Bitcoin Is A Jedi Force

“Out of the mouths of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.” // Psalms 8:2

The George Lucas’ masterwork, ‘Star Wars’, has captured the imagination of modern moviegoers the world over. These films depict heroes and villains caught in a timeless cosmic dance between good and evil; a perpetual fight of the light against the oppression of darkness. In the case of Star Wars, the messianic Jedi channel a hidden, mysterious, yet underestimated powerful “force” against a galactic empire hellbent on expanding its death-grip on a futuristic spacefaring civilization. This idea of “the force” has captured the mind of naive children for decades, and who can blame them? The thought is mesmerizing – that if one could be innocent, of good courage, disciplined, focused, and patient, perhaps one day this divine force may call upon you to wield its power to fight a common enemy. If only life were so simple, we adults think. Though every parent knows children, uncannily observant and blunt, are on occasion all too right. Strangely, the experience of wielding Bitcoin feels akin, at least in terms of asymmetric power, to the rumination of the child imagination colliding with what we call “the real world.” In this Essay I will seek to elaborate on the metaphor, that ‘Bitcoin Is A Jedi Force’, and more, probe into what exactly the meta is for?

Picture in your minds eye for a moment (I’ve included an ai generated image to prompt you) the little old green pointy eared Yoda sitting on a log in a swamp teaching you the ways of the Jedi. He sits, almost in an eastern pseudo-meditative trance, channeling his feeble being into an invisible life-force potency of self-will and divine-reliance; all for purposes of lifting an innocuous object on the other side of the pond. Impossible! You think to yourself. But this is Star Wars after all.

Perhaps this idea of “the force” may be described by an intellect of “the real world” as “spooky action at a distance.” After all, this is effectively how the power is employed by numerous Jedi throughout the myriad of Star Wars storylines. So what would it look like then? Supposing reality were indeed stranger than fiction.. Would it look something like Bitcoin? I think yes.

Consider for a moment what the Jedi is doing. These characters channel the optionality of their action into something small, silent, and incredibly focused. In a sense, they relinquish custody of tangible strength for possession of an invisible power. A kind of cosmic trade.

Having maintained my own private keys for ~6 years at time of writing, I can attest from personal experience how viscerally this analogy applies. Obtaining my Bitcoin is literally a trade of tangible assets for invisible bits of information. I do not abdicate physical power, but rather, I maneuver this power into novel form. I trade the haystack for the needle. But why? How does this make any sense? Let me simplify it for you.

Consider first, there will only (n)ever be 21 million Bitcoin. And second, global hashrate at present writing is ~15 Gigawatts according to The University of Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. For comparison, the United States Navy all summed up is ~5 Gigawatts. So what does this mean? Simply, one Bitcoin, at present writing, represents one 21 millionth the power projection of ~3 U.S. Navies. Understood another way, a nuclear power plant generates ~1 Gigawatt of power. So in this sense, one Bitcoin, at present writing, represents one 21 millionth the power projection of ~15 nuclear power plants. Understood more simply:

15 Gigawatts / 21M = ~700 Watts

It was Albert Einstein who said, “compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays it.” Typically we are familiar with applying compounding to money using the formula:

principal*(1 + interest rate)^(compounding periods)

But consider how this phenomena will manifest when applied to Bitcoin power projection in the form of global hashrate. As illustrated previously, perhaps in the early days 1 Bitcoin represented something like 1 lightbulb (100 Watts) worth of power projection. We’ll call this “principal.” To obtain an interest rate, let’s consider that global hashrate increased from ~20M TH/s in 2018 to ~300M TH/s in 2023 (a CAGR of ~70%). This growth rate is a notable spike on the chart, so let’s apply a conservative adjustment and assume 50% for our compounding projections. Tabulating…

Baseline: 100 Watts —> Lightbulb, Television, Ceiling Fan, Average Human At Rest

Current: 700 Watts —> Refrigerator, Space Heater, Human Sprinting

2028?: 5,000 Watts —> Several Appliances, Very Small Home

2033?: 40,000 Watts —> Large Commercial Building, Very Large Home

2038?: 300,000 Watts —> Small Sports Arena, Theme Park Ride

2043?: 2,300,00 Watts —> Small Factory

2053?: 135,000,000 Watts —> Large City, Small Nuclear Power Plant