Looking back at the history of the cryptocurrency world over the past 10 years, how do we evaluate Bitcoin?

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin is neither good nor bad, neither virtuous nor evil, neither beautiful nor ugly; it is simply a program, an algorithm, a string of mysterious code hidden in the internet.

From a cultural perspective, Bitcoin is a combination of individualism, liberalism, and technological determinism. It embodies the hopes of technological geniuses and madmen for achieving an anarchic state and a utopian society.

However, no matter how great the ideal, it must withstand the pull of reality.

For liberals, Bitcoin represents a grand ideal of human progress. But for those who are uninterested in technology and merely want to make money, Bitcoin is just a tool for wealth creation.

Due to the lack of regulation, Bitcoin is forever filled with extreme fluctuations and never lacks wealth-creation myths. Due to survivor bias, people only pay attention to those who are making money. As humans, we have desires, and Bitcoin precisely evokes the most greedy instincts within us; you can’t resist it, and neither can I.

Luo Jinhai, the founder of CoinNeed, once made a vivid analogy:

Bitcoin is the supreme magic ring that dominates all others; it entices the mind, and those who wear the magic ring ultimately become slaves to the Dark Lord Sauron.

In reality, those who wear the Bitcoin ring, unless they possess an exceptionally strong inner self, will most likely become slaves to this magic ring.

As a technology created by "crypto-anarchists," Bitcoin itself is neutral, but when technology intersects with reality and encounters the complexities of human nature, problems are bound to arise.

Satoshi Nakamoto can calculate that unique hash value among 440 trillion options, but cannot compute the madness of human nature.

When the greed in human nature distorts something that was originally neutral, that thing itself becomes unimportant. There were tulips back then, and now there is Bitcoin; neither the tulips nor Bitcoin are at fault; the fault lies solely with human nature.

Therefore, when human nature cannot bear the negative feedback of technology, the intervention of regulation becomes very necessary.

After all, Bitcoin cannot satisfy hunger, cannot circulate, and has no monetary anchor behind it. Besides consuming vast amounts of energy to create wealth myths, it brings only disaster.