10: What is property?

In “5: What is bitcoin? Bitcoin vs. bitcoin,” I mentioned that bitcoin was property. Now, let me share why, to the best of my current ability.

In Fall ‘22, I took a class in which we talked about definitions of property from a philosopher’s point of view:

• Thomas Hobbes: society can only ”exit the state of nature” and own property through consent/Leviathan (fearful centralized governing body)

• David Hume: Humans own property through conventions such as consent (from others)/ contracts

• John Locke: “Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property” (Sect 27).

In simplest form, bitcoin fulfills these different requirements/definitions because it facilitates consent through decentralized consensus mechanism, PoW, (“contract”), which requires labor (energy) to both create and secure it.

If you’re interested in seeing the full argument, here is a paper I wrote.

Bitcoin is our first form of true property, something that can be securely and solely yours because of the consensus protocol, which requires and runs on energy and can be transported anywhere in the world, virtually instantly. From the beginning of time, we’ve secured our property via a scarce resource, kinetic energy. Bitcoin (imo is the 1st true form of property), finite in number, is created and secured by energy.