Bitcoin Is More Than Digital Gold

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One of the most important, yet double-edged, narratives out there is that “bitcoin is digital gold” because there’s a finite amount of bitcoin that is slowly brought into circulation by “mining” it.

On this very special episode of the “Bitcoin Magazine Podcast,” host Christian Keroles talks about the differences with Aaron Segal, investor, Bitcoin thinker and writer, to discuss that narrative.

Segal’s first written contribution to Bitcoin Magazine was one for the ages. As soon as Keroles read the article, he immediately got back to Segal asking for an interview. Keroles believes that bitcoin is much better than gold ever was and to simply describe it as gold on the internet does not do the revolution that is Bitcoin justice. Segal seems to agree.

Enter “Bitcoin Information Theory (BIT)” by Segal. Segal’s article framed Bitcoin in a completely different way. Rather than focusing on digital gold, Segal honed in on the fact that a Bitcoin standard would end monetary uncertainty for 100% of the planet. What does ending monetary uncertainty mean? Segal put it into the context of the laws of thermodynamics and entropy. He sees that the law of thermodynamics doesn’t take into account advancements in technology, so he created a new formula that does. The basic Idea is that work or energy expenditure to the power of technology, minus monetary uncertainty, equals information. Sgal’s formula is featured below, and he talked about it in much more detail on this episode.