Episode 26: Yuto and Bitcoin (BTC)

Finding the Right Distance from Bitcoin

Six months had flown by since Yuto began his recurring investments.

Month after month, bit by bit,
just like carefully watering Hikappa,
he kept up his recurring investment in the All-Country Equity Index Fund.

In this world,
there truly are all kinds of different "seeds" (financial products).

- Stocks.
- Bonds.
- Gold.
- Mutual funds.

And lately,
dominating the conversations with immense buzz,
was a crypto asset - Bitcoin.

Yuto, too, could feel how much the times were changing.

Bitcoin could now be purchased directly from the flea-market app he used every day.

Even at his workplace, he had coworkers who were buying Bitcoin.

It was a trending topic on the news practically every day.

The U.S. President, Donald Trump, had expressed plans to deregulate crypto assets such as Bitcoin, announcing a vision of making the United States “the crypto capital of the planet.”

This was drawing enormous global attention.

However—

Bitcoin was a completely different kind of financial technology from anything Yuto had encountered before.

Whenever wars or economic sanctions break out, traditional financial systems can sometimes face restrictions or disruptions in payments and money transfers.

In such situations, Bitcoin could potentially be used as an alternative means of transferring value.

It was widely said that Bitcoin had been created by an individual using the name “Satoshi Nakamoto.”

While the name sounds distinctly Japanese,
nobody seems to know if it's a real name,
or even whether it referred to a single person.

It felt deeply mysterious,
and that mystery seemed to add to Bitcoin’s enigmatic appeal.

Bitcoin (BTC) is generally described as a decentralized digital asset that operates without a central authority such as a government or central bank.

People can send Bitcoin directly to one another over the network, without requiring a bank to process the transaction.

Its maximum supply is also limited to 21 million coins.

Because of this scarcity, Bitcoin is often described as “digital gold.”

Yet,
to a beginner investor like Yuto,
it all felt overwhelmingly complex.

Staring at his smartphone screen, Yuto sank deep into thought.

His heart wavered.

Every single time he saw a story about its price suddenly skyrocketing,
a wave of impatience washed over him.

Just then—

Hikappa looked up at Yuto, wearing a slightly worried, anxious expression.

"Hey Hikappa, what do you think about Bitcoin?"

Yuto fell silent,
pondering the question for a long while.

Then, he answered quietly to himself.

Hearing those words,
Hikappa seemed to look a little relieved.

Yuto wasn't dismissing Bitcoin out of hand.

Instead,
he simply chose not to let impatience drive him into taking a leap into something he didn’t fully comprehend.

Yuto opened his standard, familiar recurring investment screen.

Nodding ever so slightly,
Hikappa pulsed with its gentle, quiet light again today.