The bitcoin and cryptocurrency space was once quite chaotic; in many ways, it still is. That’s not to say a little chaos is a bad thing. Often it’s the spark that results in impressive innovations. Many of the great ideas that have flooded out into the world and changed our perceptions result from great minds combined with chaotic ideas.

However, it’s hard not to wonder if this spark has been washed away by the “men in suits”. Has the dream of mainstream adoption and merely too much of what is or was arguably wrong with the traditional business world snuck in?

Old Stories and Pipe Dreams

The early days of bitcoin read like a peculiar mix of hope, enthusiasm, and potential with those sitting on the outside slowing, taking more notice of this oddity sitting on a knife’s edge, waiting to see which direction it fell. So many great stories came out of the early days.

So many moments that probably didn’t feel all that significant at the time became rolling metaphorical balls of snow collecting headlines and drawing attention the more they began to matter to those affected by them in the years to come.

Everything from the message hidden in the Bitcoin genesis block to bitcoin pizza day is now essentially lore to inside the community and fascinating oddities to those looking in from the outside.

Even in recent years, there’s been this lingering dream of adoption by the masses, something that many people associate with the arrival of the traditional sectors in both finance and technology. Few things used to cause pumps like talk of vague partnerships with outsider companies or tech behemoths showing interest in a particular project. While more subtle, you could still see the buzz caused in recent months by the discussion of PayPal potentially adopting bitcoin in some fashion.

When you step back and look at this growing desire to be part of the norm, does this shake off the early anarchistic and privacy-conscious roots of bitcoin and crypto, and if so was it inevitable all along? When did the outsiders want to become insiders? Was the dream too big at first that it felt more like an experiment than a potential reality where it didn’t matter until it suddenly did? It’s hard to say as even those around during these times will likely have subconsciously grown and adapted their views over the years. I’m not sure these questions even have a clear answer, but they do provoke curious thoughts.

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