Nostr notes by thebitcoinguide

A short piece addressing the tiredest and laziest claim brought ...

2026-05-27T07:15:10Z

A short piece addressing the tiredest and laziest claim brought against Bitcoin

quoting
naddr1qq…v4kl

A common attack launched against Bitcoin is that "you can't use it for anything" or "you can't spend it". You may have heard this on a number of occasions, perhaps you even think it to be true yourself (though if you’re reading this on Nostr, I very much doubt that). If the latter, I invite you to read this short piece; and if the former, I invite you to share it with those you've heard such statements from.

Before explaining why this claim is of little substance, it's important to remind ourselves of a few important things regarding money.

Money serves three purposes, and it must serve them all well, if it is to be a truly good money. Those three things are: - Store of Value - Medium of Exchange - Unit of Account

Fiat money, the paper based (albeit now digital) money we use today, excels at medium of exchange, but fails miserably as a store of value. We do not need to say much more on this, as it is quite evident that £100 today buys you a lot less than it did 10 years ago.

What about unit of account?

Well, at first glance, fiat may seem a good unit of account, simply because everyone uses it as such, but consider the following:

If I am building a house, and needing materials of certain lengths, but the unit of measure for those lengths just keeps changing - it might happen slowly, a small change each day - but as time goes on, 120cm on my tape measure, is no longer the same physical length as it was as the start of the project. The house I end up building will, at best, be wonky; at worst, it collapses entirely.

Now think about that same issue when it comes to an economy and money. if £1,000 today will buy me much less a couple of years down the line, how do I plan, save, strategise, or invest - as an individual or a business - when the measuring stick is changing? Not only is it changing, but the degree to which it will change is totally unknown, and at the mercy of several technicalities that would be outside the understanding of most people. Let's say you're a business owner; you now have to spend time and effort trying to predict what might happen to the measuring stick over the next few years, based on outside factors that you lack a technical understanding of, or what some old grey men in suits might say at a press conference, rather than actually focussing on the core value proposition and end product of your business. We won't go into the countless second and third order effects of this on businesses, consumers and society at large, as there are many, and this is not the time or place. I will simply conclude by saying that, ultimately, an unreliable measuring stick makes economic planning extremely difficult - even outright impossible - and fiat currencies are therefore probably not the best unit of account.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can address the claim brought against Bitcoin. Bitcoin is simply money. By that I mean: it can be used as a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. But when competing monies exist, you may not use a specific money for all three purposes. Now, that might initially sound like an easy cop out, but there is a well-known thing in economics called "Gresham's law", in which "bad money chases out good". But what does that mean? It means that when there are competing monies, and one is of evidently worse quality than the other, people will spend the bad one, and save the good one, using the bad money as soon as possible for their immediate needs, and keeping hold of the good one for the future.

This will make the most sense, to most readers, when you look at Bitcoin from the lens of a developed nation with a relatively well functioning currency, say, as someone in America using the dollar, rather than someone in Nigeria using the Nira. In this scenario, your currency is losing value over time - guaranteed - but not so aggressively that next week you will only be able to by a fraction of what you could today. In this scenario, the problem you face is simply that your currency is a terrible long term store of value. You can't save in it, and you certainly can't plan long term with it, but your currency functions just fine as a medium of exchange day-to-day, with little friction. In fact, with no friction at all compared to bitcoin, which is subject to capital gains taxes whenever you use it. In this scenario, the main property you benefit from in Bitcoin is it's superiority as a store of value. As such, it makes sense that that is what you would primarily use it for, by spending your dollars (the bad money), and saving your Bitcoin (the good money). But does that change the fact that Bitcoin is still a perfectly good medium of exchange?

Let's think about somewhere like Lebanon, where the local currency has experienced multiple rounds of hyper-inflation. It can safely be said that, the local currency is beyond useless as a store of value - and is arguably so as a medium of exchange or unit of account too - but the primary issue is it's inability to serve as a store of value over any useful length of time. People in places like Lebanon typically use their local currency to acquire as many US Dollars as possible, and store those Dollars physically in their homes as a store of value; because whilst the Dollar might lose value gradually over time, it will certainly lose it a lot slower than the local hyper-inflating one. As a Lebanese citizen, you would aim to keep as little of the local currency on hand as possible, enough to cover your immediate expenses, whilst holding everything else in Dollars, and having little intention of spending them. Now, does this mean the US dollar is not a good medium of exchange? Or that it can't function as a medium of exchange, as people in developed nations would like to claim of Bitcoin? No. The dollar is still perfectly valid as a medium of exchange, but for the circumstances faced by those in Lebanon, and other places like it, it serves a more immediate purpose as a store of value... so that is what they will decide to use it for. Spend the bad money, keep hold of the good (or less bad) money. Nothing about the dollar has changed, but the primary concerns facing those using it, mean that it serves a very specific purpose for them right now.

Now, what about places in where the local currency fails to even be a useful medium of exchange? Places where financial repression is rife, or the people find themselves under authoritarian rule? In such places, one cannot even rely on the local currency as a medium of exchange, as it can be confiscated, tracked, frozen, or have access to it blocked off entirely. People in such places cannot access stronger currencies like Dollars or Euros, even if they wanted to. So what do they do? They use Bitcoin. There are archives full of stories just like this from the Human Rights Foundation (hrf.org), which detail how Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value, by those who have had their lives decimated by the failures of their local currencies and the oppressive actions of their rulers. It is here where we see Bitcoin shine as a money on all three fronts. It has helped people build circular economies, set up business, escape persecution, and provide a better life for themselves and their families. In the stark absence of all three monetary properties, and in the face of such high friction in the local currency, Bitcoin has no problem stepping up as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and a store of value.

From these examples, we can see that the demand for Bitcoin's monetary use cases, as with all forms of money, are dependant of the immediate problems faced by citizens in their financial lives. For those in developed nations, the long-term store of value proposition is most important, for others, there are far greater concerns. To dismiss Bitcoin as money, just because it is not used a medium of exchange where you are right now, is to dismiss the realities of the world. There will come a time when all the inevitable consequences of fiat currencies touch every single one of us, wherever we reside; and when that time comes, skeptics will be grateful that Bitcoin exists to serve as the greatest form of money we've ever seen.

And before I conclude this piece, I would be doing a disservice to the incredible efforts of those in the Bitcoin ecosystem, if I did not point out the ways in which Bitcoin is already growing as a medium of exchange, in even developed nations today. Jack Dorsey's Block has now enabled Bitcoin lightning payment functionality on all Square payment terminal devices, used by 4 million small and medium sized business across America. Steak 'N Shake have been accepting Bitcoin payments at all their US locations since May 2025, experiencing a 50% reduction in payment processing fees, and attributing their 11% Q2 and 15% Q3 sales increases from last year to their Bitcoin integration. Every day there are new milestones being reached with layer-2 scaling solutions for Bitcoin, making it easier and more convenient for people to spend Bitcoin day-to-day. I wasn't old enough to see the similar breakthroughs that were no doubt occurring behind the scenes during the rise of the internet, but I imagine it felt a little something like this; it's truly something to behold. Whilst long-term store of value might be the most pressing concern of those of us in developed nations, the economic incentives, for both merchants and customers, associated with using Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, is slowly turning the tide. Gradually, then suddenly.

So when you next hear someone say that "Bitcoin can't be used for anything", or that "you can't buy anything with it"; you can refer them to the examples above. Furnish them with the reports from the Human Right Foundation. Take them to a store that now accepts Bitcoin via their square terminal. Take them to a Steak 'N Shake store. Show them btcmap.organd let them pick a local store from here to visit. Set them up with a Bitcoin lightning wallet, and show them how easy it is to pay. If you're really feeling generous, plan a trip to one of the several countries where Bitcoin is now widely accepted by most stores, or where circular economies have been built around Bitcoin as their medium of exchange. Let them see for themselves just what Bitcoin can do, and is already doing, for millions around the globe.

Something that hit me early on in my journey as a Muslim, and ...

2026-05-24T20:38:23Z

Something that hit me early on in my journey as a Muslim, and some questions that more Muslims need to start seriously asking

quoting
naddr1qq…9xth

When I became Muslim, the thing that made me realise just how incompatible the modern fiat monetary system is with Islam, was the concept of Qard Hasan. What started as a single uncomfortable realisation ended up being something far more useful. Once I understood Qard Hasan, and what it exposed about the money we all use, I also had the clearest possible test for assessing Bitcoin from an Islamic perspective.

Qard Hasan is the Islamic practice of lending interest-free to those in need, an act which is greatly encouraged in Islam and foundational to the way we should operate as a society. It beautifully summarises the way in which we should conduct ourselves when it comes to our finances, wealth and generosity.

“Who is he that will give Allah Qard Hasan? For Allah will increase it manifold to his credit.” (Qur’an 57:11)

“If you give Allah Qard Hasan … he will grant you forgiveness.” (Qur’an 64:17)

“Establish regular prayer and give regular charity and give Allah Qard Hasan.” (Qur’an 73:20)

Yet, when you try to apply this concept in the modern world, you find that everything around us is in direct opposition to it. Not only does an inflationary monetary system structurally discourage such behaviour, it actively punishes it. In a fiat system, there is a financial penalty for generosity. A financial penalty for conducting your affairs in accordance with Allah's will.

Now that penalty alone shouldn't be enough to discourage Muslims from giving Qard Hasan. Many of the things that are most pleasing to Allah require us to endure some kind of hardship and sacrifice in the process. If a borrower in a Qard Hasan arrangement can’t repay in full, you’re encouraged to extend the loan or forgive some of the debt; an act which itself serves as a further display of generosity, and would amount to little more than a financial inconvenience to the lender, when dealing with sound money that increases your purchasing power over time. But the money today - fiat money - is so broken, and the system so exploitative, that the hardship and sacrifice required for a believer to provide for his or her immediate needs, and the needs of their families, whilst avoiding major sin in the process, leaves very little left over for such considerations.

For me, it served as the clearest and most vivid illustration of how the monetary system of today is incompatible with the teachings of Islam. It’s a simple and powerful contrast. One side encourages you to lend to those who need it and receive back what you lent, sacrificing only the facility of obtaining additional enjoyment for a temporary period of time. The other side not only discourages this simple act, it encourages anyone who does lend to engage in the major sin of Riba, or otherwise risk being unable to provide for themselves and their own families, as they watch the price of everything rise, whilst their wealth erodes… Act too generously, and you may find yourself being the next person in your community requiring a Qard Hasan loan.

Muslims really need to understand this and start taking it more seriously. Qard Hasan is just one of many Islamic principles that simply cannot be practiced as intended, at the scale it should be, within today’s monetary system. When asking yourself the question of whether a particular monetary instrument is Halal or Haram, you have to take a look at how it aligns with these core Islamic principles. Does it enable them? Does it encourage them? Or does it punish those who try to fulfil them? Does its very nature oppose everything that we know is right? This is the simple litmus test.

It's this test that must be applied to Bitcoin when assessing its credibility as an alternative solution. For me, it was a simple assessment. Look at Bitcoin through the exact same lens, and you see something fundamentally different. It is not a tolerable alternative form of money, but the polar opposite of fiat.

Bitcoin is sound money. Its supply is fixed; no one can debase it, no one can print more of it, no one can dilute the holders to fund the reckless spending habits of those in power. Against a money like this, prices fall over time as technology and productivity push the cost of goods and services down, exactly as they should, and the purchasing power of the saver is preserved, if not grown. The lender extending a Qard Hasan loan is no longer punished for his generosity. He gets back the principal he lent, with its purchasing power intact, and the act costs him only what it was ever meant to cost: the use of his wealth, for a period of time. In the absence of the guaranteed erosion of purchasing power, you can see how generosity would be incentivised even further in the case of the borrower struggling to repay the principal in full. There is no loss in real terms to the lender if they choose to forgive a percentage of the loan in such a situation - even a 90-95% repayment of the original amount would leave them financially intact, and their ability to provide for their immediate needs, and the needs of their family, has not been decimated by a bout of printing-induced inflation.

Bitcoin passes this test. And what holds for Qard Hasan holds for the Waqf, for Sadaqah at scale, and all the other ways in which we are expected to devote our economic energy. An Ummah on a Bitcoin standard is an Ummah that is better able to uphold our obligations and conduct our affairs in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

Burying our heads in the sand and telling ourselves that this is "just the way things are", that "we don't have any other choice", or that "the system is designed this way and we can't change it", is frankly no longer an acceptable stance to take. There is now an alternative available to us, and every single Muslim has a responsibility to assess the options available against the teachings of our religion, and ask themselves the hard question:

Am I doing everything in my power to conduct my affairs in accordance with the will of Allah SWT? Or am I succumbing to a system that destroys the values I'm responsible for upholding?

And if the answer is the latter... why am I doing this?

Is it because I don't want to face the inconveniences and hardships that may have to be endured in rejecting a system which, at its face, feels so cosy and convenient? Is it because I don't want to face a situation in which I have to admit that I am now choosing to engage in something I know is wrong? Is it because facing this reality would mean taking responsibility for making significant changes to something I'm so accustomed to?

Or, is it just because I don't want to have to think about these things? Is it because I would rather offload my decision-making onto someone else, instead of taking the time and responsibility to make my own informed assessment of such important matters? Is it because I watched an uninformed soundbite of a sheikh telling me Bitcoin is haram, and that helps me sleep better at night?

The reality is, there is now a choice, because there is now an alternative; which means that refusal to explore it, is choosing to ignore it.

There will come a day when every single one of us will be asked about our choices. What did we do once we were aware of how this system worked? Did we do our best to take the action needed? Is your choice one that you will be willing to stand by then? Whatever answer you give now, picture offering it then. Picture standing in front of Allah SWT and saying it out loud.

If you can't, you already have your answer.

Nostr event nevent1qqspsxgzh8pdya5yw9s4pj7ewtzkm6swk02zfx9zdgwatr5tt3favwgzyzxv27t0jucscev6amq4smnq3468jnwsjmhw0ddszgrv968d0665uclcc2m

2026-05-24T20:01:42Z

And without boycotting the money itself

2026-05-23T07:56:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…4xrr
_________________________

And without boycotting the money itself

Looking forward to many more discussion like it 🤲🏽

2026-05-22T16:57:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…9mp0
_________________________

Looking forward to many more discussion like it 🤲🏽

Yeah, let’s connect and discuss, very interested

2026-05-21T14:32:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…6hug
_________________________

Yeah, let’s connect and discuss, very interested

I’m here for this, would be a great opportunity for me to learn ...

2026-05-15T19:14:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…qtey
_________________________

I’m here for this, would be a great opportunity for me to learn more in the process too

For me, Broken Money by @nprofile…ktc5 changed the way I looked ...

2025-11-21T18:15:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…xanv
_________________________

For me, Broken Money by LynAlden (nprofile…ktc5) changed the way I looked at money. That book was my gateway drug

There is no way he can honestly believe that when he’s seen ...

2025-11-21T18:10:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…a7g5
_________________________

There is no way he can honestly believe that when he’s seen behind the curtain of the debt based ponzi

If by staying humble you mean, staying quiet and taking ...

2025-11-21T18:06:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…fdfh
_________________________

If by staying humble you mean, staying quiet and taking screenshots of all the bears and doomers, so that I can overwhelm them, once we recover, with levels of pettiness they didn’t think possible; then yes, I’m being super humble 🤣

“Meatspace” 🤣🤣 I love that

2025-11-03T15:37:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…hknd
_________________________

“Meatspace” 🤣🤣 I love that

One of the biggest things that made me ditch fiat (and my fiat ...

2025-11-03T10:35:01Z

One of the biggest things that made me ditch fiat (and my fiat assets) for Bitcoin, was realising the degree to which hyper-financialised arbitrage holds this whole Ponzi scheme up.

Every time I learned more about it, peeled back another layer, I felt even more uneasy and worried about having any connection to it whatsoever.

Nothing productive. Just exploiting gaps in the fiat system for more fiat with extreme leverage.

It’s one big circle jerk. And you can see it more clearly than anywhere when you look at the basis point trade being run out of the Cayman Islands.

Leveraged hedge funds have basically been funding the US deficit to a degree nobody quite imagined. They have been soaking up all the excess supply, to leverage themselves 50:1, and exploit a small arbitrage gap.

It should seriously concerns everyone alive today that this is what the system is built on. The only real demand now for all this continued borrowing doesn’t come from genuine demand, but leveraged arbitrage. That’s what’s funding the U.S. Government.

He has the symptoms identified perfectly, but he is wayyy of on ...

2025-05-23T14:40:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…m0fm
_________________________

He has the symptoms identified perfectly, but he is wayyy of on diagnosing the causes. If only he’d realise that Bitcoin provides a way to tackle every issue he raises.