Beyond the Tech Narrative: Cryptocurrency Is a War of Faith

Foreword

The truly interesting core questions about cryptocurrency have not yet been genuinely answered.

"Digital gold" is not the answer for Bitcoin. It represents a religion of a religious form and is currently undergoing the dual severe tests of regulatory co-option and stablecoins (the US dollar).

"Altcoins have zero value" is not the answer for altcoins. The term "altcoin" has long been a practically obsolete definition:

Meme coins are by no means worthless; they are the assetized form of human belief, capable of shaping cultural symbols, defining the aesthetics of a new generation, and even reshaping public thought.

Although attention coins experience extreme volatility and severe exploitation, they are essentially attention search engines where people place bets with real money.

The hottest trend of the last cycle, "Autonomous Worlds," has clearly pointed in one direction this cycle—only AI can truly overcome human nature to build genuinely autonomous digital worlds. The rise of AI will inevitably form a dual-drive mechanism with cryptocurrency. If the circulating currency on this path remains fiat rather than cryptocurrency, then we might as well just type "GG" now.

As for project revenue, profitability, and the tug-of-war and controversy between equity and tokens, after all these years, the self-diminishing act of treating the cryptocurrency market as a stock market should come to an end someday, shouldn't it?

After all these years, the understanding of the vast majority of us is still trapped within the narrow framework of "value" as defined by VCs. If we cannot establish a set of value judgment criteria independent of the traditional stock market and VC valuation systems, then we have not truly disrupted the capital markets—at least so far, this is a complete failure.

But failure is never the end; it is a process. Cultivation is eternal failure, and eternal failure stems from eternal struggle. This is also the greatest potential of cryptocurrency, which remains unrealized to this day—its vitality always lies in challenge, disruption, and reconstruction.

The true crypto movement should inherently be about evangelism, the tokenization of everything, and the ongoing wars of culture and values waged globally. These are things VCs and pure speculators will never like because they never believe in them.

The following article was published at the end of last December. But as Bitcoin crashes and people continuously leave the industry losing confidence, we hope this article can bring everyone some faith.

Bitcoin is a Modern Religion

Christianity has Jesus, Buddhism has Shakyamuni, Islam has Muhammad, and Bitcoin has Satoshi Nakamoto.

Christianity has the "Bible," Buddhism has the "Sutras," Islam has the "Quran," and Bitcoin has "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System."

If we were to make more detailed comparisons, we would find that beyond the above aspects, Bitcoin shares many similarities with traditional religions. For example, Bitcoin also has its own doctrine (the modern financial order will eventually collapse, and Bitcoin will become the Noah's Ark when the apocalypse of the modern financial order arrives), its own religious rituals (mining and HODLing), has experienced schisms during its development, and after reaching a certain scale, has also become a tool used by governments for specific purposes, and so on.

But if we call Bitcoin a "modern religion," we must discuss its differences from traditional religions.

First, "decentralization." This term has developed in the current crypto industry to the point where it even carries a faint hint of mockery, but it is undoubtedly the most fundamental characteristic of the modern religion represented by Bitcoin. What I emphasize here is not the degree of decentralization in how a blockchain network operates, but rather "whether the process of consensus formation is decentralized."

Bitcoin's "creator god," Satoshi Nakamoto, chose "self-exile." He relinquished his authority, thereby creating a brand new world. Bitcoin does not have a god symbolizing central authority, nor does it have a central individual or entity that actually holds divine power. It grew and thrived in a manner opposite to traditional religions—from the bottom up. The Bitcoin whitepaper, and the phrase in the genesis block, "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," have never been altered. If you are interested, you can interpret them in any way you wish.

Satoshi Nakamoto is the "creator god" most like a human, but also the least like a human, because he demonstrated non-human moral standards, or rather, idealistic pursuits. Satoshi Nakamoto possessed not only Bitcoin worth tens of billions of dollars but also the ability to single-handedly destroy this religion, akin to having a button that could destroy the world, yet he simply disappeared. If you think deeper, Bitcoin has developed for so many years, and Bitcoin believers have trusted that Satoshi Nakamoto would forever guard the world he created. Even today, when governments around the world have begun to believe, you will realize how incredible all of this is.

Second, "the internet." This makes Bitcoin unlike traditional religions that rely on face-to-face evangelism, conquest by war, or immigration to attract followers. The internet not only made Bitcoin's dissemination non-linear and non-geographical, unlike traditional religions, but also gave Bitcoin modern appeal like meme culture to attract the new generation of youth.

Of course, there are also "devotion and reward," and "schism and expansion." These two points are very important; they determine that modern religion is essentially a "faith capital market."

Faith Capital Market

If you are a Bitcoin believer, you do not need to fast or practice asceticism; you only need to run a Bitcoin full node or hold Bitcoin.

When your faith in Bitcoin is challenged, whether by the block size debate or by smart contract public chains like Ethereum and Solana, you do not need to participate in a holy war; you still only need to run a Bitcoin full node or hold Bitcoin.

Both running a Bitcoin full node and holding Bitcoin can be seen as religious rituals of the Bitcoin religion. These rituals do not promise you hope for a better life or give you aspirations for a perfect afterlife. Instead, they provide believers with tangible material and spiritual rewards through price performance.

Similarly, whether it's the block size debate or the emergence of new public chains like Ethereum and Solana, various disputes ultimately result in the continuous rise of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. In cryptocurrency, conflicts of faith no longer lead to physical annihilation and spiritual conquest. Instead, they again present a situation completely opposite to traditional religions—traditional religions conflict to explain the world, ultimately dividing it. Conflicts in cryptocurrency, however, are like sparks that create worlds, like the universe infinitely expanding after the Big Bang, growing larger and more vibrant.

The universe is vast, capable of accommodating countless Earths. The capital market is also vast, capable of accommodating countless tokenized faiths.

Bitcoin is certainly a specific modern religion. But, from the perspective of pioneering the "faith capital market," its significance far exceeds that of a specific modern religion. I call it the "religion without a religion." Bitcoin has developed to this day, and like traditional religions, it has undergone a process of secularization. This is specifically manifested in the evolution of religious rituals from running a Bitcoin full node, to HODLing, to the point where almost no crypto player emphasizes its specific meaning. Instead, it sits quietly at the pinnacle of the cryptocurrency market pyramid like a totem. Just as Christmas in today's world is no longer strictly a Christian religious holiday—we like Christmas trees, Christmas gifts, enjoy the Christmas atmosphere, put on Santa hats for our social media profile pictures during Christmas, but we might not be Christians.

You could say Bitcoin is cryptocurrency, because if Bitcoin collapses, the cryptocurrency market would cease to exist. The foundation of all cryptocurrency value is the value of Bitcoin. But I am reluctant to define Bitcoin this way—what is the core value of Bitcoin? Digital gold? Tokenized energy? Fiat killer? In my view, Bitcoin's core value is that it established the modern religious form, namely the faith capital market.

Secularization

For both traditional religions and Bitcoin, secularization is a double-edged sword.

Again, take Christmas as an example. The global commercial output brought by Christmas (such as holiday retail, gifts, tourism, decorations, and related consumption) has significantly surpassed the commercial output of traditional Christian institutions (such as tithes and offerings, church admission fees, sales, and related income). According to estimates from Statista and the National Retail Federation (NRF), the total US holiday retail sales in 2024 were approximately $973 billion, and it is projected to exceed $1 trillion for the first time in 2025. This is only data from the US market, which accounts for about 40-50% of global Christmas consumption.

In contrast, the traditional "commercial output" of Christianity, such as tithes and offerings, church admission fees (e.g., tourist attraction churches), sales (e.g., books, souvenirs), and related income, according to the "Status of Global Christianity 2024" report by Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, totals approximately $1.304 trillion.

If we exclude the contributions of non-Christians to Christian-related tourist attractions and souvenirs, this $1.304 trillion figure needs to be further discounted.

Secularization has transformed Christmas from a strict religious holiday into a global cultural phenomenon. This has certainly expanded Christianity's influence to some extent, but it has also diluted the religious core.

The same is true for Bitcoin and the entire faith capital market it created. Just as many people around the world merely see Christmas as a day of joy, an increasing number of cryptocurrency market participants are flooding in solely for speculation.

This is not a matter of right or wrong; it is an unstoppable, inevitable process. But the problem we want to point out here is that celebrating Christmas does not shake the faith of traditional Christians, but does the massive speculative wave shake the faith of traditional Bitcoin believers?

Both involve secularization. The joyful atmosphere of Christmas does not make Christians doubt their faith, but the speculative atmosphere of the cryptocurrency market makes crypto believers feel nihilistic and frustrated. The viral tweet "I wasted 8 years of my life in crypto" is one of the best recent proofs of this.

Where does the problem lie?

Myth

I dare not easily draw a conclusion on this issue. From the intuitive feeling of a crypto player, I would say very cautiously that it might exist, but more likely, Bitcoin has developed too fast, and the fundamental base of Bitcoin belief itself is much smaller compared to traditional religions.

More importantly, the cryptocurrency industry has gone too far with the "technology myth." All along, both industry practitioners and speculators have repeatedly sought an answer to one question—"What else can blockchain technology actually be used for?" Practitioners use this to determine their entrepreneurial direction, and speculators use it to determine their investment targets. When everyone pursues faster, more efficient, and more application-ready blockchains, it is undoubtedly self-harm.

If the cryptocurrency industry is just a second Nasdaq, it is merely wasting money doing repetitive things. Moreover, wasting money is just a trivial matter. The real, extremely serious damage is the dilution of the understanding of the essence of the "faith capital market" and the consumption of faith itself.

Without Christianity, there would be no pop culture Christmas. Without a capital market forged by faith, there would be no paradise for entrepreneurs and speculators. If we ignore this obvious causal relationship, we will naturally keep asking painfully, "What new narrative do we need to create to attract more people into the cryptocurrency market?"

Both traditional religions and cryptocurrency inevitably have to ponder this question—"In different eras, what form should we take to attract young people with different cultural preferences?" Bitcoin provided a new answer, so it left traditional religions dumbfounded in less than 20 years. Now, it's Bitcoin's and the entire cryptocurrency industry's turn to face this difficult problem.

Savior

Meme coins are the savior of the cryptocurrency industry.

First, the foundation of the faith capital market is Bitcoin, but this does not mean we need to fanatically promote Bitcoin maximalism again. The most fundamentalist and fanatical elements in religion are often niche. Whether it's the cypherpunk spirit or the apocalyptic prophecy of the eventual collapse of traditional finance, the novelty they bring to the new generation of youth gradually declines, and they inherently have a high barrier to understanding.

Put another way, to revitalize the specific religion of Bitcoin is actually to underestimate Bitcoin, because what we actually need to revitalize is a "religion without a religion"—a cognition that everyone's faith can coalesce in the cryptocurrency market via the internet in modern times, not only harvesting material wealth but also unleashing infinite power.

Bitcoin's core value is that "you and I both believe it has value." This seems like a tautology, but it is actually a great decentralization and devolution of the power to interpret value. You and I can casually take a piece of paper and write "worth one gram of gold," but we cannot convince anyone to accept its value. Without any value anchor or central authority endorsement, starting from zero, overcoming language, cultural, geographical, and other重重 barriers, and even finally gaining recognition from institutions and governments—this greatness is vastly underestimated by the public.

Throughout history, individual consciousness has been extremely weak and can be trampled upon at will, to the point where we all underestimate the value of our ideas as independent, living individuals. In fact, the world's greatest resources are consumed on war—the war to invade your and my consciousness. Political elections, advertising, public relations, and even some of what we consider the most basic常识 education—everything耗费天量金钱, all just to ultimately make you and me think something is good or bad.

The internet is great; it allows our ideas to交流与碰撞 across一切, 24/7 without rest. Cryptocurrency is great; it allows us to see very concretely what we can actually achieve when we know each other's ideas align and grow exponentially to form massive scale.

The greatness of cryptocurrency is not only underestimated but even本末倒置. Housing construction technology is固然伟大, but the core value of a house is to enable people to live安居. "A peer-to-peer electronic cash system" is固然 an天才构想, but its core value is that everyone recognizes Bitcoin确实 has value and can be used like货币. For years, beyond Bitcoin, we have created countless所谓 faster, more efficient, more useful blockchains,幻想ing that this means more活生生的人 will enter this market.

This is like thinking that抛开宗教, a phenomenon-level节日 like Christmas can be大量且快速地复制. We自以为手里有剑,就可以成为独霸天下的剑客,但其实我们不但手里无剑,心中更无剑.

Second, meme coins have never truly experienced a complete and mature bull market cycle to this day. Even now, many people believe the value of meme coins lies solely in疯狂炒作 with no underlying value. And since last year, the popularity of pump.fun and Trump's coin issuance have further polluted the true definition of meme coins with "attention tokens."

What is a true meme coin? Actually, I don't even like the term "meme coin." This term exists because early $DOGE and $SHIB achieved massive success despite being perceived as utterly useless. We always习惯找寻原因 after success but overlook the value of faith. So, okay, their success is because that smiling dog头图片 has巨大影响力 worldwide, so let's call it "meme coin." So, okay, let's continue搬运 internet经典 meme文化符号—Pepe, Wojak, Joe...

Here, I must pay tribute to Murad. He was the first to systematically explain what a "meme coin" truly is, proposed a set of quantifiable quality evaluation standards, and delivered a speech on a sufficiently large stage. His "meme coin super cycle" theory gained significant influence in the crypto circle.

He洞察ed a crucial point—memes are merely the syntactic sugar of faith assets. True faith assets must, like Bitcoin, clearly let people know their doctrine, know what we are truly facing, what we truly want to change, and how to influence or even change this world.

Therefore, $SPX is good because it is clear—clearly telling people that we aim to狠狠嘲讽 traditional finance by超越 the actual value of the S&P 500. Therefore, $NEET is good because it is clear—clearly telling people that the 9-to-5牛马人生 is just a骗局, and we aim to摆脱工作的奴役 by awakening more people.

And just as Bitcoin believers practice苦修 through price fluctuations, forging true faith assets is by no means easy. In this process, new religions beyond Bitcoin must not only inwardly seek truly clear positioning and meaning, unify and consolidate the ideas of庞大社区, but also outwardly continuously expand their influence. This is注定 a漫长 process, and not every微小进步 will be reflected in price.

Meme coins are the savior of the cryptocurrency industry. I say this because when everyone realizes that "meme coin" is actually an erroneous term that doesn't touch the essence, and "faith assets" once again shine brightly in the cryptocurrency market, everyone will exclaim, "Meme coins are back!" But in reality, "faith assets" are the essence of this market. I won't say they are indispensable because they exist天然.

Conclusion

What the world cares about changes every year, month, day, even every hour. We cannot expect cryptocurrency to always be one of the world's most关注的事物. If we lose信念, then this industry should die.

Greatness cannot be planned. None of us can predict what will make cryptocurrency a world顶流话题 again next time. This is a苦修. Bitcoin is a sociological样板, a cyber religion, a religious form. If we forget this, the entire cryptocurrency industry is无非 just "business" based on Bitcoin consensus. And what businesspeople want is never the持续强化 of consensus, but the永远提升 of revenue.

I cannot change anything, nor do I intend to change anything, but I will坚持 my faith—faith in the faith capital market.