A Bitcoiner’s Case for Pseudonyms

I promise we’re not all as dark and sinister as this AI image might make you feel, nor would we ever keep our backs to such an incredible view.

This article's title is a nod to C. Jason Maier's A Progressive's Case for Bitcoin. Check it out if you haven't yet.

As I’ve written previously, Bitcoiners ARE going to be the new aristocratic class. (We already are; most just don’t know it yet.) A toast!

There may be—or rather, there ought to be—a weight to the knowledge of a responsibility to steward great wealth toward positive humanitarian (all species) and planetary ends. But without the humility that may come from staying humble and stacking sats, this sort of power can otherwise go to one’s head. Or ego. Some of us might like to think Bitcoin would help usher in a world without singular kings, but we may still be wise to remember the lessons from a heavy head wearing a crown.

In the relative short-term, it looks like stablecoins might prolong the role of the US dollar. But on a longer scale, amid the what-seems-to-be-inevitable collapse of fiat currencies or accompanying hyperinflation, Bitcoin (and Bitcoiners) may be falsely blamed—nay, scapegoated—for any ensuing short-term chaos and turmoil, if only for seeing the solution before others.

To be clear, no Bitcoiners I know wish bad things for anyone else. In fact, many, if not all of us, actively want and are working toward quite the opposite for humanity. We see the ways “Bitcoin fixes this.” We’re optimistic about what life may look like on the other side of what certainly seems like a necessary transition.

(And that’s a better life for everyone post-transition, not just us early Bitcoiners who, yes, may retire earlier [to continue working on meaningful projects]. In a world on the Bitcoin standard, even the very last person to start using it [or future generations] when BTC is already priced at millions in USD will still be better off, by earning—for the first time ever—in sound, hard money which can’t be debased – fiat currency printing no longer stealing from them the value of their time they spend working to earn it. The USD price of BTC does not matter; it’s going up forever measured in a currency that’s printed endlessly out of thin air. Purchasing power is your variable of interest. And that grows with a deflationary money.)

Still, wishes don’t prevent bad things from happening when confusion and false narratives benefit formerly entrenched powers grasping at their last strands.

The future is unknown.

And just as we Bitcoiners may very well find ourselves in new positions to write some of it, so too might someone else choose to write our own first.

One of Bitcoin’s oft-purported realizations—and even a technical strength—is that Bitcoin is also “money for your enemies.” Still, you need not opt to make it any easier for anyone who might choose to become yours.

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If you grew up slapping your real name and email all over the Internet or are just new to the notion of a pseudonym, maybe consider trying one on? Or hell, two or three (I go by a different name on the Bantu Bitcoin podcast than I do for casual in-person meet-ups).

Yes, too many people abuse nyms as an excuse to troll, say or do things they would never put their name to in public, or just be mean. Those people are assholes. They were assholes before the Internet and they will still be assholes long after AI has scrubbed us all from whatever comes next and all that remains of them is an avatar of a farting .gif from a cartoon asshole.

[feel free to imagine aforementioned fart .gif here]

A nym does not an asshole make.

But as “one of the good ones,” tell me you haven’t found yourself on the other end of things? Ever self-censor out of fear from phrasing something “the wrong way,” seeing your name printed right there next to your pending comment as you then hold the delete key and wish you would say the hard thing that will inevitably be misinterpreted or may even risk your actual safety? Ever thought even twice before speaking truth to totalitarian power? (Feels relevant, 👊 🇺🇸 🔥.) As of 2022, 72% of the world’s population lived under authoritarian rule – 5.7 billion people! Well, unfortunately it sounds like a lot of us can find genuine non-asshole utility in a pseudonym.

And for nyms, free speech isn’t the full story, lest we forget data leaks, spam phishing, and targeted ad profile dossiers. Just as you don’t shower by the window and you likely close your blinds at night, privacy is that ability—and your right—to selectively reveal parts of yourself.

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Having said all that, I would be remiss to not acknowledge that there are benefits too of not being a nym, but being public (perhaps boldly now or casually in the future). I might owe a debt of gratitude to people in a position to choose to use their real name in this space. People like to learn from a real person to whom they can put a face and actual name; that’s worth something.

Of course, perhaps if we’re owing any debts of gratitude at all, the largest one is no doubt due to a pseudonym who got us aligned on this path in the first place. Is it reasonable to expect that Satoshi might have also thusly foreseen some valid risks and dangers for his efforts in establishing Bitcoin? Yes, yes it is. Everyone has a different threat model and yours and mine is no doubt smaller than Satoshi’s. Still, might we all do well to consider similar general downstream effects in a hyperbitcoinized future? Probably.

Nyms need not be solely obviously fake like mine, but a real-sounding fake name is possible too, providing the additional benefit of more subtle disguise – Marty Bent, for instance. Using one’s actual real name, however, might serve to more easily build one’s network and connect one’s previous work and reputation; that too may be worthwhile for some. I know I’ve passed on utilizing some significant social capital by keeping my personal life largely separate from Bitcoin. Pros and cons, certainly.

What if I’ve already doxxed myself? Am I SOL?

Not necessarily. Like the recommendation to undo KYC purchases by going out the way you came in and then buying in a privacy preserving way (selling your stack, paying your capital gains taxes due, and then re-buying privately), you could attempt to do something similar if you’re already a public figure in this space. Declare your boating accident or that you’ve “moved on to other things,” and take a public leave of the space. Come on back under a new name. Voilà! Easier said than done I suppose if your face and voice are public as well, but not impossible certainly. Worth it? Maybe. Maybe not. Only you can say.

And maybe all this just might be a consideration for people who’ve been here awhile. As time ticks on and Bitcoin blends into the background of daily life—becoming a norm as common today as swiping tapping a credit card—this case for pseudonyms hopefully, and likely, will fade for most… though it may forever remain for a small subset.

Still, you could choose to reveal your identity later; you should be able to choose. (Like Jesse Myers did, aka Croesus.) But the toothpaste never goes back in the tube quite as clean, does it? Optionality. Forethought.

Consider a pseudonym to be optionality and more sound OPSEC for an unknown future that’s coming at us faster than we can likely keep up. Or in the very least, perhaps a worthwhile experiment in non-attachment with a side of ego dissolution? Bottoms up!

#StudyBitcoin. UPGRADE YOUR DENOMINATOR.