On behalf of the Bitcoin Magazine Team, we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and a fantastic New Year!
Here is Holiday Greeting from Bitcoin Evangelist, BitInstant CEO, and Bitcoin Foundation Board Vice Chair, Charlie Shrem:
Seasons Greetings Bitcoiners!
What a wild year 2013 has been!
At the time of last year’s holiday message, BTC was $13.30 and on Jan 10th, 2013 I was predicting $14.00. As of Christmas morning, BTC is holding steady around$675.
Now, before all of you say “Bitcoin is not all about the price”, relax. You are correct. This year I’ve been fortunate to have travelled all over the world evangelizing Bitcoin. From Austria to Las Vegas, Panama, California, London, Amsterdam, Morocco, Argentina and more meeting Bitcoin communities and building lifelong friendships. One thing I’ll always remember, said to me by long time friend and Bitcoin Foundation general counsel Patrick Murk, “Bitcoin is the accumulation of the talent, hard work and dedication of the people who develop and maintain the protocol, build industries around the protocol, the merchants and consumers who use the Bitcoin protocol in their daily lives, and those who promote and protect the protocol. As more people become a part of the Bitcoin community, the value of the system increases.”.
Bitcoin is not simply a currency, or a payment system. Bitcoin is a technology that enables you and I to work together to make the world a better place. Bitcoin not only has the potential for global financial inclusion of the world’s poor, it also provides a stable money supply to people living in some of the world’s most corrupt and irresponsible governments.
We’ve had many ups and downs this year, literally. We saw the end of Silk Road and the dawn of government regulation. Some people thought we even found Satoshi. China emerged as a dominant player in the Bitcoin space. Senate hearings and various worldwide government bodies either embraced or tried to slow it down. I say good luck to that. To shut down Bitcoin you’d have to shut down the world’s electricity and the internet. Lastly, Canada and Australia joined the foundation’s initiative to bring together some of the most energetic Bitcoin communities in the world to fulfill our mission to protect, standardize and promote Bitcoin worldwide. Bitcoin is you, me, and all of our hard work. It’s our community and culture that we’ve all decided to make our own – and we will prevail.
Satoshi built Bitcoin for us so we that can carry the torch and continue to develop it for mainstream adoption. He gave us the land and now its up to us the build the roads, bridges, and tunnels. 2013 was the year of regulation. 2014 is the year of infrastructure so get ready to build! Circle’s $9 million and Coinbase’s $25 million investments are just the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg full of new ideas, talent and capital just waiting to be tapped by the right people to bring Bitcoin to the masses.
Looking forward to an even wilder year!
Happy holidays!
Charlie Shrem
Vice-Chairman, Bitcoin Foundation
CEO, BitInstant
