The properties Bitcoin possesses color everything it touches. It impacts how our brain reasons, the decisions we make, the quality of the goods it helps produce. Bitcoin changes everything in its surroundings and because of this its users embody Bitcoin as if it is a car. I will tell you how this impacted me and how it led me to create Bitcoin Brick, the Bitcoin LEGO kit.

Humans attach ourselves to things we enjoy and value highly, and we develop relationships with those things and give them human properties and sometimes we behave as if they are in fact human—whether it be a robotic lawnmower, a car or a teddy bear. They become part of the family.

The relationship between Bitcoin and its users is no exception. People who have gone down the rabbit hole develop a special connection to Bitcoin and its inherent personality. We often talk about Bitcoin as a living being, a character with thoughts and a mind. The hardest mind humans know of. ”Bitcoin doesn’t care” refers to its strong personality traits. Bitcoin is different compared to many embodiments humans exert. Bitcoin is a form of life; it is its own being, it goes on and on with its own tasks doing what its master designed Bitcoin to do. Bitcoin will outlive us all, programmed for infinity. We will not even see the last Bitcoin being mined. It is something we all would like to see, but the importance does not lay in the final coin being mined; it is about the journey for Bitcoin to change the world into a better place.

Bitcoin’s life is a network made up of many nodes and miners. Being a network makes it vastly different from other embodiments which often is a physical being, something that you can hold in your hands. You sure can hold your node and run the numbers looking at the screen, but it is not the same as sitting behind the wheel of a car you love. However, Bitcoin is so strong, so important for us that we have developed this relationship anyway. We have embodied human properties into software.

Bitcoiners talk about the virtuous cycle (or maybe it is a self-fulfilling prophecy?) in regards to the price increase and network security:

BTC price rises -> mining becomes more profitable -> more capital expenditure into mining -> Bitcoins network becomes more secure -> demand as store of value rises -> BTC price rises.

Bitcoiners have also achieved a self-fulfilling prophecy on a mental level. The community, creative as it is, invents things all the time to embody Bitcoin. We have magazines, books, podcasts, socks, art, node designs, a cartoon show and the list goes on. All of this embodies Bitcoin from being a piece of code into a physical being that can be touched, looked at, and, most importantly, cared for. This fortifies the user’s emotional bond to Bitcoin, making the bond stronger and making users invest more time, money, and energy into Bitcoin—a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I grew up building things like architecture and fighter jets out of LEGO. During my childhood I had a small village (or say a citadel) with an airbase that got reconstructed from time to time when it was not attacked by enemies. When I got older, I lost interest in my little fictional world and it was time to enter the real world. Most of my LEGO got stuffed in boxes, except for a fighter jet and a space rocket.

I had an interest in economics and money prior to Bitcoin. When I fell down the rabbit hole a few years ago it all clicked and I geared up. I decided I will not miss this opportunity. I decided I will not sit on the other side wishing I had stacked more. I therefore started to live a minimalist lifestyle. I sold everything I did not need or valued and stacked sats. This included a lot of personal items but also stocks, bonds, and my car which I had embodied a lot. That car was a part of my family. I sold my lower quality LEGO, (Fiat lego). Some LEGO is a decent store of value compared to fiats. Hence, I got more from it than what I had spent. I only spared the scarcer valuable LEGO sets. It’s interesting how humans behave in regards to something that is sought after. I once put up my scarce lego kits for sale just to see the demand. Within hours people were willing to go across the nation on the day to buy the sets, but I did not sell them. The day when the real FOMO will kick in for Bitcoin it will be massive. We who have been fortunate to experience Bitcoin bull runs in the past have a feeling for how it will behave.

I wanted to create something for the bitcoin community. I never really stopped building fighter jets with LEGO, you need to keep the mind busy with creative work somehow. I started playing around with LEGO bricks to see what shapes and solutions would work for a coin with a face, arms, and hands. I used the Bitcoin rollercoaster meme as reference. Soon, an orange circle like figure stood on my desk with a nice friendly smile and hands raised in the air. It made me smile. I had combined a childhood hobby with my interest in economics. I continued by building a red roller coaster cart which it could sit in. Finally, I attached a plate on Bitcoin’s back and gave him an address with a verified message with the build date. I left the creation on my desk. As time went by, I did minor changes and improved the design. From time to time it fell over and lay down on my desk. I thought this was a portrayal of the volatility, and I picked him up.

The orange coin with arms and legs remained on my desk, looking at me every day with a happy smile and hands raised in the air and reminding me of hope and how lucky we are to have Bitcoin in these times. 

It also made me stack more sats. I started to call him Bitcoin Brick. I had fully embodied Bitcoin to a LEGO creation, a software into plastic bricks that I cared for and enjoyed.

It was autumn, and American_HODL had recently been suspended once more from Twitter. I noticed that Bitcoin Brick had fallen over again and lay with his back on the desk staring at the ceiling. I picked Brick up and placed him on his feet. I needed to solve this issue of falling over. Brick’s center of gravity was high, so he fell over so easily. I came up with a plate that Bitcoin could stand on for better stability. I designed it to act as the blockchain. Now Bitcoin Brick was walking on the blockchain that started with the genesis block in black and ends at the start of a new block, illustrating that the blockchain goes on for infinity. Next to the genesis block laid a copy of Chancellor of Brink Bank, LEGO edition.

I thought to myself: Bitcoin Brick makes me happy and makes me want to stack more sats, so maybe other people will enjoy him too.

I reached out to hodlonaut and showed him Bitcoin Brick. With help from him and a few other Bitcoiners I started making a buildable LEGO kit of Brick. The kits will be limited quantity, and come with the red cart and the blockchain standing plate. They will come in a printed box with a color manual, and each kit will be numbered with a unique address and message which can be verified through the Bitcoin network. The kits will be available at www.bitcoinofbricks.com.

Bitcoin changed my life from a materialistic life to a more Spartan way of life. From high time preference to low time preference. I value quality differently now, from the friends I spend time with, to the music I listen to (record player is the way to go), to the food I consume. I only drink water now and I eat simpler ingredients, mostly meat and roots. To my physical conditioning, which is no longer a fiat “workout” where the goal is to be sweaty and tired, but a well-planned program consisting of practicing a few lifts, rucking and running.

I own less things today. I feel happier because of it.

It is a fundamental changing event impacting every aspect of your life, it is something that most bitcoiners experience in some way or another. Bitcoin’s ability to change people from high time preferences to low time preference is incredibly special because it is extremely hard for humans to really change their lives. It is not strange that we embody it the way we do: the properties Bitcoin possesses color everything it touches.

One of the biggest changes Bitcoin made for me was to introduce and reinforce a life path that I had searched for without knowing it. It eliminated the vision of a career with the goal of getting a degree and making big bucks, as most of my peers did. Instead I started focusing on what I wanted to do with my life if money were no object, a life where I would wake up every morning hyped for the day with a true drive. I want adventure, personal discomforts, challenges, friendships, and to always keep growing.

Today I have that. I followed my instinct. I’m not making the big bucks, but it is an adventure. In my profession it doesn’t matter if there is a snowstorm or a blazing sun outside, if I am hungry or tired. The task must be completed. So I better get my ego in check and help my buddies keep going. The experiences I have, the hardships I endure, the friendships I make, it is all invaluable—a band of brothers. It makes me feel alive. Life is too short to do something I don’t enjoy, so I better do something worth doing. Because anything worth doing is worth overdoing.

Moderation is for cowards.

Remember; stack sats and hodl.