Written by: Jordi Visser
(The author is a professional investor with over 30 years of experience in traditional finance and macroeconomics on Wall Street)
When I lived in Brazil, I attended the wedding of the daughter of a driver we used every day. In Brazil, drivers are not just a means of transportation; they are guardians, often an extension of the family, a safe haven in a turbulent world. The wedding took place a fifteen-minute drive outside São Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world. During the reception, a plane flew overhead, and a little boy tugged at my sleeve, asking if I had ever been on a plane. He continued to ask questions, eventually inquiring if I had ever been to the big city of São Paulo. His world was just a few miles away from us. That moment remains unforgettable to me. It revealed that the gap in opportunity can coexist with geographical proximity; the divide between developed and developing countries is not merely reflected in wealth but in access to opportunities.
Earlier last week, I was reminded of that boy when I heard Peter Thiel's remarks again. These comments were originally made in 2024 when Bitcoin was trading around $60,000. Thiel stated at the time, "I’m not sure it will go up significantly from here." He also reflected, "The founding idea of Bitcoin was as a mechanism for libertarian, anti-central government… that initially excited me. However, it seems it hasn’t worked out as expected." After Bitcoin has gone through a long consolidation period, these words carry more weight. In Thiel's view, this asset, which once symbolized rebellion, has become institutionalized, traded through ETFs (sorry, it should be ETPs), accepted by governments, and absorbed by the mainstream financial system. But the outcome he sees may only be the midpoint of the story. For the billions still excluded from stable finance or fair opportunities, the use of Bitcoin has changed: from a tool for libertarian exit to a tool for democratized entry, becoming a bridge to global capitalism rather than an escape from it.
Thiel's remarks also symbolize a deeper change beneath the surface—a quiet transfer of power. As I wrote in "The Silent IPO of Bitcoin," the current consolidation is not a failure but a liquidity event. The early believers, cypherpunks, miners, and investors are the ones who pushed Bitcoin from obscurity to legitimacy, and now they are finally realizing the returns on their initial beliefs. They are selling Bitcoin not out of fear but out of a sense of accomplishment. Thiel's comments perfectly encapsulate this shift: the libertarian founders who built this system are now stepping back, transferring ownership to institutions and individuals who will continue to carry it forward. Ideological differences or opportunity costs are irrelevant. They are moving forward. Just as an IPO distributes a company's shares to a broader audience, this phase has distributed Bitcoin ownership to global users. This is precisely the process by which an idea born of rebellion begins to move toward stability, and it is the moment when freedom transforms into infrastructure.
From Freedom to Accessibility
Both liberalism and democratization are centered around freedom, but their connotations are entirely different. Liberalism is the freedom from control; democratization is the freedom to participate. The early creators of the internet and cryptocurrencies were essentially libertarians, visionary pioneers dedicated to breaking down information gatekeepers and decentralizing power. However, most of them were well-educated insiders with privileges and substantial resources who could choose to exit the traditional system. They sought sovereignty rather than inclusivity. The challenge today is how to extend this freedom to those lacking tools, education, or infrastructure. Democratization is the process by which freedom becomes accessible.
The "Cypherpunk Manifesto" and the Toughest Frontier
Long before Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, and the white paper emerged, Timothy C. May's "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto" (1988) captured the early libertarians' dream of digital autonomy. May envisioned that it would be cryptography, not politics, that could liberate individuals from institutional control. He predicted that in the future, people could communicate and transact anonymously, and governments would be powerless to regulate or tax the flow of information. "These developments," he wrote, "will fundamentally change the nature of government regulation and the ability of governments to tax and control economic interactions." In later writings, May warned that currency would be the hardest area to liberate. He stated that governments could tolerate encrypted speech but could not tolerate commercial activities they could not tax or track. "Anonymous digital cash is the most dangerous application of cryptographic technology." Twenty years later, Bitcoin achieved what he considered nearly impossible: the mathematical separation of money from the state.
But May's manifesto did not appear in isolation; it was part of a broader trend in the early development of the internet. The web initially had a certain anarchic quality: open protocols, anonymous forums, and unregulated peer-to-peer information exchange. For a time, it embodied the same libertarian spirit: information is freedom, code is law. However, even this digital anarchy has been evolving. To achieve the democratization of information access, it requires usability, security, and trust. The chaotic state of the original web has gradually been replaced by search engines, browsers, and standards that enable billions to access the internet. Today, Bitcoin and artificial intelligence are at a similar turning point. If Bitcoin represents the liberation of capital, then artificial intelligence represents the liberation of knowledge. Both stem from the same anarchistic genes but are evolving toward a more inclusive future: transforming tools of individual sovereignty into platforms of collective empowerment.
From Libertarian Sparks to Democratic Flames
Every great technological revolution begins with the spark of libertarianism and matures through the process of democratization. The printing press freed information from the control of the church; the American Revolution liberated citizens from the shackles of monarchy; the early internet freed communication from the monopoly of centralized media; Bitcoin liberated currency from the constraints of intermediaries. However, in each case, the earliest beneficiaries were the educated few. True democratization occurs only after tools become simple, affordable, and accessible to all.
Libertarians build the gates; democratization advocates distribute the keys. The Bitcoin white paper promised to free us from gatekeepers, while artificial intelligence promises to break down barriers of thought and institutions. Both began with libertarians' exploration of sovereignty, but they can only reach their full potential when they become inclusive tools. The future challenge is to ensure that this cycle—innovation, integration, resistance, democratization—does not ultimately evolve into a new power grab but instead brings about lasting empowerment.
Bridge Technology: Scalable Compromise Solutions
No revolution is without compromise. In the realm of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins—the digital dollar connecting the decentralized world and the traditional world—serve as this bridge. For purists, stablecoins are heresy, tying blockchain technology to government currency. However, for billions, stablecoins are the most convenient way to enter the global financial system. Stablecoins to cryptocurrencies are what HTTP and SSL were to the early internet: they are the practical layer that makes complex systems usable and trustworthy.
The same dynamic played out in the 1990s. Early internet libertarians dreamed of an unregulated digital public space, but it was companies like AOL, Netscape, Amazon, and later Google, Apple, and Meta—business intermediaries despised by purists—that enabled ordinary people to access the internet. The real breakthrough was not ideological but technological. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption made it possible to transmit credit card and personal data securely online, thus opening the door to e-commerce. Compromise is the way freedom expands. Stablecoins and user-friendly exchanges play the same role for cryptocurrencies: they are imperfect bridges that transform ideals into actual participation.
Accessibility as the Engine of Democratization
Every significant technology begins with rebellion but ultimately realizes its promise through widespread application. As Marc Andreessen said, "Innovations that cannot scale are just hobbies." The goal is not merely to build systems that resist control but to build systems that benefit the masses. Chris Dixon of Andreessen Horowitz aptly pointed out, "The next big breakthrough may initially look like a toy." True transformation occurs when toys become tools, when the ideals of a few evolve into the infrastructure for the many. The internet, mobile phones, cloud computing, and now Bitcoin have all followed this trajectory. They all began with the energy of libertarianism—open, permissionless, decentralized—but only when they became usable, trustworthy, and accessible did they truly achieve democratization. This is not a binary choice between anarchy and control but a continuous process. To benefit eight billion people, technology must move from ideology to inclusivity, from resisting the existing system to upgrading it.
Democratizing Education: The True Freedom of Liberalism
If the highest ideal of liberalism is individual sovereignty, then the democratization of education is its purest manifestation. True freedom is not just freedom from control but the freedom to understand, create, and participate. Artificial intelligence continues the idea that birthed Bitcoin: decentralizing power through code. Bitcoin broke the banks' monopoly on capital, while artificial intelligence is breaking the institutions' monopoly on knowledge.
About six years ago, I spent an afternoon with Michael Milken discussing the future. One thing he said has lingered in my mind as I contemplate Bitcoin and the elder concepts. At the time, I was arguing that the dollar would eventually depreciate, and he interrupted me, saying, "Don’t think about it from the perspective of the dollar possibly disappearing based on economic history books; think about what it represents." He told me that if you opened the doors of America tomorrow and let everyone in, there would be 7 billion people waiting in line. His point was simple yet profound: the dollar is not just a currency; it symbolizes opportunity, resources, and a belief in education and mobility. That conversation was an epiphany for me, reminding me of my days in Brazil and the boy at the wedding who had never been to São Paulo. He lacked not wisdom but opportunity. As Milken often says, "Wisdom is evenly distributed, but opportunity is not."
An equal future does not come from wealth redistribution but from expanding pathways to capability. Bitcoin empowers people with the freedom to participate in capitalism without permission. Artificial intelligence can play a similar role in education and entrepreneurship. Together, they push us toward the kind of freedom Milken described—a freedom built not on wealth but on the opportunity for everyone to learn, create, and integrate into society.
A New Definition of Upside Potential
Peter Thiel may be right that Bitcoin's price upside is limited, but its benefits to humanity are just beginning. The same goes for artificial intelligence. Early libertarian developers created systems for those wanting to exit. The next generation of developers is building systems that allow everyone to choose to join. The initial rebellion is evolving into inclusivity.
Libertarianism gives Bitcoin its vitality; democratization gives it scale. The network effect is the invisible bridge connecting the two, proving that freedom grows through participation.
For that boy living on the outskirts of São Paulo, who had never been on a plane or even seen a city just fifteen minutes away, the true value of Bitcoin and artificial intelligence is not just theoretical. It opens a door to a new world where distance no longer determines possibility, where knowledge and capital can flow across borders, and where the greatest hope of technology is not to escape the system but to integrate into it. For this reason, I call Bitcoin the purest investment in artificial intelligence.
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