This piece is an opinion editorial written by Bitcoiner and entrepreneur Mark Maraia, who is also the author of the book "Rainmaking Made Simple."

The fact that so many individuals in the United States of America are being compelled by the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve to take chances with the money they've worked so hard to achieve is heartbreaking to me. Those of us who are lucky enough to already own riches are purchasing expensive houses, overhyped cryptocurrencies, and overpriced equities, in addition to bitcoin. "Thank God for bitcoin," is something that has been said by a number of people, including Senator Lummis.

The implosion that took place around the centralized exchange. I despise trading and investing in general, but especially when it comes to the market for sh*tcoins, and FTX is the most recent illustration of why I feel this way. Not only do you expose yourself to an enormous amount of danger since you are, in essence, gambling on the "assets" listed, but the company that is in charge of holding your money also gambles with it! Throughout the entirety of this transaction, you are putting your faith in a third party that has no other motive but to make money off of you and your money while simultaneously denying you an opportunity to trade profitably.

I would argue that a "investor" in bitcoin who is properly informed would experience a tremendous return on their money that is way above the rate of inflation and money production while also enjoying the lowest level of risk possible. When I was just starting out as a lawyer, one of my early role models was the executive director of a non-profit organization that helped orphans and widows find housing. He would frequently state that this group was only permitted to invest in blue chip widows and orphans stocks. By this, he meant that these stocks had a lower potential for loss and were more likely to stay in existence for the foreseeable future. In spite of the fact that it is not yet widely used, in my opinion, bitcoin is the most beneficial technology for conserving money that our species has ever developed. Bitcoin will almost certainly survive not only me, but also my children and grandkids as well. My mother was a savvy buy-and-hold investor, and as a result, I have always had a strong aversion to day trading and a strong preference for investing for the long term.

When I was just starting out in the legal field in the middle of the 1980s, I worked as a defense lawyer for a company that dealt in penny stocks. During that time, I discovered that our financial markets had been manipulated for a very long time. Before I started investing in bitcoin, I had a patchy record as an investor and I had never worked in the trading industry. When I look around at all of the frauds involving altcoins nowadays, I am brought back to the days of penny stocks. I don't want to mislead you into thinking that I'm attempting to persuade you that the markets are rigged; all I want is for the reader to get why I find trading and investing so frustrating. I want everyone to be on an even playing field. From what I've come to understand, there have been plenty of friends and insiders enjoying special treatment, which has made them affluent for many decades, and it appears that the situation is growing even worse. I want something that functions on a level playing field and respects everyone the same regardless of who they are. I wish to acquire and invest in this asset with the knowledge that it will retain its worth for at least a decade after I make the purchase. I need one that won't keep me up at night worrying about it. When the Federal Reserve devalues the currency by double digits each year, the traditional safe havens no longer function as effectively as they once did. When you include in the "negative interest rate" that results from having to pay a financial institution a yearly fee of 1% or more for managing my financial assets held in an IRA or 401K, you can't help but develop a pessimistic outlook. Keep an eye out for the 12b1 fees that are disguised in mutual funds as well. Be wary of the people who are acting as the middle men between you and your investments. Everyone wants their share of your success and fortune.

As a baby boomer who is in the process of transitioning into semi-retirement, what I truly want is a savings technology that is so safe and foolproof that it has no competition. In an ideal scenario, one that already has its very own digital delivery system, also known as payment rails, which has never been compromised in any way and functions with nearly flawless uptime. So, this is what bitcoin is. I want an approach to savings that eliminates the need for any third parties to intervene between me and my possessions. Bitcoin is what I'm after, not an IOU issued by a bank, brokerage business, or any other type of financial entity. I want an investment method that is completely open and accessible, to the point that anyone can search the timechain all the way back to the Genesis Block. That is known as bitcoin. I'm looking for a method of investment that can safely store my money, life energy, and purchasing power for a significant number of years into the future with minimal exposure to risk. That is known as bitcoin. I wish to put my money into an asset whose value is determined by its limited supply. That is known as bitcoin. I wish to invest in a financial instrument that is more liquid than U.S. Treasuries and may be purchased or sold at any time, day or night, 365 days a year. That is known as bitcoin. I want a property that has several options available to you and is just in the dial-up phase of its adoption process at this point. That is known as bitcoin. I want an asset that completely removes the need for me to be an investor on Wall Street. I want an asset that gives me the option to withdraw from the monetary system altogether. That is known as bitcoin.

Was there a significant learning curve associated with bitcoin? Without a doubt, and it was well worth it! What you will discover if you put hundreds or even thousands of hours into doing your homework is that the return on investment (ROI) in bitcoin has made it by far and away the best performing asset class for the last decade, and it has no peer. If you do your homework, you will find that the ROI in bitcoin has made it possible for it to achieve this status. Bitcoin has been derisked as a result of the wall of acceptance that is occurring in the cryptocurrency on the part of nation-states, wealth funds, hedge funds, Wall Street, and family offices, as well as the recent increase in the amount of regulatory certainty. Bitcoin is more appealing to Ray Dalio than bonds are. In a world with manipulated interest rates, I believe that bitcoin, which has been the subject of intensive research, has a risk profile that is lower than that of any other asset class. It provides considerably less danger than the United States dollars that are lying in my bank as long as it is properly self-custodied, which is a work in and of itself. Why? Because I do not physically possess those United States dollars, all that I have obtained from my bank or other financial institution in the form of an IOU for dollars. And as we have discovered throughout the course of history, governments, banks, and nation-states have an unsightly track record when the unexpected occurs and they have the power to take our money outright, such as what took place in Canada and Cyprus, or by stealth through currency debasement. This is something that we have come to expect from these institutions because of their track record.

I would want to urge those of you who are still debating whether or not to start your assignment today. The fact that our educational system does not start teaching us about money until much later in life is both startling and unfortunate in my opinion. Because this is of such critical importance, I just just gave a lesson on money and bitcoin to many classrooms of seventh- and eighth-graders, and I'm challenging anyone else who believes they are capable of doing the same thing! There is nothing more than one hundred thousand bitcoiners going into their local classrooms to teach young people about money and bitcoin that I would want to see. Please get in touch with me, and I'll describe the framework and strategy I used. If you fill in the gaps in your knowledge about money and bitcoin, you will have an unfair advantage over people who are either too lazy, stupid, or afraid to put in the effort. And once you take that step, you won't look back with regret. According to an old Chinese saying, "a trip of one thousand miles begins with a single step." It is highly recommended that you educate yourself on the Bitcoin language. Bitcoin is not only a cryptocurrency but also a belief system that is gathering followers at a rate that is unparalleled by any other technological innovation in the history of humankind. It is strongly recommended that you board the train; otherwise, you face the risk of being ran over by it.