Censorship Resistance Letter From The Editors

Letter from The Editors,

Of all of Bitcoin’s achievements, none are as vital to its design as its ability to unstoppably settle transactions. When all is said and done, Bitcoin is just speech – an exchange of numbers that mediates financial settlement between distrusting parties. It is by definition neutral, impartial, a financial system open to teenagers, terrorists and everyone in between.

It’s no surprise then that people who are attracted to Bitcoin oppose censorship. It’s why many of us are here to begin with. Because the traditional financial system excluded us. Made us feel victimized. Left us with a feeling of hopelessness. Of despair. Bitcoin offered a different way.

And for a while, Bitcoin was our enclave. Our safe space. The place where you could think different, act different, be different. The place where it was okay to question things, to explore ideas without judgment, without fear. Free from systemic abuse.

But more and more Bitcoin is colliding with the censored world. What was once counter-culture has subverted the mainstream. What was once an archetype, The Bitcoiner ©, has grown to include all walks of life, rushing to the exits of the collapsing status quo.

This magazine is an attempt to explore the resulting highway pile-up. To unmask our newly masked world. To make sense of what happened and what might come next. To learn from how we got here.

You may find some things you don’t like in this issue. Maybe it supports your beliefs. Maybe it offends them. We asked our writers to think deeply on divisive subjects. We now humbly ask our beloved readers to do the same.

The Censorship Resistant Issue explores the censorship resistant quality of Bitcoin, holding it up to judge the journalists, the gatekeepers, the policy makers and the freedom fighters of recent memory.

A stark reminder that a world that can censor speech is a world that can censor Bitcoin.

But a hopeful reminder that a world that champions free speech is a world in which Bitcoin can flourish.

Free speech. Free money. Free you.

The Editors