# Don't Underestimate Crypto

By [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2) · 2022-11-21

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It’s repeated so often, it’s cliche.

You hear it in corporate retreats, keynote presentations, and motivational videos.

But how often do we take it seriously?

I’m talking about Margaret Mead’s famous quote:

> “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

But just because we have all heard it and maybe we give it a knowing nod, many people still do exactly that.

The core of crypto people, which is pretty much all we have left now after the FTX meltdown, are exactly that committed.

This isn’t a new phenomenon.

Despite many people knowing about crypto, very few have gone back to read the seminal text, [the Bitcoin whitepaper.](https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper)

It’s accessible (save for a few deep math parts) and it is an emotional treatise.

When the history of this era is written, they will liken Satoshi Nakamoto to the great innovators of all time. He’ll be up there with Gutenberg and Edison.

But he’ll also be up there with [Martin Luther](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther) (minus the anti-Semitic parts), who started the Protestant Reformation.

Instead of the centralized power of the Catholic Church, Satoshi takes aim at the centralized power of banks.

Instead of the practice of selling indulgences, he has issues with modern-day indulgences, the fees charged by middlement.

And instead of accessibility to God being only in the hands of the clergy, he has issues with accessibility to control of money only in the hands of the State.

Today, we all “know” that Church and State should be separate. That’s thanks to Luther.

Tomorrow, we will all “know” that Money and State should be separate. That will be thanks to Satoshi.

And the people who already “know” that are the committed ones, because, just like the Reformers who saw the travesty of centralized power controlling access to the idea of God, they see the travesty of centralized power controlling access to money.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. I wrote about this nearly [5 years ago in Venture Beat about the Satoshi Roundtable and crypto’s millionaires.](https://venturebeat.com/commerce/what-you-may-not-understand-about-cryptos-millionaires/)

And it’s not going to change.

Don’t underestimate crypto people.

[https://venturebeat.com/commerce/what-you-may-not-understand-about-cryptos-millionaires/](https://venturebeat.com/commerce/what-you-may-not-understand-about-cryptos-millionaires/)

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*Originally published on [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/don-t-underestimate-crypto)*