Bitcoin saved me from a Russian missile attack

As a permissionless store of value, bitcoin allowed me to escape the dangers of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. And it can help you too.

For me, being a Bitcoiner means believing in the free market and voluntary exchange. Bitcoin allows all exchange participants to benefit. But while we still live in a world dominated by laws and states, we sometimes face unprecedented threats and challenges.

This is my story.

I lived in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk (the administrative center in the eastern part of the country) until Russian invasion of Ukraine began. As a Bitcoiner and a remote worker, I decided to move to the western part of the country. Fortunately, Bitcoin provides the personal freedom needed to do something like this. While Gigi correctly states that “bitcoin is time”, Bitcoin is also space and freedom of movement.

Last year, I joined the Bitcoin Magazine Ukraine team. However, my work was interrupted by a brutal attack by the Russian army on February 1, when it hit my apartment building. In the attack, the Russians used a mobile ballistic missile system known as Iskander-K. According to the Russian Ministry of Defensehis forces use the Iskander to target “military infrastructure”, but the reality of this attack was as follows.

Using this precision weaponry, Russian forces attacked a residential building in Kramatorsk, and it turned out to be the one I had been living in before I moved. The result of the use of the hypersonic ballistic missile against the apartment building was predictable: total destruction.

The attack delicate four and seriously injured 18 people. A further death toll was avoided thanks to the evacuation of most residents and the professionalism of rescuers who saved many people, including a two-year-old girl.

“This is the most tragic event in Kramatorsk during this war from the railway station stroke in April (when 60 people were killed”, reported journalist Alyona Hromova at that time.

Bitcoin vs. Real Estate as a Store of Value

This case clearly shows that bitcoin serves much more effectively as a store of value than real estate.

First, Bitcoin cannot be destroyed, even by the most severe missile attack. As long as you store your seed phrase correctly, you can always restore access to your coins. Physical property is much more vulnerable, and its physical destruction means you no longer have access to it.

Second, Bitcoin is a global monetary system and is not significantly dependent on local conditions in different countries or regions of the world. On the contrary, real estate makes its owner dependent on conditions in his country. In the event of war, for example, both liquidity and the monetary value of real estate can drop dramatically.

Third, the bitcoin supply is predetermined and changes according to an algorithm that no one can change. However, the supply of real estate is subject to change, making it problematic as a means to engage in long-term financial planning.

I lost my apartment and almost all my material possessions. However, I still have access to my BTC.

The real implications of Bitcoin

I believe this story teaches us several important lessons:

1. We need hyperbitcoinization now more than ever. As long as governments are able to print money to finance aggressive military campaigns against other countries, a large percentage of the world’s population will live under the continual threat of having their lives and health ruined. Some authoritarian and totalitarian regimes even violate the most basic international agreements and deliberately target the civilian population. This would be impossible under the Bitcoin standard where all campaigns would be funded by real savings. Furthermore, the general culture of Bitcoiners that respects private property rights would eliminate such cases of large-scale assault.
2. We need to make the transition to become a low time preference society. The fiat world system tries to maintain the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty that results in high time preferences. And a war is the most radical way to impose high time preferences on the population. In contrast, monetary stability and decentralization of power are crucial to promoting peace and prosperity through low time preferences. Only under such conditions can sovereign individuals emerge.
3. Not all technologies are the same. Although we as Bitcoiners like innovations, we must recognize that technologies can be used in different ways. Governments often apply technological achievements to create weapons of mass destruction and other instruments to violate people’s fundamental rights and freedoms. The underlying differences in the technologies and their social and ethical implications must be communicated to the general public.

One more thing

We now know for sure that Bitcoin can survive, even under missile attack. Similarly, Bitcoin can survive under attacks by big blockers, China’s mining ban, anti-mining environmental campaigns, central bank digital currency promotion, and any future attempts to undermine people’s freedom through of coercion.

For many centuries, philosophers elaborated on the causes of injustice and the optimal ways to resist them. Due to a lack of practical tools, their attempts to establish a free and peaceful society have failed. However, we now have a magical tool, Bitcoin, that integrates the physical and informational worlds. Bitcoin is hope and the bridge to a better future for all free people.

Following the missile attack, the author is raising funds through the following bitcoin wallet to compensate for his losses, both psychological and material, as well as to provide financial assistance to other victims of the attack, including those who have been physically injured. Help from him would be greatly appreciated:

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This is a guest post byDmitro Kharkov. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.