ORCA Blackpaper
The Case for Crypto in 2020 and Beyond
by Mi0 & friends

What is a Network Effect?

In its simplest form, a network effect takes place when something of shared significance goes viral. The ability of that ‘something’ to sustain itself over time is inherent in the strength of the network itself. Bitcoin (big ‘B’) is the network and bitcoin (little ‘b’) is the commodity traded on the network.

Bitcoin, like most cryptographic assets (Cryptos) have the properties of an asset, but unlike physical gold, digital assets can be acquired digitally and transferred electronically like a digital currency. They behave like a digital store of monetary value that is derived by its market participants on an open exchange. There is no central authority manipulating it or ‘bailing it out’.

Much like the 2020 pandemic, Crypto has gone viral. The viral properties of ‘Internet money’ make it an asset class primed for voluntary global adoption, but without widespread suffering. It has the potential to offer curative relief in a fiat system plagued by disease. Bitcoin, for example, is a shared belief by all voluntary participants in the Bitcoin network that the value of bitcoin is accurately reflected in its spot price on the open market and relative to all other known assets. Even after Bitcoin’s 11-year existence, buying bitcoin at spot price is like publicly commenting on controversial topics using your real name. There is nothing else like it … and there are only 21 million bitcoin that will ever exist.

Since the dawn of the Digital Age, the ability for information to spread has been going parabolic for over 25 years. From tribal clans to Clash of Clans, we seek comfort in networks. For those who have no tribe, no clan, or no family; networks provide the infrastructure for building relationships.

Personal relationships are built on trust. Monetary relationships are increasingly built on the false narrative of trust, and more often than not, on the basis of economic or military strength by nation states. Bitcoin seeks to evolve the concept of trust in traditional monetary systems into trust in something less esoteric and more mainstream. That ‘something’ is algorithmic-based math and that’s why you will hear the motto, “We are all Satoshi” in reference to Bitcoins creator(s). This concept may help take the ‘emotion’ and the ‘love of money’ out of money itself. It is also a decentralized system that does not discriminate based on race, religion, etc. It is open to the world.

What the United States is currently experiencing is not true free-market capitalism, it is referred to as ‘crony capitalism’. It is also akin to the concept of ‘trickle-down’ economics where a relatively small network of people are given a relatively large amount of money in the form of loans and expected to divvy this loaned money out to the masses based on an outdated Industrial Age version of ‘work’ and measured by ‘jobs’. This type of pseudo-capitalistic ‘Shark Tank’ system fosters socialism for the  ‘already rich’ and well-connected; and rugged individualism for everyone else. It is a broken system as we see the stock markets rise among the worst economic collapse in history with millions of people out of money and mired in debt.

Forward-thinking capitalists require open and decentralized markets where the human relationships are built upon trust, and the monetary system is built upon solid mathematical principles. Modern math, science, and technology solve problems that previous generations have struggled to fix.

Gold is commonly referred to as ‘God’s money’ and it will likely continue to be one of many standards by which humanity measures wealth. As a matter of practicality we can’t all be carrying around gold bars as currency. The Internet fixes this problem and levels the playing field for everyone with a smart phone and an Internet connection.

Technology is still a barrier for many, but therein lies the opportunity for our traditional financial systems to fill the transitional gap as we move from ‘dirty fiat’ to ‘clean digital’ money. The benefits of this transition are both literal and figurative in a world stifled by global pandemics. The goal is not to eradicate gold and fiat, but rather graft in crypto as another means by which we exchange value.

The ‘Network Effect’ of Bitcoin is unprecedented and it is still very early in its maturation process and price discovery phases. Bitcoin is legally regarded as a commodity in the United States. As a commodity, bitcoin has exponentially outperformed everything including gold, silver, and oil over the past 10 years. Bitcoin is often described as ‘Gold 2.0’, but it has many attributes that make it better than gold. The rich are increasingly calling their bitcoin investments ‘insurance’. The men who hold high places must be the ones to start thinking about Bitcoin as the peoples money and a compliment to the financial systems they control.

Bitcoin has a relatively small market cap ($175B as of this writing) when one compares the number of available units (bitcoin) to its current spot price. Bitcoins market share is small compared to gold, the stock markets, derivatives, and other categories of assets. However, crypto as an asset class has an infinite amount of opportunity to transform our world of money. In reality, it is difficult to assign a traditional label to Crypto because it is in a class of its own. Those who own over 1000 BTC are typically referred to as ‘Whales’ and those who participate in this new digital ecosystem of Open Registered Cryptographic Assets (ORCA) are gaining prominence as ORCAS.

Bitcoin is the Innovation Lab that every big financial services company wishes they had invented. When you support Bitcoin you support a mutually shared idea about a better asset, backed by the strongest, ever-growing network yet known to humanity. When you support Crypto, you support an emerging economic global phenomenon.

The orca.digital whitepaper simply reads … raising awareness about health, wealth, and love.