A few years ago, I made an unlikely bet to build a Bitcoin circular economy in the heart of a fishing village in northeastern Brazil. There are no venture capitalists, no “crypto”, no empty promises either. Node, Satoshi, personal education, many sidewalk conversations only.
That’s how Praia Bitcoin Jericoacoara was born. It is a radical experiment of financial sovereignty built with open source tools and feet in the sand.
In our four years at Praia Bitcoin Jericoacoara, we transformed the beach town into a living Bitcoin classroom. I taught myself about my own habits in a small group. I installed reliable lightning routes and point of sale tools. I ran a social program paid for by SAT. And they hosted a meetup that made Bitcoin a part of their daily lives.
Living in the Bitcoin standard, I began to see what’s actually going on at the edge of technology.
In August 2025, I published four short articles about X. The shape and tone were different and converged to the same question. What role does Bitcoin play and what role does it play in building it? They came with four:
Field Report on Working with Bitcoin Community Bank in Jericoacoara Criticism of Bitcoin Maximalism The Prime Minister of Bhutan invited the Prime Minister of Bhutan to consider Satoshi as a unit of accounts and public attraction to keep Bitcoin in a peer-to-peer cash system.
What they share is their desire to coordinate practice, theory, and vision of the future.
In the first article, we shared challenges and lessons from the actual experiment. We have built a Bitcoin-based circular economy in northeastern Brazil. Inspired by Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador, we eradicated the Jericoacoara project in education, inclusion and local infrastructure. They set up onboarding merchants and neighbors, created social programs, and sought the agency’s recognition as a community Bitcoin bank.
We were denied by the local government. We moved forward with confidence even in the face of the state’s legal and political preparedness. If Bitcoin is rooted in place, we believe it can be more than money. It could be a tool for community transformation. However, the authorities struggled to understand this and denied our request to register what was the first Bitcoin Community Bank.
In the second part, I faced ideological tensions within the community itself. The biggest rhetoric of defending Bitcoin as the only legitimate project and treating the rest of the “crypto” as fraud, had its historical role. It helped to protect ecosystem integrity, exposed fraud and accelerated market maturation. But does that still help with large recruitment goals? Will it help you communicate the value of Bitcoin to newcomers? I realized that the relevant technology solutions are ignoring the relevant technology solutions just because they were outside the biggest bubble.
After reexamining the discussion and reading every replies and quote, my conclusion was that other projects would act as funnels, sandboxes, or distribution channels that drive people towards adopting true Bitcoin. Stablecoins, Altcoins, Memecoin and centralized cryptocurrencies move towards Bitcoin, absorbing inflation and helping to establish prices for other products. Perhaps it’s time for a new attitude. Rather than abandoning principles, it is to embrace Bitcoin, which focuses on its essence, with skepticism and open mind, willing to be willing to engage with the world with constant transformation. By educating regulators that Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency and that all other projects are centralized cryptocurrencies.
In the third piece, I incorporated this vision into the diplomatic field. I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of Bhutan, suggesting that the country would consider adopting Satoshi as the accounting unit of its citizens.
The proposal was more symbolic than technology and had a clear goal. Imagine how Bitcoin can be involved in an alternative development model that does not rely on the IMF or the dollar, but respects local culture and sovereignty. The response to this letter made it important. Even within the Bitcoin ecosystem there are ideological lanes: conservatives, centrics, progressives, each trying to interpret the protocol through a clear worldview.
Therefore, this article is the point of convergence. Together these three experiences (practical, ideological, diplomatic) we look at something new and fresh about what we are really trying to build. More than repeating the doctrine, this moment seeks identification. More than talking about freedom, it is time to practice it where it is most needed – on earth in our language, our facilities, our relationships, in our language.
In the fourth piece, we distilled open notes to Bitcoin cores to a simple point. Keep Bitcoin in a peer-to-peer caching system rather than a typical data host.
I argued that loosening the default data-carrying setting seduces bloating, legal risks and reputational damage, and asked developers to think about it rather than releasing a cycle for centuries. It also noted that recent core releases, V29 and V30, have reexamined how many additional data transactions are portable by default. It lives on the technical edge of the protocol – software is the default, not the financial rules. Bitcoin is money. Like banknotes, you can write it, but not use it to publish the book, transactions can contain small notes, but do not hijack it for unrelated content.
This context raised a bigger question: what do you want Bitcoin to? The replacement made the line of fault clearer. Different groups love Bitcoin for a variety of reasons and embrace different trade-offs. The next section will name those lanes and show you how they fit.
Looking at the knot in Bitcoin gives us visibility compared to Bitcoin core, and when the deaf people complain about its pull-request process, it reminded me of the first follower lesson. Knots are maintained primarily by a single developer.
Lonely leaders are great, so they don’t shrink their movements. They expand when early followers make participation visible, lower social risks, and show how to behave accurately to others.
Having spent countless hours analyzing geopolitics and future trends from within the industry, I have begun looking at Bitcoiner in four main categories.
The Four Prototypes of Bitcoin
Bitcoin database, adjustment builder
Core Belief: Bitcoin is a neutral public record. You can coordinate people and software. Money is one powerful use, not the only one.
What they prioritize: timestamps and proofs. Public records; Proof of identity; new media in Bitcoin. Social protocols like Nostr. Builds most of the functionality on the top layer so that L1 remains stable.
What they are right: They attract builders and new users with fresh ideas and on-ramp. More experiments mean more opportunities to find permanent utilities.
Risk and Blind Spots: Spotlights can get away from money. Too much historical data can waste block space and lead to controversy. New systems may reintroduce trustworthy intermediaries.
Attitude towards lightning: open, when the app helps you feel instantly. We’ll explore other rails as well. Keeps the L1 simple.
North Star Checks: A handy app with real users. Active developer. Low, respectful footprint of L1.
Frequent examples: Casey Rodarmor and Ordinals; Muneeb Ali and Stacks; Burak and Ark Research; Maxim Orlovsky and RGB; fiatjaf and Nostr; Opentimestamps. (Note: This is an example and not a support.)
Catchphrase: “Bitcoin is a database.”
Bitcoin Central, Market Pragmatist
Core Belief: Bitcoin is money and assets. Price and liquidity drive large-scale adoption and fund security and development.
What they prioritize: ETFs and the Ministry of Finance. Compliant on-lamp and off-lamp. A deep and healthy market. Education for investors and institutions.
What they do right: liquidity brings the next wave of users, paying for builders, mining, education.
Risks and blind spots: convenient custody and short-term thinking. The distribution can be concentrated on some large hands.
Attitude towards lightning: Practical. Use it when it helps you reach more people.
North Star Check: Market depth and volume. Hashrate security budget. ETF and retail participation.
Frequently used: Michael Saylor. iShares and Fidelity Bitcoin ETF; Market Maker. On-chain analyst. Edge Case: High leverage and excessive reliance on the Ministry of Corporate Finance.
Catchphrase: “We care about prices.”
Bitcoin conservatives, financial purists
Core Belief: Bitcoin is money. Protects the base layer. Rareness, neutrality, and self-abilities cannot be negotiated. They are first preserved and then spent (for example, in the circular economy).
What they prioritize: Simple and stable rules for L1. Run your own node. Keys, utxos, and fee education. Diversity of miners and clients. A long view.
What they are right: clear incentives and strong culture. If the money is broken, all prices in the economy are wrong. First, fix the money.
Risks and blind spots: UX and payments are delayed. Newcomers may feel Gatekep. If daily use is ignored, adoption may be slower.
Attitude towards lightning: Often skeptical. They like finality on the chain and warn about complexity and storage drift.
North Star Checks: More coins of self-abilities. Healthy node count; distributed mining; increased supply of long-term holders.
Frequently used: ciphed ampoo. Pierre Rochard. Keys Style Proof Campaign. Full Node Culture and Refrigeration. Edge Case: Do not sell. We treat all altcoins as scams.
Catchphrase: “Bitcoin is digital gold.”
Bitcoin Minimalist: Digital Gold and Digital Cash, Social Transformation Tools
Core Belief: Bitcoin is digital gold for savings, digital cash for spending, and is necessary on the smallest possible trust surface.
What they prioritize: save on-chain with final payments. If possible, spend it through non-radical lightning. I use Ecash Mints like Cashu for privacy, using a simple exit to key. The flow of merchants who settle into self-detention.
What they are right: coordinate savings and daily use without giving up on sovereignty.
Risks and blind spots: slow friction and distribution; we are reluctant to adopt UX abstractions. Minimal stack fragmentation.
Attitude towards lightning: Yes, but strict. Prefer non-radical or minimally reliable setups. Beware of large custody hubs.
North Star Check: Both users who save on-chain and spend via ununiform L2. A simple retraction to the key. Successful payments without custodian.
Catchphrase: “Purchase, spending, exchange.”
Conclusion
Bitcoin culture includes four honest defaults that often talk past each other. Builders increase surface area, market pragmatists prove everyday usefulness, financial purists scale distribution, and minimalists protect bases.
together. They create productive tensions that are useful, resilient, and useful for real people.
After working in the circular economy for many years and writing publicly about these arguments, my view is simple. Bitcoin is money. Keeps the base layer simple. Store Bitcoin on the chain. Like the circular economy, we spend time at SAT when we serve people. It only supports lightning if the exit to your key remains clear and simple. Turning Bitcoin into a common data host distracts from financial missions, causes waste, confusion, and reputational damage, and does not support the “Bitcoin as a database” pass.
The future path is practical and principled. They will expand their custody, determine ideas by whether they can trust payments without a manager, fund security and education, and deepen liquidity that respects the limitations of the basic layer. When we hold that standard, lanes can complement each other, and more people share the benefits of free, neutral and reliable decentralized money.
BM Big Reads is a weekly detailed article on current topics related to Bitcoin and Bitcoiner. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine. If you have submissions, please feel free to contact us at the editor (at) bitcoinmagazine.com if you think it fits your model.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/bitcoin-archetypes-circular-economy-rev
