people don’t lose money in Bitcoin.
They lose confidence.
Usually right before they would have been right.
They lose confidence.
Usually right before they would have been right.
December 11, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Most people don’t lose money in Bitcoin.
They lose confidence.
Usually right before they would have been right.
They lose confidence.
Usually right before they would have been right.
Bitcoin has a way of revealing something uncomfortable.
Most people don’t struggle with volatility, they struggle with being alone in their conviction.
It’s not the price swings that break them, it’s the silence when everyone else disagrees.
Most people don’t struggle with volatility, they struggle with being alone in their conviction.
It’s not the price swings that break them, it’s the silence when everyone else disagrees.
December 9, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Bitcoin has a way of revealing something uncomfortable.
Most people don’t struggle with volatility, they struggle with being alone in their conviction.
It’s not the price swings that break them, it’s the silence when everyone else disagrees.
Most people don’t struggle with volatility, they struggle with being alone in their conviction.
It’s not the price swings that break them, it’s the silence when everyone else disagrees.
“You were lucky, not smart.”
I still hear those words.
They ended a 15-year friendship.
Full story: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
I still hear those words.
They ended a 15-year friendship.
Full story: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
The Conversation That Cost Me a Friendship
And the four words I still hear: You were lucky, not smart.
open.substack.com
December 7, 2025 at 8:37 AM
“You were lucky, not smart.”
I still hear those words.
They ended a 15-year friendship.
Full story: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
I still hear those words.
They ended a 15-year friendship.
Full story: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Interesting watching the UK move toward formal crypto regulation.
The pattern is familiar:
institutions arrive at the point where individuals have already taken the risk, made the mistakes,
and paid the social cost.
Conviction is always early and lonely. Legitimacy always comes late and crowded.
The pattern is familiar:
institutions arrive at the point where individuals have already taken the risk, made the mistakes,
and paid the social cost.
Conviction is always early and lonely. Legitimacy always comes late and crowded.
December 3, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Interesting watching the UK move toward formal crypto regulation.
The pattern is familiar:
institutions arrive at the point where individuals have already taken the risk, made the mistakes,
and paid the social cost.
Conviction is always early and lonely. Legitimacy always comes late and crowded.
The pattern is familiar:
institutions arrive at the point where individuals have already taken the risk, made the mistakes,
and paid the social cost.
Conviction is always early and lonely. Legitimacy always comes late and crowded.
People talk about how hard it is to change your life. But the decision isn’t the hard part.
The hard part is noticing who doesn’t come with you. The people who preferred the earlier version of you.
Change has a social cost nobody prepares you for.
The hard part is noticing who doesn’t come with you. The people who preferred the earlier version of you.
Change has a social cost nobody prepares you for.
December 2, 2025 at 6:41 PM
People talk about how hard it is to change your life. But the decision isn’t the hard part.
The hard part is noticing who doesn’t come with you. The people who preferred the earlier version of you.
Change has a social cost nobody prepares you for.
The hard part is noticing who doesn’t come with you. The people who preferred the earlier version of you.
Change has a social cost nobody prepares you for.
Something I’ve realised over the years, you can recover from being wrong.
But it’s hard to recover from not trusting yourself.
Most people don’t fear loss, they fear responsibility.
Bitcoin makes that very visible.
But it’s hard to recover from not trusting yourself.
Most people don’t fear loss, they fear responsibility.
Bitcoin makes that very visible.
December 1, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Something I’ve realised over the years, you can recover from being wrong.
But it’s hard to recover from not trusting yourself.
Most people don’t fear loss, they fear responsibility.
Bitcoin makes that very visible.
But it’s hard to recover from not trusting yourself.
Most people don’t fear loss, they fear responsibility.
Bitcoin makes that very visible.
What Seneca Got Wrong About Money (And What Bitcoin Gets Right)
Stoicism taught me that wealth was indifferent.
Bitcoin taught me that the type of money matters.
Some money makes you fragile. Some makes you free.
Read: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Stoicism taught me that wealth was indifferent.
Bitcoin taught me that the type of money matters.
Some money makes you fragile. Some makes you free.
Read: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
What Seneca Got Wrong About Money
And What Fifteen Years of Bitcoin Taught Me Instead
open.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 10:05 AM
What Seneca Got Wrong About Money (And What Bitcoin Gets Right)
Stoicism taught me that wealth was indifferent.
Bitcoin taught me that the type of money matters.
Some money makes you fragile. Some makes you free.
Read: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Stoicism taught me that wealth was indifferent.
Bitcoin taught me that the type of money matters.
Some money makes you fragile. Some makes you free.
Read: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Black Friday makes one thing clear.
We buy things to feel in control, but every purchase is another dependency.
Bitcoin flips the equation.
Less stuff, more time, more autonomy. Feels like a better deal.
We buy things to feel in control, but every purchase is another dependency.
Bitcoin flips the equation.
Less stuff, more time, more autonomy. Feels like a better deal.
November 28, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Black Friday makes one thing clear.
We buy things to feel in control, but every purchase is another dependency.
Bitcoin flips the equation.
Less stuff, more time, more autonomy. Feels like a better deal.
We buy things to feel in control, but every purchase is another dependency.
Bitcoin flips the equation.
Less stuff, more time, more autonomy. Feels like a better deal.
Volatility isn’t the hard part of Bitcoin, uncertainty is.
The quiet fear, What if I’m wrong?
Selling gives closure.
Holding gives doubt.
Which one is harder for you?
The quiet fear, What if I’m wrong?
Selling gives closure.
Holding gives doubt.
Which one is harder for you?
November 27, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Volatility isn’t the hard part of Bitcoin, uncertainty is.
The quiet fear, What if I’m wrong?
Selling gives closure.
Holding gives doubt.
Which one is harder for you?
The quiet fear, What if I’m wrong?
Selling gives closure.
Holding gives doubt.
Which one is harder for you?
At the Eagle pub in Cambridge having a beer with friends tonight. Bitcoin somehow ended up on the table too.
A friend said, I sold 2 BTC at £15k in 2017. Felt smart, now it stings.
Not because of the missed gains, but because he didn’t trust himself.
Ever felt that?
A friend said, I sold 2 BTC at £15k in 2017. Felt smart, now it stings.
Not because of the missed gains, but because he didn’t trust himself.
Ever felt that?
November 26, 2025 at 11:02 PM
At the Eagle pub in Cambridge having a beer with friends tonight. Bitcoin somehow ended up on the table too.
A friend said, I sold 2 BTC at £15k in 2017. Felt smart, now it stings.
Not because of the missed gains, but because he didn’t trust himself.
Ever felt that?
A friend said, I sold 2 BTC at £15k in 2017. Felt smart, now it stings.
Not because of the missed gains, but because he didn’t trust himself.
Ever felt that?
I’ve been thinking how my grandfather grew up in real scarcity. We grew up in manufactured abundance.
We assume the system will always work because we’ve never seen it break.
He had.
Bitcoin was the first thing that made me question that assumption.
We assume the system will always work because we’ve never seen it break.
He had.
Bitcoin was the first thing that made me question that assumption.
November 25, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I’ve been thinking how my grandfather grew up in real scarcity. We grew up in manufactured abundance.
We assume the system will always work because we’ve never seen it break.
He had.
Bitcoin was the first thing that made me question that assumption.
We assume the system will always work because we’ve never seen it break.
He had.
Bitcoin was the first thing that made me question that assumption.
Something I realised reading yesterday’s comments.
Every family had a “foil washer” someone shaped by real scarcity.
We rolled our eyes at them.
But the older I get, the more I think they were the only ones who truly understood risk.
Every family had a “foil washer” someone shaped by real scarcity.
We rolled our eyes at them.
But the older I get, the more I think they were the only ones who truly understood risk.
November 24, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Something I realised reading yesterday’s comments.
Every family had a “foil washer” someone shaped by real scarcity.
We rolled our eyes at them.
But the older I get, the more I think they were the only ones who truly understood risk.
Every family had a “foil washer” someone shaped by real scarcity.
We rolled our eyes at them.
But the older I get, the more I think they were the only ones who truly understood risk.
My grandfather washed aluminum foil.
We mocked it for years.
Then Bitcoin taught me why he did it, he’d lived through real scarcity.
Abundance is temporary.
Bitcoin is the reminder.
Read - open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
We mocked it for years.
Then Bitcoin taught me why he did it, he’d lived through real scarcity.
Abundance is temporary.
Bitcoin is the reminder.
Read - open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
My grandfather washed aluminum foil.
Everyone mocked his habits.Bitcoin proved him right.
open.substack.com
November 23, 2025 at 8:29 AM
My grandfather washed aluminum foil.
We mocked it for years.
Then Bitcoin taught me why he did it, he’d lived through real scarcity.
Abundance is temporary.
Bitcoin is the reminder.
Read - open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
We mocked it for years.
Then Bitcoin taught me why he did it, he’d lived through real scarcity.
Abundance is temporary.
Bitcoin is the reminder.
Read - open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
If you find yourself checking the Bitcoin price too often, ask.
What feeling am I chasing?
Control?
Reassurance?
Relief?
Checking never gives it.
It only makes the urge stronger.
Sitting with the feeling is harder, but that’s the real skill.
What feeling am I chasing?
Control?
Reassurance?
Relief?
Checking never gives it.
It only makes the urge stronger.
Sitting with the feeling is harder, but that’s the real skill.
November 21, 2025 at 7:21 PM
If you find yourself checking the Bitcoin price too often, ask.
What feeling am I chasing?
Control?
Reassurance?
Relief?
Checking never gives it.
It only makes the urge stronger.
Sitting with the feeling is harder, but that’s the real skill.
What feeling am I chasing?
Control?
Reassurance?
Relief?
Checking never gives it.
It only makes the urge stronger.
Sitting with the feeling is harder, but that’s the real skill.
Over coffee moment today.
A guy tried explaining Bitcoin.
Digital gold.
But why is it valuable?
…uh… scarcity?
Five years ago I would’ve jumped in.
Now I realise, people only understand Bitcoin
when they’re ready to accept uncertainty.
Explaining it early never works.
Ever tried explaining it?
A guy tried explaining Bitcoin.
Digital gold.
But why is it valuable?
…uh… scarcity?
Five years ago I would’ve jumped in.
Now I realise, people only understand Bitcoin
when they’re ready to accept uncertainty.
Explaining it early never works.
Ever tried explaining it?
November 20, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Over coffee moment today.
A guy tried explaining Bitcoin.
Digital gold.
But why is it valuable?
…uh… scarcity?
Five years ago I would’ve jumped in.
Now I realise, people only understand Bitcoin
when they’re ready to accept uncertainty.
Explaining it early never works.
Ever tried explaining it?
A guy tried explaining Bitcoin.
Digital gold.
But why is it valuable?
…uh… scarcity?
Five years ago I would’ve jumped in.
Now I realise, people only understand Bitcoin
when they’re ready to accept uncertainty.
Explaining it early never works.
Ever tried explaining it?
4 Bitcoin cycles. 4 different lessons. Here’s what each taught me.
November 19, 2025 at 7:52 PM
4 Bitcoin cycles. 4 different lessons. Here’s what each taught me.
Wealth isn’t about doing more. It’s about tolerating discomfort.
Most people can’t sit still when uncertainty rises.
So they act. React. Adjust. Optimise.
But almost every great outcome in life comes from resisting the urge to fix the moment.
Wealth = the ability to wait.
Most people can’t sit still when uncertainty rises.
So they act. React. Adjust. Optimise.
But almost every great outcome in life comes from resisting the urge to fix the moment.
Wealth = the ability to wait.
November 18, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Wealth isn’t about doing more. It’s about tolerating discomfort.
Most people can’t sit still when uncertainty rises.
So they act. React. Adjust. Optimise.
But almost every great outcome in life comes from resisting the urge to fix the moment.
Wealth = the ability to wait.
Most people can’t sit still when uncertainty rises.
So they act. React. Adjust. Optimise.
But almost every great outcome in life comes from resisting the urge to fix the moment.
Wealth = the ability to wait.
The part I didn’t include in yesterday’s essay. Checking the price has nothing to do with information.You already know the trend.It’s about trying to feel in control of something that can’t be controlled.
Every check teaches your brain that uncertainty, danger. That’s the loop we all need to break.
Every check teaches your brain that uncertainty, danger. That’s the loop we all need to break.
November 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
The part I didn’t include in yesterday’s essay. Checking the price has nothing to do with information.You already know the trend.It’s about trying to feel in control of something that can’t be controlled.
Every check teaches your brain that uncertainty, danger. That’s the loop we all need to break.
Every check teaches your brain that uncertainty, danger. That’s the loop we all need to break.
Why the Anxious Never Get Rich.
It’s about the version of you who checks the price at 3am… not because the market changed, but because uncertainty feels unbearable.
Bitcoin reveals your time preference.Anxiety shortens it.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
It’s about the version of you who checks the price at 3am… not because the market changed, but because uncertainty feels unbearable.
Bitcoin reveals your time preference.Anxiety shortens it.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
Why the Anxious Never Get Rich
And how Bitcoin exposes the time-preference trap
open.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Why the Anxious Never Get Rich.
It’s about the version of you who checks the price at 3am… not because the market changed, but because uncertainty feels unbearable.
Bitcoin reveals your time preference.Anxiety shortens it.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
It’s about the version of you who checks the price at 3am… not because the market changed, but because uncertainty feels unbearable.
Bitcoin reveals your time preference.Anxiety shortens it.
Full essay: open.substack.com/pub/thephilo...
The market is moving.
What interests me more is what it exposes, your patience,your fear,
your time preference.
Most people aren’t shaken out by price,but by what they feel.
If today feels tense, pay attention.
That’s the real lesson.
What interests me more is what it exposes, your patience,your fear,
your time preference.
Most people aren’t shaken out by price,but by what they feel.
If today feels tense, pay attention.
That’s the real lesson.
November 14, 2025 at 10:26 AM
The market is moving.
What interests me more is what it exposes, your patience,your fear,
your time preference.
Most people aren’t shaken out by price,but by what they feel.
If today feels tense, pay attention.
That’s the real lesson.
What interests me more is what it exposes, your patience,your fear,
your time preference.
Most people aren’t shaken out by price,but by what they feel.
If today feels tense, pay attention.
That’s the real lesson.
The market moves in waves, but the real movement is internal.
Most people aren’t losing money to volatility, they’re losing it to impatience.
If today felt slow or frustrating, that’s the work.
Staying still when your mind wants to sprint.
Most people aren’t losing money to volatility, they’re losing it to impatience.
If today felt slow or frustrating, that’s the work.
Staying still when your mind wants to sprint.
November 13, 2025 at 12:54 PM
The market moves in waves, but the real movement is internal.
Most people aren’t losing money to volatility, they’re losing it to impatience.
If today felt slow or frustrating, that’s the work.
Staying still when your mind wants to sprint.
Most people aren’t losing money to volatility, they’re losing it to impatience.
If today felt slow or frustrating, that’s the work.
Staying still when your mind wants to sprint.
Every Bitcoin cycle punishes impatience and rewards silence.
The 2013 crowd mocked the 2011 holders.
The 2017 crowd mocked the 2013 holders.
The 2021 crowd mocked the 2017 holders.
The pattern never changes. Just the price. Time is undefeated.
Early is luck.
Holding is character.
The 2013 crowd mocked the 2011 holders.
The 2017 crowd mocked the 2013 holders.
The 2021 crowd mocked the 2017 holders.
The pattern never changes. Just the price. Time is undefeated.
Early is luck.
Holding is character.
November 12, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Every Bitcoin cycle punishes impatience and rewards silence.
The 2013 crowd mocked the 2011 holders.
The 2017 crowd mocked the 2013 holders.
The 2021 crowd mocked the 2017 holders.
The pattern never changes. Just the price. Time is undefeated.
Early is luck.
Holding is character.
The 2013 crowd mocked the 2011 holders.
The 2017 crowd mocked the 2013 holders.
The 2021 crowd mocked the 2017 holders.
The pattern never changes. Just the price. Time is undefeated.
Early is luck.
Holding is character.