The acceleration I’m talking about here is not about predicting its price movement, but rather Bitcoin’s penetration into the real world and its growing acceptance on mainstream levels. Many people may not realize it yet, but the perception of Bitcoin is steadily changing. Across the globe—apart from regions with relatively closed systems like China—doors are gradually opening to Bitcoin.

For instance, some of the world’s leading companies are starting to reserve Bitcoin as part of their assets. Bitcoin ETFs are entering markets in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Europe. In South Korea, the number of crypto investors has surpassed that of stock investors. Former President Trump announced that the U.S. government will continue to purchase Bitcoin over the next five years. Wall Street is beginning to allocate Bitcoin as part of portfolio diversification for major clients. In cities like Dubai and across Europe and America, you can directly purchase real estate using Bitcoin. Many major international banks now allow customers to buy and sell Bitcoin directly through their apps. Even traditionally conservative countries like Russia have lifted bans on cryptocurrencies.

Whenever a disruptive innovation emerges, people tend to go through five stages of acceptance: Ignore it, belittle it, misunderstand it, feel it’s too late, and struggle to catch up.

• Why ignore it? Many think it’s due to a lack of access to information, but that’s not entirely true. The deeper reason is a lack of understanding and knowledge. Even when the information is presented, if it doesn’t intersect with one’s knowledge background, it’s as if the information doesn’t exist.

• Why belittle it? New things are often weak and niche in their early stages. Without a deep understanding of their disruptive potential, it’s easy to compare their infancy with the maturity of existing giants and dismiss them. This dismissal often stems from intellectual laziness, which is a result of insufficient knowledge reserves. If you already have a foundation of related understanding, filling in the gaps to grasp the concept won’t feel as challenging.

• Why misunderstand it? When a new innovation survives multiple waves of resistance from the old world, people begin to take a second look. However, they often find it difficult to understand, which is normal—anything with significant disruptive power is inherently complex. This hesitance to act stems from this lack of understanding. Even if one does act, they may not hold onto it or use it effectively.

Disruptive innovations are often overlooked in their early stages, even if they double in scale repeatedly, because the absolute value is still small. Consider this question: In a large pond, if a single lily pad doubles in number every day, and the entire pond is covered in 50 days, when will the pond be half-covered? Many might instinctively say 25 days, while others suspect the answer isn’t so simple. The correct answer is 49 days. In the early stages, you won’t notice the growth, but on the 49th day, half the pond is covered, and by the next day, it’s entirely filled. The growth rate hasn’t changed, but the visible impact becomes shocking only at the tipping point. By the time you’re shocked, it’s often too late to act.

Bitcoin’s early days were marked by its marginalization from the mainstream. Transactions, storage, and innovation in the blockchain ecosystem were slow due to the difficulty of market entry. Even though Bitcoin was advancing rapidly, most people couldn’t see it. It wasn’t until it became one of the world’s largest assets by market cap that the mainstream began opening channels, lowering the barrier for ordinary people to enter. Once that happened, Bitcoin’s progress started to accelerate.

Those who have witnessed China’s 20-year housing market boom will find this pattern familiar. The dramatic rise in property prices was triggered by rural-to-urban migration. When an overly compressed spring is suddenly released, the resulting imbalance between supply and demand leads to rapid and prolonged growth in the market. This same story applies to Bitcoin. The moment it becomes easily accessible to the mainstream world, its journey is just beginning.

The acceleration I’m talking about here is not about predicting its price movement, but rather Bitcoin’s penetration into the real world and its growing acceptance on mainstream levels. Many people may not realize it yet, but the perception of Bitcoin is steadily changing. Across the globe—apart from regions with relatively closed systems like China—doors are gradually opening to Bitcoin.

For instance, some of the world’s leading companies are starting to reserve Bitcoin as part of their assets. Bitcoin ETFs are entering markets in the U.S., Hong Kong, and Europe. In South Korea, the number of crypto investors has surpassed that of stock investors. Former President Trump announced that the U.S. government will continue to purchase Bitcoin over the next five years. Wall Street is beginning to allocate Bitcoin as part of portfolio diversification for major clients. In cities like Dubai and across Europe and America, you can directly purchase real estate using Bitcoin. Many major international banks now allow customers to buy and sell Bitcoin directly through their apps. Even traditionally conservative countries like Russia have lifted bans on cryptocurrencies.

Whenever a disruptive innovation emerges, people tend to go through five stages of acceptance: Ignore it, belittle it, misunderstand it, feel it’s too late, and struggle to catch up.

• Why ignore it? Many think it’s due to a lack of access to information, but that’s not entirely true. The deeper reason is a lack of understanding and knowledge. Even when the information is presented, if it doesn’t intersect with one’s knowledge background, it’s as if the information doesn’t exist.

• Why belittle it? New things are often weak and niche in their early stages. Without a deep understanding of their disruptive potential, it’s easy to compare their infancy with the maturity of existing giants and dismiss them. This dismissal often stems from intellectual laziness, which is a result of insufficient knowledge reserves. If you already have a foundation of related understanding, filling in the gaps to grasp the concept won’t feel as challenging.

• Why misunderstand it? When a new innovation survives multiple waves of resistance from the old world, people begin to take a second look. However, they often find it difficult to understand, which is normal—anything with significant disruptive power is inherently complex. This hesitance to act stems from this lack of understanding. Even if one does act, they may not hold onto it or use it effectively.

Disruptive innovations are often overlooked in their early stages, even if they double in scale repeatedly, because the absolute value is still small. Consider this question: In a large pond, if a single lily pad doubles in number every day, and the entire pond is covered in 50 days, when will the pond be half-covered? Many might instinctively say 25 days, while others suspect the answer isn’t so simple. The correct answer is 49 days. In the early stages, you won’t notice the growth, but on the 49th day, half the pond is covered, and by the next day, it’s entirely filled. The growth rate hasn’t changed, but the visible impact becomes shocking only at the tipping point. By the time you’re shocked, it’s often too late to act.

Bitcoin’s early days were marked by its marginalization from the mainstream. Transactions, storage, and innovation in the blockchain ecosystem were slow due to the difficulty of market entry. Even though Bitcoin was advancing rapidly, most people couldn’t see it. It wasn’t until it became one of the world’s largest assets by market cap that the mainstream began opening channels, lowering the barrier for ordinary people to enter. Once that happened, Bitcoin’s progress started to accelerate.

Those who have witnessed China’s 20-year housing market boom will find this pattern familiar. The dramatic rise in property prices was triggered by rural-to-urban migration. When an overly compressed spring is suddenly released, the resulting imbalance between supply and demand leads to rapid and prolonged growth in the market. This same story applies to Bitcoin. The moment it becomes easily accessible to the mainstream world, its journey is just beginning.