The Financial Cheat Code
Yeah, it's Bitcoin...Thanks Peter McCormack!
In the gaming world, a “cheat code” is a hidden string of super-secret inputs that bypasses the intended difficulty of the game. A cheat code grants the player any number of advantages: infinite health, secret levels, special weapons, an abundance of resources that would otherwise take hundreds of hours to grind for, etc. I’m not a gamer, but I have gamed…and I know the value of a good cheat code.
In the world of personal finance, the difficulty of various levels has been trending upwards for decades. Inflation (which is theft!) erodes purchasing power, housing prices dramatically outpace wage growth, food and fuel are absurdly priced, and the traditional “work-save-retire path” feels increasingly like a rigged game. Enter Bitcoin, the financial cheat code.
As it stands, governments have the ability to print more currency at will. (Thanks fiat!) While this helps manage debts (inflation is good for the borrower, by devaluing the unit owed) and stimulates short-term spending, it acts as a tax on the average citizen-saver. Let’s say you work 40 hours a week and save $1,000, for example. If the total supply of money increases by 10%, your 40 hours of labor just became worth 36 hours. You lost progress while doing nothing, through no fault of your own. In the current system, average citizens are forced to become investors, on top of savers and wage-earners, to have any hope of getting ahead.
Bitcoin is, in my opinion, a cheat code that short-circuits this dynamic. With a hard cap of 21 million coins, it is the only financial asset with a truly fixed supply programmed into its source code. Even precious metals have an unknown amount of new supply, which does come on the market when price rises. (We have discussed this previously. And it is natural that supply responds to demand in economics. But the rules of Bitcoin do not allow the supply response.)
In a world of infinite money, Bitcoin represents absolute scarcity. By moving earned labor-value from a depreciating fiat currency into a (theoretically and seemingly in practice) appreciating one, you can stop the bleed of inflation. At minimum, no cabal of shadowy figures is going to devalue your monetary units.
Now about that cabal…
In traditional banking, moving large sums across borders is like playing a game with an annoying, and performance-degrading, amount of network lag. The mover of capital has to deal with “correspondent banks,” high fees, questions dictated by governments, and waiting periods that can last days, if not weeks. If you try to move your own money out of certain countries, you might find your account locked by a central authority. Oi veh! No bueno.
Cue JG Wentworth…“It’s my money and I need it NOW!”
Bitcoin operates on a permissionless, peer-to-peer network. You, or anyone, can send $1 billion worth of value to the other side of the planet for a few dollars in fees in minutes. There is no gatekeeper to ask for permission, no bank to ask questions on behalf of the government or tell you “no,” and no border that can possibly stop a digital string of numbers. As many have said, and I tend to agree, “Bitcoin is freedom money.”
In most video games, the game developer can ban your account, delete your items, or change the rules at any time--this is exactly how the traditional banking system works. Your money in a bank is simply a legal claim on a debt…and the bank can freeze it or the government can seize it. Ownership is all well and good until someone (or their representative) with a gun turns up, or makes an undesirable keystroke.
Bitcoin offers self-sovereignty. If you hold your own private keys (the 12 or 24-word recovery phrase), you are the only person on Earth who can access that wealth. This is the ultimate “God Mode” for personal property. No government, bank, or malicious actor can take Bitcoin from you without your password. In an era of increasing censorship and financial de-platforming, having an unseizable asset is a lovely insurance policy. Note: Learn about multi-signature if you want even more peace-of-mind.
The financial industry is filled with NPCs (non-player characters) who take a cut of every transaction you make. Brokers, clearinghouses, and bankers all extract fees for the simple service of trust…which is pretty rich because, do you actually trust banks?
Bitcoin replaces this extractive infrastructure with math. The blockchain is a transparent public ledger that everyone can see but no one can manipulate. By using Bitcoin, individuals can skip the grind of building credit scores or reaching “accredited investor” status to access decent customer service and high-performing assets. It is a democratized financial system where the rules are the same for a billionaire in New York and a teenager in El Salvador.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the negatives:
Price volatility. If you have paid any attention to this asset, you know it is currently volatile in USD terms. This is not a short-term trade. This is an opt-out and a step towards a fairer system. (1 Bitcoin = 1 Bitcoin, regardless of fiat price.) In my opinion, don’t trade Bitcoin, steadily accumulate it for the long-term, because it is the best long-term asset in existence.
Personal responsibility. There is no reset button. There is no redo. There are no extra lives. You cannot appeal to a central authority for help. If you mess up, it is gone. Be aware. Mind your seed phrase(s) really, really carefully.
Ultimately, Bitcoin is a cheat code because it allows individuals or businesses to opt out of a game where the rules regularly change to their disadvantage. It provides a way to save for the future, protect one’s accumulated labor, and transact freely without a central authority’s oversight.
“Money with rules, not rulers.”
For people who feel stuck on Compensation Level 1, while the “Final Boss” of cost-of-living gets stronger every year, Bitcoin offers a different path. It is the digital money cheat code of the 21st century--a financial edge in a world that feels extractive and designed for you to lose. Maybe consider it. Or don’t…tick tock, next block, either way.
Note: I got the idea (and wording) of Bitcoin as a “cheat code” from a super cool British Bitcoiner named Peter McCormack a few years ago. He used to host a podcast called “What Bitcoin Did,” (which he has since given to his producer, Danny Knowles) but has shifted to his own self-titled show focusing on a variety of social and economic issues, mostly UK-focused. He hosts a conference in Bedford called “Cheat Code” and has used a Bitcoin treasury & sponsorship strategy with the local football (soccer) team he owns, which has been very successful. Peter McCormack is pretty darn cool. Following his evolution of thought over the past number of years has been fun. Give him or Danny a listen if you get a chance.
*not financial advice ever…Do your own research.*
PS—Nobody gave me any feedback, so you’re stuck with whatever I feel like writing about. Don’t worry, there will be occasional current market updates and commentary sprinkled in with my rational money gibberish. Thanks for being here.