Bitcoin, and eventually broader crypto, was steered away from being a decentralized alternative to the state and toward integration into the very financial system it was meant to replace.
In an interv...

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<p><strong>Bitcoin, and eventually broader crypto, was steered away from being a decentralized alternative to the state and toward integration into the very financial system it was meant to replace.</strong></p>
<adv/><p>In an interview, Aaron Day, co-founder of Daylight Freedom, a foundation dedicated to financial sovereignty and individual liberty, reached this conclusion based on his personal experiences with Bitcoin. </p>
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<h2><strong>Questioning Bitcoin’s Original Mission</strong></h2>
<p>Nowadays, Bitcoin is best known for its non-sovereign, censorship-resistant characteristics. For several years now, the crypto community has touted the asset as akin to gold, albeit digital. </p>
<p>Day, an outspoken critic of cryptocurrencies and a libertarian thinker, once thought this too. </p>
<p>That’s why he started using Bitcoin as early as 2012. However, he soon started to realize that its narrative was in a constant state of transformation– one that parted ways with its self-proclaimed decentralized nature.</p>
<p>His persistent remarks on social media and sharp criticisms of some of the industry’s most powerful companies have inevitably made some paint him as a conspiracy theorist. </p>
<p>However, his long trajectory as a crypto user in the space, paired with the research he conducts as a fellow at the Brownstone Institute, provides a perspective that’s hard to dismiss, especially amid Bitcoin’s broader mainstream adoption.</p>
<h2><strong>New Hampshire as a Bitcoin Testing Ground</strong></h2>
<p>When Day, a New Hampshire resident, started using Bitcoin 15 years ago, many restaurants and shops accepted it directly. It already functioned as a spendable digital currency. </p>
<p>In many ways, the state was a breeding ground for this type of activity. </p>
<p>Known as the “Live Free or Die” region, New Hampshire also became the home of the Free State Project, a nonprofit political migration movement founded in 2001 that successfully relocated roughly 20,000 free thinkers to the area, aiming to concentrate them in a low-population state.</p>
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<p>“Live Free or Die” — Start your Journey with the Free State Project<br/><br/>The fight for liberty began right here in New Hampshire and it’s alive and thriving today. We are Free Staters — thousands of liberty lovers who’ve made the move to the Granite State to live free and build a… pic.twitter.com/8JssrpsMfC</p>
— The Free State Project (@FreeStateNH) November 6, 2025</blockquote>
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<p>Day was the Chairman of that project, and by virtue of his beliefs, he became attracted to Bitcoin’s potential.</p>
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<p>“Back [in 2012], mostly conferences were about how Bitcoin was going to be used as an alternative to central banks, how it was going to be something that solved the problem of the 2008 financial crisis, [and] how it was going to be a tool that didn’t require intermediaries or third parties. This is how I got introduced to it,” Day told BeInCrypto during a podcast episode. </p>
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<p>However, despite its early adoption in his city, the narrative began to shift by 2017. According to him, it soon became unusable. </p>
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<p>“All of a sudden, the fees went through the roof. We went from transactions being finalized in seconds to days. It lost its fundamental utility, which is to be something that anyone anywhere in the world could engage in voluntary transactions without third parties,” he added.</p>
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<p>Though that was Day’s original frustration with the currency, it soon only represented the tip of the iceberg.</p>
<h2><strong>A Narrative Shift From Cash to Store of Value</strong></h2>
<p>When Day started using Bitcoin, it was seen as just another form of currency for everyday transactions with decentralized advantages. It was never perceived as anything else. </p>
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<p>“People weren’t talking about primarily as being digital gold. It’s something you just hold and save and don’t spend. It’s not in the title of the whitepaper, this is not the behavior and function of Bitcoin,” he explained.</p>
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<p>These changes coincided with the rise of Layer 2 solutions in crypto. These secondary protocols, built on top of the primary blockchain, are designed to significantly increase transaction speeds and reduce fees. Protocols like Segregated Witness (SegWit) and Lightning Network became particularly popular at the time. </p>
<p>While many developers argued these upgrades were necessary technical trade-offs, Day interpreted them differently. </p>
<p>In his view, the technical debate around scaling was inseparable from a broader structural shift happening behind the scenes — one related to who was funding Bitcoin’s development.</p>
<h2><strong>From Non-Profit Backing to Institutional Influence</strong></h2>
<p>In 2012, the Bitcoin Foundation, a non-profit organization, was established in the United States to promote Bitcoin use and protect the integrity of the project. It also supported Bitcoin’s earliest core developers. </p>
<p>Three years later, however, the organization collapsed amid internal turmoil and financial difficulties. </p>
<p>Shortly afterward, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, through its Digital Currency Initiative —directed by Jeffrey Epstein-linked Joi Ito— began funding several Bitcoin core developers.</p>
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<img src="https://cnews24.ru/uploads/b1a/b1aafb80e9746566a06c6b1643de84dc7bf66a81.jpg"/>
<div>Current staff at the MIT Media Lab Digital Currency Initiative. Source: MIT.</div>
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<p>To many in the ecosystem, this was a practical solution. Bitcoin was an open-source protocol without a formal corporate sponsor. Developers needed funding to continue their work.</p>
<p>But for Day, the timing raised questions.</p>
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<p>“MIT took over, and then some of the same developers that were working on things like SegWit and Lightning Network, essentially hobbling Bitcoin as peer-to-peer cash and moving to this Bitcoin is digital gold narrative.”</p>
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<p>As Bitcoin’s scalability issues became more apparent and the network’s future development was increasingly steered by well-funded institutional interests, the project’s decentralized nature began to erode.</p>
<p>Fast forward to today, and Bitcoin has become extensively integrated in infrastructure directly tied to traditional, centralized banking. Exchange-traded funds tied to the asset, institutional custody, and nation-state reserves have since entered the conversation. </p>
<p>Day questioned whether this trajectory was inevitable or the result of structural forces that redirected Bitcoin’s original mission. </p>
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<p>“I think at the end of this, the longer it goes on, the more it’s pretty clear that all of crypto has been hijacked,” he concluded. </p>
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Was Bitcoin Hijacked? How Institutional Interests Shaped Its Narrative Since 2015

比特币，以及最终更广泛的加密货币，其发展方向并非成为国家去中心化的替代方案，而是融入了它原本旨在取代的金融体系。

在一次采访中……

<div><div><p><strong>比特币，以及最终更广泛的加密货币，被引导偏离了成为国家去中心化替代方案的初衷，转而融入它原本要取代的金融体系。</strong></p><adv/><p>在一次采访中，致力于金融主权和个人自由的基金会 Daylight Freedom 的联合创始人 Aaron Day 根据他个人使用比特币的经历得出了这一结论。</p><adv/><div><div><iframe/></div></div><h2><strong>质疑比特币的最初使命</strong></h2><p>如今，比特币最广为人知的特性是其非主权性和抗审查性。多年来，加密货币社区一直将这种资产吹捧为类似于黄金，只不过是数字化的。</p><p>戴伊是一位直言不讳的加密货币批评者和自由主义思想家，他也曾有过这种想法。</p><p>这就是为什么他早在 2012 年就开始使用比特币的原因。然而，他很快意识到比特币的叙事方式一直在不断变化——这与它自称的去中心化性质渐行渐远。</p><p>他在社交媒体上持续发表言论，并对业内一些最有实力的公司进行尖锐批评，这不可避免地让一些人把他描绘成阴谋论者。</p><p>然而，他作为加密货币用户的长期经历，以及他在布朗斯通研究所担任研究员期间所做的研究，提供了一个难以忽视的观点，尤其是在比特币被更广泛的主流接受的背景下。</p><h2><strong>新罕布什尔州作为比特币试验场</strong></h2><p>15年前，新罕布什尔州居民戴伊开始使用比特币时，许多餐馆和商店都直接接受比特币。它当时已经可以作为一种可用的数字货币使用。</p><p>从很多方面来看，该州是这类活动的滋生地。</p><p>新罕布什尔州被称为“不自由，毋宁死”地区，也是自由州计划的所在地。该计划是一个非营利性政治移民运动，成立于 2001 年，成功地将大约 20,000 名自由思想者迁往该地区，目的是将他们集中在一个人口稀少的州。</p><div><div><blockquote><p> “不自由，毋宁死”——从自由邦项目开始你的旅程<br/><br/>争取自由的斗争始于新罕布什尔州，如今它依然生机勃勃。我们是自由州居民——成千上万热爱自由的人，我们移居花岗岩州，是为了自由地生活，建设…… pic.twitter.com/8JssrpsMfC</p> — 自由州项目 (@FreeStateNH) 2025年11月6日</blockquote></div></div><p>戴伊是该项目的主席，由于他的信仰，他被比特币的潜力所吸引。</p><blockquote><p> “早在（2012年），大多数会议都在讨论比特币将如何作为中央银行的替代品，它将如何解决2008年金融危机的问题，以及它将如何成为一种不需要中介或第三方机构的工具。我就是这样接触到比特币的，”戴伊在BeInCrypto的一期播客节目中说道。</p></blockquote><p>然而，尽管这项技术在他所在的城市很早就被采用，但到了 2017 年，情况开始发生变化。据他所说，这项技术很快就变得无法使用了。</p><blockquote><p> “突然之间，手续费飙升。交易完成时间从几秒钟变成了几天。它失去了最根本的实用性，即让世界各地的人都能在无需第三方的情况下进行自愿交易，”他补充道。</p></blockquote><p>虽然这是戴伊最初对这种货币感到沮丧的原因，但这很快表明这只是冰山一角。</p><h2><strong>从现金到价值储存手段的叙事转变</strong></h2><p>当戴伊开始使用比特币时，它被视为另一种用于日常交易的货币形式，具有去中心化的优势。人们从未赋予它其他任何意义。</p><blockquote><p> “人们最初并不是把它当作数字黄金来讨论。它是一种你持有和储存，而不是用来消费的东西。白皮书的标题里没有提到这一点，这也不是比特币的行为和功能，”他解释道。</p></blockquote><p>这些变化恰逢加密货币领域二层解决方案的兴起。这些构建在主区块链之上的辅助协议旨在显著提高交易速度并降低费用。隔离见证（SegWit）和闪电网络等协议在当时尤为流行。</p><p>虽然许多开发者认为这些升级是必要的技术权衡，但 Day 对此有不同的看法。</p><p>在他看来，围绕扩容的技术争论与幕后发生的更广泛的结构性转变密不可分——这种转变与谁在资助比特币的发展有关。</p><h2><strong>从非营利组织的支持到机构的影响</strong></h2><p>2012年，比特币基金会（Bitcoin Foundation）在美国成立，这是一个非营利组织，旨在推广比特币的使用并保护该项目的完整性。它还为比特币最早的核心开发者提供支持。</p><p>然而，三年后，该组织因内部动荡和财务困难而倒闭。</p><p>不久之后，麻省理工学院 (MIT) 媒体实验室通过其数字货币计划（由与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦有关联的伊藤穰一领导）开始资助几位比特币核心开发者。 </p><div><img src="https://cnews24.ru/uploads/b1a/b1aafb80e9746566a06c6b1643de84dc7bf66a81.jpg"/><div>麻省理工学院媒体实验室数字货币计划的现任工作人员。来源：麻省理工学院。</div></div><p>对生态系统中的许多人来说，这是一个切实可行的解决方案。比特币是一个开源协议，没有正式的企业赞助商。开发者需要资金才能继续他们的工作。</p><p>但对戴伊来说，时机引发了疑问。</p><blockquote><p> “麻省理工学院接手后，一些原本致力于 SegWit 和闪电网络等项目的开发者，实际上削弱了比特币作为点对点现金的功能，转而提出了比特币是数字黄金的说法。”</p></blockquote><p>随着比特币的可扩展性问题日益明显，并且网络的未来发展越来越受到资金雄厚的机构利益的引导，该项目的去中心化特性开始受到侵蚀。</p><p>时至今日，比特币已广泛融入与传统中心化银行体系直接相关的基础设施中。与比特币挂钩的交易所交易基金、机构托管和国家储备等问题也随之成为讨论的焦点。</p><p> Day质疑这种发展轨迹是不可避免的，还是结构性力量改变了比特币最初的使命的结果。</p><blockquote><p>他总结道：“我认为，这件事拖得越久，就越能清楚地表明，整个加密货币领域已经被劫持了。”</p></blockquote></div></div>

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编译及整理：BitpushNews
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