“There is no innovation more dangerous than letting governments control the money printer.”
In the last post, we asked a fundamental question: What is money?
We discovered that fiat currencies—like the Malaysian Ringgit or Argentine Peso—are built on trust, not truth. They decay in value, centralize power, and distort economies.
The next question is obvious:
Was there ever another way? Was Bitcoin really just invented in 2008… or was it waiting to happen all along?
This post argues that Bitcoin was not just created. It was discovered. It was an inevitable response to systemic failures centuries in the making.
🏛 A Brief History of Monetary Control
Throughout history, money has always attracted central power:
- In Ancient Rome, emperors debased gold coins to fund war.
- In medieval China, paper money enabled economic expansion—but hyperinflation destroyed dynasties.
- In modern Europe, central banks emerged to finance kings and empires—with monopolies on currency issuance.
The pattern is clear: whoever controls the money, controls the people.
Even in democratic systems, central banks act with extraordinary power. They can lower interest rates, print trillions, and bail out failing corporations—without public consent.
This isn’t just unfair. It’s mathematically unsustainable.
💣 The 20th Century: Fiat on Steroids
In 1944, after World War II, global leaders signed the Bretton Woods Agreement, tying major currencies to the US dollar—which itself was pegged to gold.
But in 1971, that gold peg was removed. Money became pure fiat.
From that moment, central banks were free to expand the money supply without restraint.
| Year | US Dollar in Circulation (M2) |
|---|---|
| 1971 | $600 billion |
| 2008 | $7.5 trillion |
| 2024 | $20+ trillion |
In less than two generations, money creation exploded. The consequences?
- Asset bubbles (stocks, real estate)
- Rising inequality
- Falling purchasing power for the middle class
- Financial crises every 10–15 years
And all this while everyday savers—your parents, your neighbours—watched their money lose value quietly.
🧠 Why Gold Couldn’t Save Us
Some people argue we should return to the gold standard. But history shows that gold failed for a simple reason:
Gold is hard to verify and easy to centralize.
That’s why governments held it in vaults, and people used paper claims on gold (banknotes).
But those notes became unbacked promises, and eventually pure fiat.
Gold lost not because it’s bad—but because it can’t move at the speed of trustless computation.
💻 Enter the Internet: A New Battlefield
The 1990s brought a radical shift: the internet enabled global, instant communication.
Naturally, people tried to create digital money. But every attempt failed:
- e-Gold (1996): backed by physical gold, but shut down by the U.S. government.
- Liberty Reserve (2006): offered anonymous digital payments—seized and shut down.
- PayPal (1999): pivoted away from digital cash due to compliance pressure.
Why did they fail?
Because they were centralized.
Governments could find them. Shut them down. Regulate or seize their funds.
To survive, digital money needed to be decentralized—a system without a single point of failure.
🧬 Bitcoin: The Emergence of Digital Scarcity
In 2008, the global financial system collapsed. Banks gambled recklessly, governments printed trillions to save them, and the average citizen paid the price through inflation and lost homes.
Amid this chaos, a pseudonymous figure named Satoshi Nakamoto released a whitepaper titled:
“Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”
This was the moment Bitcoin was unleashed—not as a company, app, or financial product,
but as a protocol—an unstoppable, permissionless, self-verifying network.
🔒 Why Bitcoin Solved the Unsovable
Bitcoin did what no digital money had ever done:
| Problem | Bitcoin’s Solution |
|---|---|
| Double-spending in digital systems | Solved via Proof-of-Work & Nakamoto consensus |
| Inflation by central control | Fixed supply: 21 million coins, no exceptions |
| Censorship of transactions | Peer-to-peer network, no central switch |
| Trust in third-party institutions | Replaced by open-source code + math |
| Value verification | Every coin traceable and verifiable on-chain |
Bitcoin is digital gold—but programmable, borderless, and immune to confiscation.
🌏 Why It Matters in the Global South
In countries like Argentina, Lebanon, Nigeria, and yes—even Malaysia—the trust in fiat is quietly eroding.
Your Ringgit buys less each year.
The cost of living climbs while savings accounts earn 1–3%.
Banking access is limited. Cross-border payments are expensive.
And financial surveillance is increasing.
Bitcoin wasn’t invented for billionaires.
It was built for ordinary people—those who want to save, transact, and thrive without asking permission.
🚫 The Bitcoin Alternative Didn’t Exist
Many critics ask:
“Why not just build a better PayPal?”
Because:
- PayPal is permissioned
- PayPal can freeze your account
- PayPal can’t issue a currency that resists inflation
Bitcoin is not PayPal.
It’s not fintech.
It’s digital monetary architecture.
The only way to create unprintable, unstoppable, borderless money was through decentralization, consensus, and code.
Which is why Bitcoin was inevitable.
🔮 The Big Picture: A New Economic Foundation
Bitcoin isn’t perfect.
It’s still volatile. It’s still early.
But like the internet in 1995, its foundations are quietly being adopted by:
- Nations (El Salvador, Bhutan, more soon)
- Billion-dollar companies (MicroStrategy, Block)
- Everyday people in inflation-hit economies
And at the edge of this network, something new is growing:
The Lightning Network—a layer that makes Bitcoin usable for coffee, micropayments, and commerce.
🛤️ Next: The Lightning Revolution
Now that we’ve established why Bitcoin exists, the next question is:
Can it work as everyday money?
Spoiler: Not on its base layer. But there’s a solution—and it’s called Lightning.
In the next post, we’ll explore how the Lightning Network is turning Bitcoin into a fast, cheap, and censorship-resistant payment system for the world.
kheAI is a minimalist Bitcoin-native startup in Malaysia.
We believe in freedom through sovereignty, education through stories, and commerce through sats.
Join our journey at kheai.com