For several years now, a growing concern has been spreading within the crypto community. Watching Wall Street giants, pension funds, and corporations like MicroStrategy enter the space, some purists are asking: Is Bitcoin losing its soul?
A fierce debate divides the community between two seemingly opposing visions: Is Bitcoin designed to be a fluid payment system (to buy your coffee) or a store of value (digital gold)?
The reality is that this opposition is false. To understand why the arrival of institutional players is not a threat but a victory, we must go back to the fundamentals of money and revisit Bitcoin’s implicit roadmap.
The "Electronic Cash" Misunderstanding
It all often starts with a quick reading of Satoshi Nakamoto's famous White Paper, titled: "A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".
Many focus on the "payment system" aspect, imagining instant and free transactions from day one. However, the most important word in that title might actually be "Cash".
For an asset to be "cash" (and not debt or credit), it must possess intrinsic and final value. It cannot rely on someone else's promise. This is where monetary history sheds light on the situation.
The Monetary Chicken and Egg Problem
Historically, there are two main categories of money:
- Fiat Money: Relying solely on trust in the State. History proves that these currencies always end up losing their value because they can be printed infinitely.
- Hard Money (Backed Money): Relying on a tangible store of value, like gold.
Gold was the king for a long time. But it failed in the 20th century for a logistical reason: it is heavy and hard to transport. In the digital age, we needed speed. To make gold "fast," it had to be centralized in banks, which eventually killed its sovereignty.
This is where the genius of Bitcoin lies. To be a true peer-to-peer (P2P) system, Bitcoin could not be backed by gold or the dollar (otherwise, it would depend on a central bank or a vault).
To be free, Bitcoin had to become its own store of value.
The 3 Inevitable Steps of Bitcoin
If we accept that Bitcoin must be its own reserve, then its evolution follows a logical chronology in three stages. Steps cannot be skipped.
Step 1: Become a Store of Value
This is the current phase. Before being used to exchange goods, Bitcoin must prove it is worth something and capable of preserving that value over time, just like gold. You cannot build a commercial system on "thin air." The monetary foundation must be built first.
Step 2: Become a Medium of Exchange
Once the store of value is established, recognized, and sufficiently stabilized (thanks to a massive market capitalization), the asset can begin to be commonly used as a unit of exchange.
Step 3: Become a Unit of Account (Electronic Cash System)
This is the final stage, Satoshi's ultimate vision: a complete, liquid, and peer-to-peer alternative to the traditional banking system.
Why Wall Street Validates the Project
This is where the role of institutions makes perfect sense. Far from "hijacking" Bitcoin, adoption by corporate treasuries or investment funds is the ultimate validation of Step 1.
When financial giants buy Bitcoin, they aren't doing it to buy pizzas, but to protect their capital. They are cementing Bitcoin's status as "Digital Gold."
Furthermore, let’s not forget that Bitcoin is "permissionless". This is a feature, not a bug. If Bitcoin can be bought by a cypherpunk, it must also be buyable by a banker. This absolute neutrality is its strength. If gold lost value because "people we don't like" bought it, it wouldn't be a good store of value. The same applies to Bitcoin.
Conclusion
There is no conflict between "Store of Value" and "Medium of Payment." There is simply an order of operations.
We are currently witnessing the consolidation of the first necessary step: the monetization of the asset. Institutional interest is not a deviation from the original project; it is the essential fuel allowing Bitcoin to anchor itself in the global economic reality, so it can eventually fulfill its promise of becoming a true universal electronic cash.