03-18-2025 
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There’s an old Irish saying that goes, “A tune is more than the notes, and a story is more than the words.” The Irish have always understood that how something is told matters as much as what is being told, which is why they are famous for a warm and robust culture!
This is the magic of storytelling—the force that turns ordinary men into legends, companies into empires, and small groups into legendary civilizations. And it’s the force that has defined Bitcoin’s journey for the last fifteen years.
The power of aesthetics: How Steve Jobs’ obsession built an empire
When Steve Jobs was a 19-year-old college dropout, he wandered into a calligraphy class at Reed College. He had no practical reason to be there. There was no money in beautifully crafted letters, and there was no obvious career path that would come from studying the history of elegant typography.
But Jobs, ever the storyteller, saw something deeper.
Ten years later, when Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) launched the Macintosh, it became the first personal computer to offer beautifully rendered fonts—fonts inspired by the elegance of classic calligraphy. That single design decision changed the company’s trajectory, turning what could have been another sterile computing box into an artifact of culture and a tool for creating beauty that could be distributed electronically for the first time.
The Mac was the computer for artists!
Watch Jobs opine about product design here and how a good idea is nowhere near enough to make something successful. Also, take note of the nearly 20 seconds of silence that he inserts before answering the question. A masterclass in aesthetically effective communication.
The Macintosh led to the iPod, which led to the iPhone, which led to the App Store—a trillion-dollar ecosystem, all because of a college dropout’s fascination with aesthetics.
The lesson? Technology alone is never enough. The world doesn’t change because a machine exists; it changes because people fall in love with an idea, a vision, or a story, and then they apply hard work with good tools and bring it all to life.
The lost age of aesthetic greatness
This is something civilizations once understood. A century ago, even a city’s gutters and garbage cans were decorated.
Architecture was not merely functional—it was inspirational.
Walk through the streets of medieval Prague, Paris or ancient Rome, and you’ll see that even the most utilitarian spaces—bridges, fountains, doorways—were adorned with carvings of dragons, saints, gods, and kings. There was an understanding that beauty shapes people. It elevates their minds and makes them feel like part of something greater than themselves.
But look around today. The world is drowning in the dull uniformity of prefabricated steel, neutral concrete and soulless glass. We’ve optimized for efficiency at the expense of inspiration—and in doing so, we have hollowed out our sense of purpose.
The Gothic cathedrals of Europe—soaring monuments to human ambition—were built in what we now call the “Dark Ages.” But were they dark? Or were they permanent testimonies to a people who still believed in the greatness of art, story, and meaning?
The hero’s journey: From Odysseus to Bitcoin
The greatest stories ever told follow a structure that has echoed through human history—the hero’s journey. It is Odysseus, lost at sea, facing monsters and temptations before reclaiming his throne. It is Daniel, thrown into the lion’s den, emerging unscathed. It is Jesus, crucified, descending into darkness before rising to change the world.
And it, too, is Bitcoin.
In 2019, I wrote my first CoinGeek article arguing that Bitcoin itself is a mythological hero—destined to be tested, abandoned, attacked, but ultimately triumphant.
“When God decided to make David a King, He didn’t give him a crown. He gave him Goliath.”
Bitcoin was never going to have an easy path. Bitcoin had to face Goliath.
And in Bitcoin’s case, Goliath took many forms:
- Theymos, Gregory Maxwell, and Samson Mow—censoring discussion, stifling innovation, gatekeeping the narrative.
- Adam Back and the Blockstream cartel—crippling Bitcoin’s ability to scale and selling off its original vision for corporate control.
- A decade of corporate indifference—where Bitcoin’s economic incentives were misunderstood, ignored, or actively sabotaged.
These were the villains of the story, and they did what villains do best—they hijacked the hero’s legacy and buried it beneath layers of deception.
Bitcoin’s resurrection: The rebirth of the original vision
But a great hero does not stay buried.
Satoshi’s original Bitcoin has not been lost—it has simply been exiled, waiting for its return while working furiously on becoming worthy of an epic come-back. And that return is happening now in the form of a truly unbounded BSV blockchain—the only network still following the original protocol.
The truth is that Bitcoin was never meant to be a store of value in the passive, hollow way that modern BTC maximalists promote. It was designed to be the backbone of a functioning economy. A real network for global trade. A frictionless system where payments and property move as seamlessly as speech.
- We need scalability—because a world-changing technology must handle billions of transactions per second, not seven (like in BTC.)
- We need micropayments—because economies don’t run on infrequent, large transactions and HODLing; they run on frequent spending.
- We need a culture of builders, not gatekeepers—because the only way to create a thriving economy is to let people build on it, compete, and iterate into infinity.
This is where Bitcoin’s story shifts. Like all heroes, it has suffered, but it will rise again.
Why aesthetics matter for Bitcoin’s future
If we want Bitcoin to win, we must learn from Steve Jobs.
It’s not just about the technology. It’s about the narrative. The branding. The aesthetics.
If we want a Bitcoin renaissance, we cannot look like a movement of dry engineers bickering on internet forums.
We need art, design, music, culture and tremendous storytelling! We need beautiful, simple user experiences. We need to inspire people, not just explain things to them.
- Apple won because it made computing an art form.
- The Renaissance happened because art, philosophy and industry went hand in hand.
- The Gothic cathedrals still stand because they were built with permanence in mind.
Bitcoin will not win because it is correct. It will win because it is compelling.
It must be told like a great story. It must be seen as a great work of art. It must be felt, not just understood.
A better world begins with a better vision
If Bitcoin is to reshape the world, it must begin with how we present it to the world.
We are not merely fighting for a protocol. We are building a civilization.
The aesthetics of that civilization—the art, the storytelling, the branding, the user experience—will define how deeply it takes root.
Related Reads:
- Bitcoin’s Hijacking: My time at CounterParty Conference
- The death of 9-to-5 and the rise of micropayment economy
- Seizing the opportunity in Bitcoin
Watch: It’s time for Bitcoin ecosystem to grow—here’s how
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