Amid the surging tide of the digital world, blockchain technology is undoubtedly a disruptive force. However, beneath this wave, different technological paths contain vastly different philosophical reflections and visions of future society. As U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance pointed out in a Bitcoin conference speech, the core of this technological revolution ultimately lies in a complete rethinking and reshaping of “intermediaries”—a fundamental divide between leftist elites and right-wing grassroots on power and freedom.
Bitcoin, as defined by Satoshi Nakamoto, is “a peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” and its most essential annotation is: “a real monetary system without intermediaries.” The term “peer-to-peer” directly refers to transactions occurring between participants, completely bypassing banks, payment providers, and all other centralized intermediaries in traditional financial systems. The word “electronic” emphasizes its “real” rather than “virtual” nature. Although it exists in digital form, it possesses scarcity, verifiability, and finality, setting it apart from those “digital currencies” or “virtual currencies” issued and controlled by centralized institutions. The birth of Bitcoin marked the first time humanity achieved true “intermediary-free” value transfer in the digital world, undoubtedly its most disruptive innovation.
Bitcoin’s operating mechanism—the “longest chain” principle—is essentially an arbitration system following the “Proof of Work Consensus Protocol (PCP).” It achieves consensus through distributed computational competition and confirms transaction finality with the longest chain, without the need for any centralized third-party arbitrator. This sharply contrasts with traditional societies and even some other blockchain systems—it entirely removes intermediaries.
In contrast, other blockchain systems like Ethereum (ETH) are more accurately described as “programmable systems that trust code intermediaries.” This does not mean they lack decentralization, but that their core logic relies on smart contracts—predefined pieces of code. What users trust is no longer a human intermediary but a code intermediary. Although code offers determinism and automated execution, it still constitutes an “intermediary,” as it dictates the logic and outcome of transactions. This “trust-in-code” model, while providing powerful programmability, may also plant the seeds for new forms of control.
These two different technological paradigms perfectly reflect the profound conflict between leftist elites and right-wing grassroots over power and freedom, as seen at the Bitcoin conference J.D. Vance attended.
Leftist elites are accustomed to using technology to construct and exploit deterministic intermediaries, thereby achieving control and utility over others in the world. Whether in the real world through trusted individuals and institutions, or in systems like Ethereum that trust code, all may serve as tools for managing and controlling the world. As long as there is a deterministic intermediary—whether a legal entity or a smart contract—there is a potential control point that can exert influence through rule-making or code modification. The use of “intermediaries” is the pathway through which they implement their grand social visions.
From the grassroots right-wing perspective, the view is entirely different. What they seek is to use “intermediary-free” products to resist the control of leftist elites. The Bitcoin system is a perfect embodiment of this idea. Because its design eliminated any centralized intermediaries from the beginning, leftist elites have no point of entry and cannot control the Bitcoin network and its participants through traditional or new centralized means. Bitcoin’s “removal of intermediaries” has an adaptive significance—it provides a system of value transfer that is not easily interfered with or censored, thereby granting individuals unprecedented autonomy and resilience.
So far, Bitcoin primarily fulfills the core function of “BTC transfer”—an intermediary-free adaptive value transfer system. However, the philosophy of “removing intermediaries” it embodies goes far beyond that. We can imagine that if this kind of “intermediary-free adaptive system” concept and technology is applied to many other operations around the world, grassroots individuals will be able to gain unprecedented freedom.
For example, in the smart home field, current home surveillance systems mostly rely on centralized cloud service providers, which forces users to expose their private data to these intermediary companies. This leads to the awkward situation where people are “afraid to use home surveillance after installing it,” fearing that centralized companies or intermediary systems may peek into their home privacy. However, if we could program home surveillance systems into “intermediary-free UTXO-like systems,” users’ private data and access permissions would be entirely controlled by themselves, without going through any third-party servers, thus completely eliminating the worry of privacy leakage.
Another example is the development of autonomous driving technology, which is increasingly entrusting human life safety to complex code and systems. Many current autonomous driving solutions still rely heavily on centralized data processing, software updates, and even remote control. Trusting a centralized intermediary in autonomous driving means handing over your life to that intermediary, which is even riskier than entrusting your assets to one. If this centralized intermediary is compromised, attacked, or maliciously controlled, the consequences could be catastrophic. Therefore, if autonomous driving systems could also adopt the “intermediary-free UTXO system” characteristic, allowing key decisions and execution logic to operate in a decentralized environment, directly controlled by users or the vehicles themselves, it would greatly enhance their safety and reliability.
In summary, Bitcoin is not just a form of digital currency—it is the embodiment of a philosophical idea, a thorough reflection and transcendence of “intermediaries.” It shows us how intermediary-free systems can empower individuals with real autonomy and freedom, resisting the control and exploitation of the world by centralized power structures. Extending Bitcoin’s “intermediary-free” adaptive spirit to broader domains will be our path to breaking old shackles and building a freer, more autonomous, and secure digital future. This is not only a technological revolution but also a profound social transformation.
