Eighteen years ago today, at 2:10 AM Beijing time on November 1, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto sent a letter to a cryptography mailing list titled "Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper." The opening statement revealed his intention: he was working on a completely peer-to-peer electronic cash system that required no trusted third party. The paper was 9 pages long. The first sentence of the abstract described payments: one party pays another directly, without going through a financial institution. Today, Bitcoin is available in spot ETFs, appears on the balance sheets of listed companies, and is custodied by banks. Some say this has distorted its original purpose. I disagree. What's in an ETF is cryptocurrency. The phrase "no trusted third party required" doesn't apply. This is merely a personal opinion and does not constitute investment advice.