The Frontier

Guy Swan notes Nick Szabo posted his first article in nearly a decade on the Jan3 blog, which also promotes the Aqua wallet integrating Bitcoin, Liquid, and Lightning.

Szabo argues collectibles, the precursors to money, solved crucial life event transfers like tribute and bride wealth tens of thousands of years before efficient markets existed.

Szabo uses a story of conflict resolution with dentalium shells to illustrate that durable, trust-minimized objects stitch together desires and events across time and space, forming the basis for value storage.

Szabo directly counters Carl Menger's market origin theory, stating collectibles make markets possible, not the other way around, because liquidity is a consequence, not a prerequisite, for a store of value.

Guy Swan extrapolates that sound money must precede any functional free market, as market signals and intersubjective value cannot exist without a liquid monetary base to enable widespread exchange.

Swan argues Bitcoin's evolution is path-dependent, where an asset must first be a established store of value before it can become a widely used medium of exchange or unit of account.

Swan predicts a disruptive phase shift in Bitcoin's primary use case is inevitable, viewing current fee spikes as necessary stress tests for future network conditions.

Guy Swan highlights the Nakamoto Institute's new archiving projects, suggesting they aim to set a new standard for digital preservation and verification in the AI era.

Swan promotes the Bitbox O2 Nova hardware wallet for its mobile compatibility and the upcoming Time Chain Summit where he will present.