From "Buying Pizza" to "Sending Red Envelopes" — The "Breaking Out" Journey of Bitcoin

Author: Joseph, Freelance Journalist

One

February 10 is the first day of the Lunar New Year. Early in the morning, people visit relatives and friends, exchanging New Year blessings.

For Filipino elementary school student Miguel, this day is a bit different: he received a special gift—a Bitcoin red envelope.

Many people, like Miguel, also received Bitcoin red envelopes. What is Bitcoin? Where do you store Bitcoin? How do you download a Bitcoin wallet?—they excitedly asked.

Red envelopes, also known as red envelopes, are an ancient social etiquette that originated in China during the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago. During the New Year, the younger generation pays respects to their elders, who in return give red envelopes filled with cash. Giving and receiving red envelopes symbolizes the transmission of blessings and the beginning of good fortune.

Friends can also exchange red envelopes. A well-known example of this is the red envelope feature in WeChat, China's largest social app: it allows users to send electronic red envelopes to others or send a certain amount to a chat group for others to "grab the red envelope." This feature has been loved by users since its launch; statistics show that on New Year's Eve 2024 alone, 190 million WeChat red envelopes were sent. This is just a part of it: globally, including East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, 2 billion people have the custom of giving and receiving red envelopes.

Nothing brings more joy than receiving a red envelope. And receiving a Bitcoin red envelope during the Spring Festival is both auspicious and significant for many.

Riding the festive atmosphere, Bitcoin broke through $50,000 on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Coupled with the approval of the ETF a month earlier, the entire Bitcoin community was in high spirits, sparking thousands of discussions about Bitcoin on social media.

Giving Bitcoin wrapped in red envelopes to elders and friends has become an excellent New Year gift this Spring Festival. Friends who haven't seen each other for a long time can finally put down their work during the Spring Festival, drink tea, chat, and share their lives and New Year plans. This year, due to a red envelope, their conversation topics included this familiar yet unfamiliar thing—Bitcoin.

Two

Meanwhile, in the slums of Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, women and children are receiving Bitcoin red envelopes from NGO workers. Along with the red envelopes are over 200 nutritious meals to help them combat food shortages caused by floods.

In recent years, many people in developing countries have begun to use Bitcoin as a means to solve real problems. Some young people working abroad, who need to send remittances, have started using Bitcoin to send money home, with the entire process taking just a few minutes and costing a few dollars. Additionally, in regions with prolonged inflation, many people choose Bitcoin to protect their assets from devaluation. For countries with a large unbanked population, people are gradually starting to choose electronic currency that only requires a mobile phone for transfers.

A red envelope carrying blessings and good fortune has allowed them to see another option starting with owning Bitcoin. The seeds of Bitcoin are quietly taking root in these areas.

"For Make Bitcoin popular, this is a great start," said Old Wang, the founder of the 3WW3 Asia-Africa-Latin America Research Institute. 3WW3 is a global community dedicated to promoting and popularizing Web3 in emerging countries; they are one of the initiators of the red envelope distribution activity and are actively exploring the construction and application of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Three

Some believe that 2024 is destined to belong to Bitcoin. From the explosion of the inscription track to the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, and then to Bitcoin's price breaking $60,000, the Bitcoin ecosystem has become the focus of the entire cryptocurrency community. The influx of capital and talent accelerates the pace of innovation, with emerging protocols like BRC-20 and Atomicals, as well as various L2 and ecological applications, poised to explore the infinite possibilities on the network with the strongest consensus in Web3.

Bitcoin is non-falsifiable, has a fixed supply, is not subject to inflation, and its past transaction records cannot be tampered with. It has been operating stably for 15 years in an environment without a central server. These transformative characteristics have attracted a large number of believers since Bitcoin's inception. They are known as Bitcoiners, dedicated to building the community and promoting the importance of Bitcoin and blockchain technology.

Over the past fifteen years, Bitcoiners have never ceased their efforts to bring Bitcoin into the mainstream:

• In 2015, Luxembourg programmer Felix Weis embarked on a year-long global journey, during which he paid for all expenses using only Bitcoin;

• In 2019, Paris-based artist Pascal Boyart hid a Bitcoin donation QR code in a street mural, allowing viewers to directly fund his work through Bitcoin;

• In 2023, Tanzanian teacher and musician Man Like Kweks climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to attract public attention and raise funds for his Bitcoin education project, POWA.

There is a need for Bitcoin to be recognized, accepted, and used by more people, rather than just being a celebration for a few.

• On January 11, 2024, the U.S. SEC approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, marking an important milestone for Bitcoin's mainstream acceptance;

• A month later, coinciding with the Lunar New Year, the most festive holiday in the East, this set the stage for Bitcoin to break out.

"The red envelope custom has a cultural consensus of 2 billion globally, while Bitcoin has nearly 50 million holders worldwide. The combination of the two is a fusion of technology and culture, tradition and modernity, and nations and the world. When a massive cultural consensus collides with a massive crypto consensus, Bitcoin will be seen and accepted by more people," Old Wang said.

From owning Bitcoin to seeing Bitcoin, and then to understanding Bitcoin. The Bitcoin red envelope, born at the intersection of consensus, has made an attempt to break out this Lunar New Year.

Four

Satoshi Nakamoto once said that in 20 years, Bitcoin will either be widely used or ignored. Through the continuous efforts of a group of libertarians in the internet world, Bitcoin has transformed from a niche hobby of a few crypto punks into the largest consensus in the cryptocurrency industry. Although there is still a long way to go to realize Satoshi's vision of widespread Bitcoin usage, many Bitcoin believers are forging ahead, pushing it into a broader horizon.

It can be expected that when tens of millions of Bitcoin holders transform into tens of millions of Bitcoin builders, it will bring unprecedented energy to the Bitcoin ecosystem, allowing Bitcoin to truly become popular. The Bitcoin ecosystem will also witness more financial innovations, ushering in a new era of decentralized financial applications and ecosystems based on Bitcoin. The more innovations and efforts emerge within the Bitcoin ecosystem, the closer we will get to mass adoption.