When you first hear about Bitcoin, it is most likely in some news about a dramatic rise or fall. When people talk about it, they either excitedly shout 'it's doubled again' or sarcastically say 'it has crashed again'. Bitcoin seems to be forever simplified into a price game, a speculative product for quick profits or devastating losses.
I used to view it that way too. Until one day, I started to seriously think about a question: what is a true asset?
We have been taught since childhood that 'assets are tangible, stable, and productive'. Thus, we believe in real estate, believe in gold, believe in government bonds and high-quality corporate stocks. But is the essence of these 'assets' truly safe? Can they fundamentally withstand systemic risks? Are they really in our own hands?
For example, a house might be bought with a loan, and when interest rates change, you are forced to pay more; you also have to pay taxes, do repairs, and be influenced by policies. For stocks, you trust in the future of the company, but the fate of the company is in the hands of policies, geopolitical situations, and even black swan events. And cash, which you think is the most 'conservative', is being diluted by inflation at a pace you cannot perceive.
These reflections made me begin to understand the true meaning of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is not something that 'will definitely rise in the future', but rather an existence that 'does not rely on anyone's credit and is not subject to any central control'. Its code is open, its total supply is capped, and its transactions are immutable. You do not need to believe anyone—banks, companies, governments, brokers—you just need to believe in mathematics.
It won't bring you stable cash flow, but it will give you a form of asset that is independent of the existing financial system, free from credit reliance, and purely belongs to you. It is a brand new way of 'value storage', a challenge to the old perception of assets.
Bitcoin made me realize that the true value of an asset lies not in how much income it can generate each year, but in whether it can help you resist the absurd changes of this world, whether it can exist through long-term cycles, and whether it can truly be controlled by you.
I didn't buy Bitcoin because it will rise, but because it made me redefine the essence of 'wealth' not as the growth of numbers on a balance sheet, but as the boundaries of freedom. Bitcoin was the first time I understood that: assets should not just be tools, but should also be an attitude.
