This week marks 15 years since the enigmatic figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto penned the Whitepaper that ignited a quiet revolution, one that has since captivated the world’s imagination. Through the passage of time, this transformative journey has witnessed its fair share of conflicts, internal strife, schisms, and discord. Nevertheless, an enduring vision persists: the belief that the world deserves a superior form of currency that benefits not just the privileged 1%, but all of humanity.

At the heart of Satoshi’s profound vision lies a fundamental tenet — the world desperately needs a payment system founded on decentralization, in stark contrast to the prevailing model of centralization. Before the advent of Bitcoin, any non-cash transaction necessitated routing payments through intermediaries, be they banks or wire services like Western Union.

The inherent flaw in these systems is their centralization, where access is granted and revoked by faceless corporate entities. Even today, approximately six million households in the United States remain excluded from traditional banking services. In African nations, this staggering figure balloons to 350 million individuals.

Being denied access to financial services confines these people to cash transactions, limiting their economic activities to their immediate surroundings. Furthermore, they lack the means to save, invest, or borrow, luxuries often taken for granted by others.

Satoshi’s vision painted a world where individuals could securely store their own wealth on a blockchain without reliance on a centralized authority for permission. He ingeniously devised a network secured by cryptographic proofs, which miners could solve to earn Bitcoin rewards.

Through this incentivization of decentralization, Satoshi eliminated the need for a central entity to approve transactions, fortifying the network against potential censorship. As demonstrated when China cracked down on cryptocurrencies and banned Bitcoin mining, the network endured.

In May 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz entered the annals of history by paying 10,000 BTC for two Papa John’s pizzas — a transaction now etched in Bitcoin lore. Remarkably, that same amount of Bitcoin would today be valued at a staggering $345 million, marking Bitcoin as the first-ever microcap altcoin.

Since its inception, Bitcoin has inspired countless individuals to embark on projects rooted in its visionary principles. The realm of decentralized finance (DeFi) has soared to remarkable heights since Satoshi first committed his ideas to paper.

Originally conceived as a peer-to-peer network for straightforward transactions, Satoshi’s vision has birthed innovations such as smart contracts, decentralized exchanges, and lending and borrowing platforms. With each passing month, we move closer to replicating the very same financial instruments from traditional finance (TradFi) within DeFi.

A fundamental tenet within DeFi compared to TradFi is permissionless transactions. There is no better example of the difference between the two worlds when you consider on-ramping fiat currency into cryptocurrency.

In many developed countries, banks have imposed restrictions on the amount of money that can be sent to crypto exchanges such as Binance or Coinbase. For instance, NatWest Bank customers in the UK are limited to depositing £1,000 a day into Coinbase, capped at £5,000 per month. In contrast, Coinbase itself permits deposits of up to £250,000 and daily withdrawals of £100,000.

While the idea of banks dictating how people can spend their own money may seem dystopian, the reality is that once money enters the domain of a bank, it effectively becomes their property. Customers then require the bank’s permission for withdrawals or transactions — a notion antithetical to Satoshi’s vision of replacing third-party intermediaries.

Over the past 15 years, the cryptocurrency realm has weathered countless declarations of its demise, with headlines proclaiming that Bitcoin will go to zero. Yet, in defiance of the theatrics, cryptocurrency has not only endured but has also surged in popularity and value.

Even today, some continue to pronounce the end of the crypto era, insisting that another bull market is an impossibility. Nevertheless, behind closed doors, banks and financial institutions are quietly amassing ever-greater quantities of cryptocurrency.

Our journey at Paribus has been inspired by Satoshi and many of his followers, who have worked relentlessly to realize a vision of a fairer and more equitable financial system. We’re proud to be here, playing our own small part in the revolution that Satoshi ignited all those years ago.