I remember one night late, I was scrolling through my phone,
once again entangled in the algorithmic trap of social media—
it always feels like a picky doorman, only pushing the echoes you want to hear.
At that moment, I couldn't help but wonder, what if Jack Dorsey's X had never become this tamed beast? This 48-year-old tech hermit (born November 19, 1976, St. Louis), who fell in love with scheduling software at the age of 14, now wanders in the wilderness of Bitcoin.
His story is like a glass of chilled tannic coffee, bitter yet invigorating: a dropout, how did he ignite global conversations with 140 characters, and quietly turn towards decentralized 'freedom technology'?
You might be curious: is such a rebel a genius or a lonely prophet?
To be honest, I sometimes envy his carefree 'statelessness'—from dropping out of New York University to meditative morning practices in San Francisco's Sea Cliff district—but I also grapple with the thought: if everyone chased open-source like him, would it stir too much chaos in the world? This little self-mockery reminds me not to rush into adoration but to first ask myself.
Jack Dorsey reminds me of that old saying: simplicity is beauty. His life trajectory resembles a meticulously crafted code—efficient, restrained, yet harboring explosive potential. In 2006, he, Evan Williams, and Biz Stone incubated the prototype of X at Odeo, which was merely a 'real-time status update' tool inspired by his early obsession with taxi dispatch. In just two years, X surged from a 140-character experiment to a global event amplifier: during the 2009 Iranian Green Revolution, it became a secret channel for protesters.
In 2016, its influence pushed its stock market value to exceed $20 billion.
However, Dorsey's CEO career (2007-2008, 2015-2021) was like a rollercoaster: he prioritized 'uptime' (system availability) over profitability, causing investor dissatisfaction, and ultimately resigned in 2021, selling 2.4% of his shares to Elon Musk.
The turning point came in 2009: co-founding Square (now Block) with Jim McKelvey, a mobile card reader that enabled small vendors to instantly access the credit card world. By 2025, the Block ecosystem had expanded to include Cash App (P2P payments + Bitcoin transactions), Tidal music streaming, and the Spiral Bitcoin development fund, with annual revenue exceeding $20 billion. Cash App's Bitcoin transaction volume grew from negligible beginnings in 2017 to over 15% of Block's revenue by 2025—this is no coincidence, but Dorsey's 'open-source bet': he views Bitcoin as 'the internet's native currency,' donating 14 BTC to the Nostr protocol.
In 2023, seed funding for the OCEAN mining pool's decentralization.
My observation? His philosophy resembles Zen: constraints breed creativity. But could over-idealization cause the company to overlook shareholders' cold gaze? Recently, he posted bluntly, 'bitcoin is not crypto,' reflecting on innovation not being hijacked by labels.
Oh, by the way, just to chat: I feel that the 'sources of inspiration' for tech giants are more mysterious than code.
Dorsey's social empire, starting with X, is like a funhouse mirror: it reflects humanity's immediate impulses while magnifying divisions. Early on, he advocated for the principles of 'simplicity, constraints, and craftsmanship'—the 140-character limit of X (later expanded to 280) forced users to express themselves concisely. After first tweeting 'just setting up my twttr' in 2006, monthly active users skyrocketed from zero to hundreds of millions. However, during his leadership, he witnessed how algorithms transformed from tools into shackles: during the 2018 congressional hearing, he defended Section 230 immunity but acknowledged that Russian interference in elections caused a 6% drop in stock prices.
Data analysis shows that after the political advertising ban on X in 2020, user retention increased by 10%, but revenue fell by 20%—balancing freedom and commerce is always like walking a tightrope.
During his trip to Africa (2019), Dorsey realized the barriers of traditional finance, which inspired him to promote Bluesky (launched in 2019), a decentralized protocol aimed at allowing users to control data rather than a CEO's dictatorship. In 2022, he donated $10M to OpenSats to support open-source social media. However, in 2024, he exited the Bluesky board, criticizing it for 'turning towards corporatization and centralized review'—like a veteran watching a younger generation repeat past mistakes, he turned to embrace Nostr and X's 'free technology.' Personal view: Dorsey's defection exposes the Achilles' heel of social platforms—the concentration of power is like a virus, easily hijacked by politicians or advertisers.
I've done the math: if X had open-sourced earlier, its market value could have increased by 30% in 2021 (based on the Nostr growth model), but it could also have shattered into a thousand pieces. Decentralization sounds poetic, but who will stop the flood of fake news?
It always makes me ponder: Is the price of freedom destined to be loneliness?
Dorsey's obsession with Bitcoin is like an icy bath for the senses—piercing yet awakening. He first encountered the BTC white paper in 2010, viewing it as 'the key to world peace.' In 2021, he candidly stated, 'If not for X/Square, I would be all in on Bitcoin.' Block's layout resembles precision gears: Cash App integrates the Lightning Network, and by 2025, Bitcoin transactions will account for 18% of total revenue. The mining pool OCEAN's decentralized template allows miners to avoid monopolistic large pools. Data anchor points: From Square's investment of $50 million in BTC in 2017 to Block's ecosystem (including TBD) processing over 10 billion P2P transactions annually by 2025—ROI exceeding 300%, far outpacing traditional banks. Recently, he promoted the Bitchat app, connecting offline users through a Bluetooth mesh network, set to launch in 2025, implicitly including Bitcoin payments.
Imagine street vendors using Cash App to instantly receive BTC—this scene, Dorsey's vision feels like the silky touch of silk, transcending borders.
But my perspective is this: his 'everyday currency' dream is tempting in data (with low banking penetration in Africa, BTC adoption is expected to rise by 25% by 2025), yet it overlooks volatility risk: in 2022, the crash led to a 15% loss of Cash App users. Dorsey's fasting habits (eating only one meal a week) are like BTC's 'halving'—painful yet nurturing resilience; can ordinary people withstand it?
I ask myself: If BTC truly becomes mainstream, who will the regulatory hammer fall upon?
Looking back at Dorsey's trajectory, from the clamor of X to the tranquility of Bitcoin, I often wonder: he is like a digital nomad, chasing the 'state of optimal non-state' while exposing the gray areas of technology—innovation can easily become monopolistic, and freedom can easily lead to chaos. By 2025, his net worth is about $3.8 billion, but what is more valuable is that sense of introspection: don't let the company become a cage. If we all try his icy bath, will we also awaken to something?
After all, the future is not the code, but how we breathe life into it.
If decentralization lacks bottom lines, it could become a chaotic carnival—worth the gamble?
