Defending What We’ve Built | Bankless

What have we got in crypto?

With the ink barely dry on the Constitution, someone asked Ben Franklin, “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

To which he replied:

“A republic, if you can keep it.”

The incredible volume in the Bitcoin ETFs driven by BlackRock, Fidelity, and the other big banks marks a major milestone for crypto.

We won over TradFi. We’re in new territory.

TradFi’s glowing embrace means crypto will never be illegal in Western democracies – at least, a certain type of crypto – the sanitized version of crypto held in bank accounts and mapped to your social security number.

This has benefits.

TradFi is a heat shield against our most critical adversaries. They can no longer snuff us out in the cradle – we’re too strong – we have too many friends.

This is the shift.

The question for our movement is no longer, “Can we survive?” It’s now, “Can we keep this decentralized?”

Hardening our protocols against corruption and centralization. That’s the work that must be done this decade if we’re going to create a system that persists for generations.

The ink is barely dry on the constitutions of Bitcoin and Ethereum. So what have we got? A new set of bankers or an open money system?

We have an open money system.

If we can keep it.