Ki Young Ju admitted he was wrong. The Bitcoin bull cycle isn't over. This is more than just an extension of the status quo. He calls it a "new era." That's where the real questions begin. Is this new era really a true advance for financial liberation? Or are we all unwittingly about to walk into a gilded financial cage of despotism?

Who Really Benefits From Liquidity?

ETFs. They're the talk of the town. Billions flowing in daily. Institutional liquidity. Easier access for the average Joe, right? Maybe. But seriously—who is sucking up all this liquidity? The big boys. The hedge funds. The corporations. They have the data and development muscle behind algorithms to win. Armed with that insider information, they’re sucking profit out of the game at a level that retail investors can only fantasize about.

Okay, so you can now directly purchase Bitcoin in your brokerage account. But are you really in control? You're paying fees. You're subject to the ETF provider's decisions. You’re assuming that they’re doing what’s best for you. Are they? Or are they just putting their profits, and the profits of their largest clients, first?

Think about it. Greater liquidity makes it more difficult for further sales to crash the price, minimizing volatility. That's good, in theory. It makes it much more difficult for the average retail investor to realize those life-changing gains that Bitcoin has historically been able to deliver. The volatility was the opportunity! Now that same opportunity is watered down, commoditized, and put into a one-size-fits-all package… for a small fortune.

Are Regulations Keeping Up?

Those Wild West days of crypto are almost behind us. Regulations are coming. Inevitably. But are they the right regulations? Are they intended to safeguard the little guy, or to further entrench power of the financial aristocracy?

Consider the Bitcoin–S&P 500 correlation. It's increasing. Is that a good thing? Some view it as doing the opposite, legitimizing Bitcoin, bringing it into the mainstream. I argue that it actually makes it even more susceptible to the same systemic risks that have long characterized traditional finance. The same institutions that brought us the crisis of 2008 are now manipulating Bitcoin’s price, loading the deck for the future.

  • Increased Correlation: Bitcoin mirroring TradFi markets.
  • Regulatory Capture: Regulations favoring large institutions.
  • Centralized Control: Governments potentially influencing ETFs.

Would governments be able to leverage this influence over Bitcoin ETFs to censor transactions? Would they bar access to people based on their political or social beliefs? It may seem like something straight out of a dystopian novel, but perhaps it’s not that hard to believe. To paraphrase Frederick Douglass, the power to control money is the power to control people. Bitcoin used to represent rebellion against the ruling order. Lately, however, it’s inextricably become tied to the very system of oppression it set out to subvert.

Freedom or Financial Tyranny?

The original promise of Bitcoin was decentralization, censorship resistance, true ownership. A new financial system that is not dominated by the interests of states and private companies. Is that promise still alive? Or has it been co-opted?

Bitcoin’s institutionalization is a double-edged sword. It brings legitimacy, capital, and wider adoption. It also introduces potential for centralization, manipulation, and control.

We owe it to ourselves to ask the tough questions. Are we unintentionally stacking the deck against the future where Bitcoin really unlocks human potential and power? Or are we just strengthening the hands of the already powerful? Are we on the path to a real decentralized financial system, or just swapping one group of gatekeepers for another?

The answer, I fear, depends on us. We need to demand transparency. We need to advocate for fair regulations. To avert this risk, we should focus our efforts towards improving financial literacy and ensuring equitable Bitcoin access for everyone.

We have to get back to what Bitcoin was supposed to do. A tool for freedom. A weapon against tyranny. Let’s fight to make sure it doesn’t turn into the very monster it was created to combat. While the fight is clearly not over, the struggle is only beginning.