One of the best ways to understand this phenomenon among the Satoshi's Witnesses is to replace Bitcoin in your head with gold. Goldbugs, the hardcore ones that we (rightly) regard as missing a few screws, exhibit many of the same behaviors. The crazy uncle with a safe filled with gold coins who believes the financial apocalypse is near? Your grandma who refuses to keep any money in the bank and is increasingly annoying when she asks to pay people in gold coins or, only when rejected, regular cash? The televangelist or now social media influencer who is assuring you that the age of man is over and now is the age of gold? The monetary crank conspiracy theorist who keeps asking "what happened in 1971" without also being able to explain what happened in the 1930s? These are the same person as a Satoshi's Witness. It's the same belief system. It's the kind of person who believes that gold coins in a metal box is a better place for your money than the modern banking system. However, they also aren't willing to go all the way to the logical conclusion that if you're down to gold coins (or magic internet money) in the box (wallet), actually you really wanted guns, ammunition, canned food, and water, not fucking shiny physical or digital rocks. In that sense, I have more respect for the true apocalyptic preppers, as they are at least honest about the outcomes. Reminder: the guy with the guns can take the gold coins or bitcoin, or at least, he can prevent you from doing anything with them (by killing you with the guns). All of this has happened before. There's actually nothing truly unique about bitcoin here. Like Nic, I own bitcoin and think it's a very cool invention. But I do not think it is the holy single form of money, nor that it's the only useful blockchain, nor that it's the only useful store of value. That is religious, not economic, thinking.