When the market falls faster than a tree in the forest, the phrases \u201czoom out\u201d and \u201clower your time preference\u201d take root. <\/p>\n
\u201cZoom out\u201d refers to taking a break from the omnipresent price charts that populate news feeds and Twitter threads. Consider looking at the price of Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) over the past five years as opposed to over the past six,12 or 18 months.<\/p>\n But what does \u201clower your time preference,\u201d popular parlance among Bitcoiners, actually mean? Commonly attributed to Saifedean Ammous, the polarizing author who penned The Bitcoin Standard,\u00a0<\/em>lowering one\u2019s time preference translates to thinking long-term and valuing the future over the present. <\/p>\n The fiat standard is a system where money loses value due to inflation and where quick gains, immediate satisfaction and instant gratification make the medicine go down, while a Bitcoin standard promotes delayed gratification. The theory is that in a Bitcoin Standard, the value of money saved in Bitcoin goes up over time to be enjoyed at a later stage. <\/p>\n This lesson is a tough pill to swallow, particularly during a crypto winter<\/a>,\u00a0but it\u2019s a vital step to understanding Bitcoin. At least that\u2019s what Fangorn, a passionate Bitcoiner-turned-tree-planter, believes. Fangorn, a software developer and history major with a background in biology, stumbled across Bitcoin on Hacker News in the summer of 2017, when 1 BTC was worth around $3,000. <\/p>\n Something clicked during 2017 and 2018, but it took the COVID-19 market crash of 2020 for Fangorn to really \u201cgo down the rabbit hole.\u201d He read more broadly, engaging with popular Bitcoin author Gigi\u2019s works, who wrote 21 Lessons<\/em> as well as an article called “Bitcoin is Time.” <\/em>At this point, a lightbulb went off: <\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHoly shit. This [Bitcoin] is way more than just digital gold. This is profoundly advanced engineering for civilization.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n His appetite for understanding sound money grew, and he hasn\u2019t \u201clooked back since.\u201d He shared, \u201cThe one thing to focus on is Bitcoin \u2014 the rest is a bunch of fluff.\u201d <\/p>\n An outdoorsy family man with a penchant for planting trees, Fangorn regularly gifts his father Sequoia trees for Father\u2019s Day. His ideas, much like the giant trees, began to germinate. He connected the dots between a low-time preference, Sequoia trees and the Bitcoin network:<\/p>\n \u201cI can look at these trees when I\u2019m 100 years old and think, \u2018Damn. It\u2019s going to persist for another 3,000 years.\u2019 And my grandkids\u2019 grandkids\u2019 grandkids\u2019 will think, \u2018Thanks, great-great-grandpa, for planting this tree thousands of years ago!\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Like many Bitcoiners, Fangorn has faith that the Bitcoin network will sustain civilization as sound money for years to come. Moreover, Bitcoin and Sequoias are pretty similar, as they take \u201ca lot of work, they stand the test of time, and they lift the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s this thing that allows us to cast our minds forward for thousands of years, plan long term and reconnect with that core aspect of civilization, which is lowering one\u2019s time preference and planning for the future.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Indeed, while Bitcoin is a tool famed for its \u201cnumber go up\u201d properties, it also allows for securing a long-term outlook.<\/p>\n He shares that \u201cPlanting trees is a super easy, super cost-effective way of explaining\u201d what a low-time preference is. The tree is a visual representation of a low-time preference \u2014 the roots are the network. Moreover, planting trees flies in the face of the environmental FUD \u2014 fear, uncertainty and doubt \u2014 to which Bitcoin is often subjected. <\/a><\/p>\n I planted a sequoia from @btcfangorn<\/a> so my ancestors can harvest a 30 ft wide behemoth! pic.twitter.com\/0PKwvwhmqe<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Sidd – #BitcoinTour Harley Rider (@CaptainSiddh) June 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fangorn encourages Bitcoiners and no-coiners to plant trees to visualize a low-time preference. He shipped seeds to Andre Loja, the man behind the island of Madeira\u2019s Bitcoin strategy<\/a>. He\u00a0distributed seeds at the Bitcoin Miami conference in 2022<\/a>\u00a0and at meetups in Wisconsin, where he resides. <\/p>\n He joked that when Hal Finney (the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction<\/a>) comes round from his cryogenic freeze in 3,000 years, \u201cI want there to be 21 million trees that are fully grown and 30 feet in diameter \u2014 trees that were planted in the first few epochs.\u201d<\/p>\n Bitcoin will enter its fourth epoch sometime in 2024 and its last epoch,\u00a0when the last Bitcoin is mined<\/a>, in the year 2140. By 2140, the Sequoia seeds Fangorn and other Bitcoiners plant now will still be considered young trees, as they reach full maturity after 500 years. <\/p>\n For Fangorn, the Bitcoin mined today should still exist, maybe even being used to pay for goods and services by his great-great-grandchildren. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/s3.cointelegraph.com\/uploads\/2022-06\/be85bfcd-1212-4b73-8ccd-462e55f0327d.png\" "\\"\\"")
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