Today’s post is written by Cole Wamsley, Bitcoin writer and author of the “Beyond Infinity” newsletter.
We all operate on a standard measurement of time.
Seconds, minutes and hours are all the same length no matter where you go in the world.
There are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day. Practically speaking, everyone agrees on this standard of measurement. Such an agreement enables us to organize and coordinate ourselves efficiently, “I’ll meet you there in 30 minutes… tell Dad we’re leaving in 5 hours… the store is closing in 15.”
Imagine you went to Germany and there were 85 seconds in a minute and 26 hours in a day, then went to Australia and there were 40 seconds in a minute and 22 hours in a day. Everything would be confusing. Airline travel between the two countries, shipping arrangements, and all other communication regarding time would be an insanely complex and unnecessary mathematical dance.
It’s clearly better if there’s one standard system of time across the board. That way it is easy to communicate time and organize ourselves accordingly.
While seconds, minutes and hours are humanity’s measurement of time, money is humanity’s measurement of value.
We assign value to things using money. As of 2025, there are 180 different measurements of value used around the world. In other words, there are 180 different fiat currencies that exist today.
All of these fiat currencies are issued, controlled, and manipulated by governments and central banks, enabling them to change how much money is in circulation at any given point. Said differently, they can manipulate the measurement of time.
Imagine a government could change how many seconds were in a minute, how many days were in a week, whenever they wanted. Chaos and disorder would ensue.
That is precisely what is happening with fiat, except the measurement being manipulated is value, and not only does the world have to deal with 180 different currencies and exchange rates between countries (which is plenty cumbersome and difficult) but the world has to deal with each currency itself constantly fluctuating in measurement.
Imagine building a house and the number of inches in a ruler changed everyday. 12 inches on Monday, 13 inches on Tuesday, 9 inches on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday, somebody told you to use centimeters.
Now imagine your neighbor building a separate house next to you, except they use an entirely different form of measurement from you. Imagine trying to coordinate and discuss building houses with this person. You’d be speaking two different languages.
Now imagine using 180 different, constantly fluctuating measurements while trying to build a house. The house would take forever to be built, and if it were ever completed, it would likely collapse the next day. This is what it’s like to be using 180 different forms of money across the world.
This is utterly inefficient and, quite frankly, unfathomably stupid. Why not simply use one globally standardized measurement system that doesn’t fluctuate?
The world works best on globally standardized measurement systems, just like time. Any additional system, or fluctuation in measurement increases friction.
Since money is the measurement of value, would the world not work best on one standardized measurement of value?
What sounds like a better route towards human-wide cooperation and flourishing? 180 different measuring sticks for value, or one?
The answer is one standardized measurement for value. As long as that standardized measurement could ensure one thing: the measurement can never be manipulated.
This is Bitcoin.
In hindsight, it will seem obvious. It’s only logical.
