Valueobtain

And when it goes off, every market pays the price
Nobody wants to talk about this.
Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
The U.S. is facing a debt problem so large that it will force liquidity out of the global financial system.
Not maybe.
Not eventually.
Mechanically.
If you hold Bitcoin, stocks, crypto, gold, or any risk asset, this matters more than any narrative on CT.
THE NUMBER THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
More than 25% of total U.S. debt matures within the next 12 months.
This is not normal.
This is the largest refinancing wall in modern U.S. history.
We are talking about over $10 TRILLION that must be rolled over in a single year.
No delay.
No workaround.
It has to be refinanced.
WHY THIS IS A PROBLEM NOW (AND WASN’T IN 2020)
In 2020, refinancing was painless.
• Interest rates were near 0%
• Money was essentially free
• Liquidity was abundant
• The Fed backstopped everything
At the peak, about 29% of U.S. debt was short-term.
But refinancing costs were negligible.
Now compare that to today.
• Policy rate: ~3.75%
• Borrowing costs: dramatically higher
• Bond buyers demand real yield
• Liquidity is already tight
The same debt structure now becomes toxic.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS NEXT
The Treasury has no choice.
To refinance maturing debt, it must issue massive amounts of new bonds.
That means:
• Flooding the market with Treasuries
• Competing directly with every other asset for capital
• Pulling liquidity out of the system
This is not a theory.
This is how bond markets work.
Every dollar used to buy Treasuries is a dollar not going into:
• Stocks
• Crypto
• Risk assets
• Metals
• Private credit
• Emerging markets
“BUT RATE CUTS WILL FIX IT” - NO, THEY WON’T
Markets are pricing in 2–3 rate cuts.
That does not solve the problem.
Even with cuts:
• Refinancing costs remain far higher than the 2020–2021 era
• The volume of debt is too large
• The supply of bonds is unavoidable
Cuts may slow the bleeding.
They do not stop the drain.
THIS IS A LIQUIDITY EVENT, NOT A RECESSION CALL
This is where most people get it wrong.
The risk isn’t an immediate economic collapse.
The risk is a slow, sustained liquidity vacuum.
When liquidity is drained:
• Valuations compress
• Volatility spikes
• Correlations go to 1
• Speculative assets suffer first
Sound familiar?
That’s how bull markets quietly die.
WHY CRYPTO AND RISK ASSETS ARE ESPECIALLY EXPOSED
Crypto lives on excess liquidity.
When money is cheap and abundant, it flows into:
• Bitcoin
• Altcoins
• Memes
• Leverage
• Speculation
When liquidity is pulled back:
• Leverage unwinds
• Weak hands are forced out
• Volatility explodes
• Only the strongest assets survive
This is not bearish propaganda.
It’s macro mechanics.
THE 1–2 YEAR WINDOW THAT MATTERS
This refinancing wall doesn’t disappear overnight.
Over the next 12–24 months, the U.S. must:
• Continuously roll debt
• Continuously issue bonds
• Continuously absorb liquidity
That creates persistent pressure on all global markets.
Not a one-day crash.
A grinding adjustment.
THE PART NOBODY TALKS ABOUT
The U.S. government cannot avoid this without consequences.
Options are limited:
• Issue more debt → drain liquidity
• Monetize debt → weaken the dollar
• Financial repression → distort markets
None of these are bullish in the short term.
Every path involves pain somewhere.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR INVESTORS
This is not a call to panic.
It’s a call to be realistic.
Markets are entering a phase where:
• Liquidity matters more than narratives
• Macro beats micro
• Risk management beats hopium
The next big winners won’t be the loudest traders.
They’ll be the ones who understand when liquidity is leaving and when it’s coming back.

And Almost Nobody Notices It in Time
Markets don’t move randomly.
They follow capital rotation.
Every major crypto bull run in history has followed the same sequence, and we’re watching the first act play out again right now.
> Gold runs first.
> Then Bitcoin wakes up.
> Then altcoins do things people later call “impossible.”
Step 1: Gold Moves First
Because Smart Money Always Enters Before Speculation
Gold doesn’t pump because of hype.
It moves when institutions are hedging risk, positioning ahead of macro shifts, inflation cycles, and currency stress.
In both major crypto cycles, gold started running months before Bitcoin went vertical.
In 2017, gold climbed roughly 30% before crypto exploded.In 2021, gold rallied close to 40% before Bitcoin’s parabolic phase.
Gold is boring money.
And boring money always arrives first.
Right now, gold is already trending up again. Quietly. Relentlessly.
That’s not coincidence. That’s positioning.
Step 2: Bitcoin Follows
When Risk Appetite Turns Back On
Bitcoin doesn’t lead global liquidity cycles.
It responds to them.
Once gold confirms macro stress or monetary easing, capital starts looking for asymmetric upside. That’s when Bitcoin enters the picture.
In 2017, Bitcoin followed gold with a near 1,900% move.In 2021, Bitcoin ran over 600% from cycle lows.
Bitcoin acts as the bridge between traditional capital and speculative capital.
It’s the first “risk-on” asset institutions are willing to touch.
And historically, by the time Bitcoin starts trending on headlines, the real opportunity is already forming underneath.
Step 3: Altcoins Do the Unthinkable
This Is Where Fortunes Are Actually Made
Bitcoin never ends the cycle.
It passes the baton.
Once Bitcoin stabilizes and dominance peaks, capital rotates down the risk curve.
First into ETH.
Then into large caps.
Then into mid-caps.
Then into absolute garbage that somehow does 30x.
This is the phase where narratives replace fundamentals, and speed matters more than conviction.
In 2017, alts delivered 10x to 50x across the board.In 2021, many alts outperformed Bitcoin by multiples, even after BTC already ran hard.
Every cycle, people say “this time is different.”
Every cycle, alts still melt faces.
Where We Are Right Now
And Why Most People Are Early or Completely Wrong
Gold is already moving.
Bitcoin is still being doubted.
Altcoins are still being ignored or mocked.
That combination has only existed at one moment in past cycles:
the very beginning.
Not the top.
Not the middle.
The setup.
Crypto doesn’t start when Twitter gets loud.
It starts when nobody cares yet.
And by the time everyone agrees it’s bullish, the asymmetry is gone.
The Part Most People Miss
Why This Phase Feels So Confusing
Early bull markets feel boring, dangerous, and uncertain.
That’s by design.
Liquidity resets.
Leverage gets wiped.
Sentiment dies.
Then capital quietly rebuilds positions while retail argues about whether the cycle is over.
Every single time.
Do You Think this theory is valid or we move into a Bear Market ???

Markets are entering a danger zone
And almost nobody is positioned for it.
Two U.S. events are about to collide.
Both can flip sentiment violently.
Neither is priced correctly.
This is how traders get trapped.
EVENT #1: THE TARIFF TIME BOMB
The U.S. Supreme Court is about to rule on tariffs.
Here’s the problem:
Markets are already pricing in a favorable outcome.
Most traders assume tariffs will be ruled illegal or rolled back.
That assumption is now consensus.
And consensus is where markets punish the hardest.
If the ruling disappoints even slightly, expectations reset instantly.
Risk assets don’t drift lower — they gap.
Crypto doesn’t hedge this.
Crypto amplifies it.
Sentiment shocks hit crypto first and hardest.
EVENT #2: UNEMPLOYMENT DATA — NO GOOD OUTCOME
Then comes U.S. unemployment data.
And here’s the trap nobody wants to admit:
• Weak data
→ Recession narratives explode
→ Risk gets dumped
→ Liquidity hides
• Strong data
→ Rates stay higher for longer
→ Rate cut hopes die
→ Risk assets choke slowly
There is no bullish outcome here in the short term.
Only different flavors of pressure.
WHY THIS IS DANGEROUS FOR CRYPTO
Crypto thrives on: • Predictability
• Liquidity expansion
• Narrative momentum
Right now, we have none of those.
Instead we have: • Binary legal risk
• Macro uncertainty
• Crowded positioning
• Recent leverage wipeouts still fresh
This is where fake breakouts happen.
This is where confidence gets punished.
This is where traders confuse volatility for opportunity.
THE BIGGEST MISTAKE YOU CAN MAKE NOW
Trying to predict direction.
This is not a directional setup.
This is a volatility window.
Markets aren’t choosing up or down yet.
They’re shaking out weak positioning.
The goal here isn’t hero trades.
It’s survival positioning.
MY TAKE (READ THIS TWICE)
• Reduce emotional exposure
• Respect liquidity gaps
• Avoid oversized bets
• Let the data hit first
• Trade reactions, not predictions
The traders who win this phase don’t call the move.
They’re still standing when the move is clear.

While everyone is arguing about rate cuts, elections, and Bitcoin price targets, a far bigger problem is quietly ticking in the background.
A $9 trillion problem.
And almost no one is prepared for what happens next.
Between 2020 and 2022, the US government went on a historic borrowing spree. Trillions of dollars were issued at near-zero interest rates.
Free money. Cheap debt. No consequences. Or so it seemed.
Markets loved it. Stocks flew. Crypto exploded. Governments expanded spending like the bill would never come due.
Now fast-forward to 2026.
That debt doesn’t disappear.
It expires.
And it must be refinanced.
Here’s the catch:
Those near-zero rates are gone. Completely.
The US now has to roll that same debt at 5%+ interest rates instead of 0–1%.
Same principal.
Wildly different cost.
This is where the math breaks.
Why This Is a Disaster in Slow Motion
When rates were near zero, interest payments were manageable.
At 5%+, they explode.
Every percentage point increase adds hundreds of billions in annual interest costs.
That means more money spent servicing debt than on defense, infrastructure, or social programs.
The government didn’t just borrow cheap.
It locked itself into cheap forever.
And forever just ended.
The Four Ways Out (All Bad)
When this refinancing wall hits, there are only four possible outcomes:
1. Print massive amounts of money
This is the easiest option politically.
It also destroys the dollar’s purchasing power and reignites inflation.
2. Cut government spending
In theory, this fixes the math.
In reality, it’s political suicide. No administration survives it.
3. Raise taxes aggressively
This slows the economy, crushes consumption, and risks recession or worse.
4. Default or restructure
The nuclear option. Global confidence shock. Bond market chaos. Unthinkable… until it isn’t.
Notice the pattern?
There is no painless solution.
Every path leads to volatility, instability, or outright panic.
Why Markets Aren’t Pricing This In Yet
Because the crisis isn’t today.
It’s just far enough away to ignore.
Markets are short-term machines. Politicians are election-cycle thinkers.
The bill comes due after the headlines move on.
But when refinancing actually begins at scale, reality hits fast.
Bond yields spike.
Risk assets reprice.
Liquidity tightens.
And confidence cracks.
This is how “sudden” crises are born.

Most people are watching inflation, jobs data, and interest rates.
But the real ticking time bomb is hiding elsewhere — in the $38.5 trillion U.S. debt spiral that’s quietly setting up the next global shock.
For months, everything has looked “fine.”
Markets recovered, liquidity returned, and risk assets roared back to life.
But under the surface, the foundation of the financial system — U.S. Treasuries — is starting to crack.
And when it breaks, the whole world will feel it.
Let’s break down what’s happening, why 2026 is the breaking point, and how Bitcoin could become the ultimate winner.
🧩 The Hidden Engine: Constant Refinancing
Government debt isn’t one giant loan. It’s a constant refinancing machine.
Old bonds are repaid with new ones, but at higher rates.
That loop works fine — until rates rise too far.
The bigger the debt, the more dangerous every small rate increase becomes.
The U.S. is now refinancing trillions at rates triple what they were in 2020.
By 2026, this debt spiral collides with a wall:
Record bond issuance needed to cover maturing debtWeakening demand from foreign buyersDealers overloaded and balance sheets stretched
One weak Treasury auction could trigger a full-scale funding crisis.
💣 The Foundation Shakes: Why This Is Systemic
U.S. Treasuries aren’t just “government debt.”
They’re the plumbing of global finance — the collateral for mortgages, banks, hedge funds, and currencies.
If Treasuries lose stability, everything connected to them — everything — wobbles.
The domino effect:
Repo markets freezeDollar liquidity evaporatesGlobal credit tightens overnight
This isn’t a market correction. It’s a liquidity collapse.
🇯🇵 The Japan Trigger
Japan holds over $1 trillion in U.S. debt — the largest foreign holder.
For decades, Japanese funds borrowed cheaply in yen to buy U.S. Treasuries.
Now Japan is raising rates for the first time since the 1990s.
That breaks the “carry trade” — the quiet engine behind global liquidity.
As USD/JPY rises, Japanese funds sell Treasuries to hedge losses.
Result?
Even less demand for U.S. debt, and even tighter global liquidity.
🇨🇳 The China Wildcard
China’s shadow debt is a $9–11 trillion iceberg — mostly hidden under local governments and state-linked entities.
If even one major province defaults, panic hits the yuan, capital flees, and emerging markets implode.
The dollar spikes.
Rates rise.
Liquidity vanishes.
Add that to the U.S. refinancing wall — and you’ve got a synchronized global tightening event.
⚙️ The Breaking Point
Here’s what the breaking moment looks like:
Treasury yields spike uncontrollablyThe dollar strengthens violentlyStocks crash 20–30%Crypto and tech get sold off first
It won’t feel like a normal recession.
It’ll feel like the system stops moving.
No buyers, no bids, just a liquidity vacuum.
🩸 Then Comes the Reset
When the system hits the wall, central banks won’t have a choice.
They’ll step in — again.
Emergency QEBalance sheet expansionInfinite liquidity injections
The system survives, but the damage lingers.
Each bailout makes the next crisis bigger.
And that’s when a shift begins — from traditional finance to anti-system assets.
🟡 The Great Rotation: Gold and Bitcoin
When real rates fall again and fiat confidence breaks, the first mover is always gold.
Then comes Bitcoin.
Gold will protect the old money.
Bitcoin will protect the new.
Because when trust dies, programmable scarcity wins.
The same pattern repeated in 2020 — the COVID crash flushed leverage, then birthed the biggest bull run in crypto history.
2026 could rhyme with that, but louder.
🚀 The Takeaway
The debt machine breaks in 2026Japan and China amplify the shockCentral banks will print to surviveReal assets — gold and Bitcoin — become lifeboats
This isn’t the end.
It’s the start of a new regime — one where Bitcoin stops being a “risk asset” and becomes the alternative to a broken system.
History’s not repeating.
It’s evolving.

It’s Entering a New Regime.
CoinMarketCap just dropped its 2026 market forecast.
Most people skimmed it.
Some turned it into another “AI / RWA / Super App” hype thread.
That’s not what it is.
If you actually read between the lines, this report isn’t bullish in the way crypto is used to.
It’s colder. Stricter. Almost uncomfortable.
This isn’t about the next narrative.
It’s about who survives when narratives stop working.
After spending hours breaking it down, one thing is clear:
Crypto in 2026 will reward execution, not imagination.
And that changes everything.
The End of the Infrastructure Era
For years, crypto lived on promises.
New L1s.
New L2s.
Faster throughput. Cheaper gas. Better modular stacks.
And for a while, that worked.
In 2026, CoinMarketCap quietly signals that this phase is over.
Infrastructure without users no longer creates value.
Chains don’t get rewarded just for existing.
Technical superiority alone doesn’t attract capital anymore.
The market has moved on.
Value Is Moving Up the Stack
The biggest shift in the report is subtle but brutal:
Value is migrating from chains to applications.
Not because apps are “trendy,” but because they control:
User experienceDistributionCash flow
Users don’t care what chain they’re on.
They care whether the product works, feels simple, and solves a real problem.
This is why CoinMarketCap emphasizes super apps — not as hype, but as inevitability.
Super apps win because they:
Abstract complexityLock users inMonetize directly
The chain becomes invisible.
The product becomes everything.
Regulation Isn’t the Enemy Anymore
Another uncomfortable truth in the forecast:
Regulation isn’t framed as a threat.
It’s framed as a filter.
Projects that survive regulation gain something crypto has always lacked:
Clear revenuePredictable economicsSustainable models
Buybacks. Revenue sharing. Transparent cash flows.
Less storytelling.
More numbers.
That alone wipes out a massive portion of today’s market.
Prediction Markets Quietly Take the Lead
While CT chases loud narratives, CoinMarketCap highlights something almost no one is talking about:
Prediction markets.
Not because of hype.
Because of distribution, partnerships, and usage.
These protocols don’t rely on vibes.
They rely on volume, incentives, and real engagement.
That’s why, according to the report, they quietly position themselves as a core 2026 sector — without screaming for attention.
UX Is No Longer a Feature. It’s the Strategy.
One of the most important lines in the forecast:
User experience is no longer a differentiator.
It’s the battlefield.
Builders — not chains — decide where liquidity lives.
If your product requires education, explanations, or belief, you’re already losing.
The winners:
Feel obviousRequire minimal effortHide crypto complexity entirely
This is Web3 growing up — and many projects won’t survive it.
RWA: Real, But Not Explosive (Yet)
The report is realistic about RWAs.
Yes, demand exists.
Yes, growth continues.
But no — this won’t be a euphoric boom.
Pricing, regulation, and structure slow things down.
This is steady expansion, not mania.
And that’s exactly why it lasts.
Investors Need to Change How They Think
CoinMarketCap makes one final, uncomfortable point:
The era of “one token, one conviction” is fading.
What replaces it:
IndexesSector basketsRisk-managed exposure
Less gambling.
More discipline.
The market stops rewarding heroes and starts rewarding systems.
The Real Message of the 2026 Forecast
This isn’t a warning.
It’s a transition notice.
2026 isn’t built on hype.
It’s built on alignment:
Macro easingStructural growthCapital efficiency
The next bull market may still go up.
But it won’t be loud.
It won’t be forgiving.
And it won’t wait for anyone stuck in the old playbook.
Crypto isn’t dying.
It’s getting serious.
And that’s why most people won’t make it.

Bitcoin didn’t crash because fundamentals collapsed.
Altcoins didn’t bleed because innovation died.
The market is falling for a far simpler, far more dangerous reason:
Everyone already believes the cycle is finished.
That belief is now driving price.
Why This Feels Like a Bear Market (Even If It Isn’t One Yet)
Every major crypto cycle ends the same way in people’s memories:

Long, grinding pain after the top.
That pattern is burned into traders’ brains.
So even though crypto is slowly drifting away from the strict 4-year cycle logic, short-term price action hasn’t escaped human psychology.
Price doesn’t move on models.
It moves on expectations.
And the dominant expectation right now is simple:
“After the peak, everything goes down.”
That belief alone is enough to weaken the market.
Cycle Inertia Is Killing Momentum
Here’s what’s actually happening under the surface:
• Traders remember past crashes and reduce risk
• Funds take profits early instead of pressing bets
• Buyers hesitate, waiting for “lower levels”
• Every bounce gets sold faster than the last
None of this requires bad news.
It creates its own gravity.
The market isn’t collapsing because it’s broken.
It’s weakening because people expect it to weaken.
That’s cycle inertia.
Why Even Bulls Are Sitting on Their Hands
Look at past cycles without nostalgia.
After every macro top, there wasn’t a cute pullback.
There was a brutal, patience-destroying decline.
That memory is powerful.
Even traders who are structurally bullish aren’t rushing in, because they remember that historical “bottoms” came much lower than expected.
So instead of buying aggressively, they wait.
And waiting itself becomes selling pressure.
Macro Noise Is Feeding the Fear
Now layer psychology on top of headlines:
• Japan raising rates for the first time in decades
• Cracks forming in the AI trade
• Derivatives creating fake demand without real spot inflows
• Growing pressure narratives around MicroStrategy
• U.S. debt risks resurfacing
• Analysts floating extreme downside scenarios
When Bloomberg casually mentions Bitcoin at $10K in 2026, it doesn’t matter whether it’s realistic.
It plants fear.
Fear doesn’t need to be logical.
It just needs to spread.
Why This Is the Most Dangerous Phase of the Cycle
This is not the phase where legends are made by chasing upside.
This is the phase where accounts get destroyed by overconfidence.
The market is behaving as if the cycle is already complete.
That means:
• Rallies are suspect
• Risk-taking is punished
• Liquidity is fragile
• Survival matters more than returns
This is where traders confuse volatility for opportunity and bleed out slowly.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Whether the bull run is truly over or not almost doesn’t matter right now.
What matters is this:
The market believes it is.
And markets act on belief long before reality catches up.
This is not the time for hero trades. This is not the time for blind conviction. This is not the time to chase narratives.
This is a period where staying solvent beats being right.
Cycles don’t end when price collapses. They end when confidence dies.
And right now, confidence is on life support.

And the Altseason Everyone Is Waiting For Isn’t Coming (Yet)
Let’s get this out of the way first.
Bitcoin hitting $200,000 in 2026 sounds great.
Altseason exploding across every low-cap chart sounds even better.
But markets don’t care about what sounds good.
They move on structure, liquidity, and incentives.
And right now, the structure is broken for the outcome everyone expects.
After studying past cycles, liquidity flows, dominance behavior, and supply mechanics, one thing is clear:
This is not how altseasons start.
And this is not how parabolic BTC extensions are built.
Here’s what most people are missing.
The Market Is Sending a Defensive Signal — Not a Risk-On One
Everyone is screaming “altseason soon.”
Meanwhile, capital is quietly doing the opposite.
Money is flowing into Bitcoin and Ethereum, not out of them.
That’s not bullish rotation — that’s capital seeking safety.
In real altseasons, investors:
Reduce BTC exposureIncrease riskChase betaRotate aggressively into smaller assets
Right now? Institutions are doing the exact reverse.
They’re buying majors.
They’re ignoring risk.
They’re positioning defensively.
That alone should make you pause.
BTC Dominance Is the Problem No One Wants to Talk About
Bitcoin dominance keeps grinding higher.
That tells you one thing: Liquidity prefers certainty over experimentation.
As long as dominance trends up, altcoins bleed relative value.
Every pump becomes a short-term trade, not a trend.
Altseason does not begin when people want it.
It begins when dominance breaks — hard.
And we’re nowhere near that.
Supply Is Killing the Market From the Inside
This cycle has a structural problem older cycles didn’t.
Too many tokens.
Too many unlocks.
Too much emission pressure.
Every week:
Vesting schedules unlockEarly investors exitTeams distribute supplyTreasuries sell to fund operations
Even strong projects struggle under constant sell pressure.
Demand cannot absorb infinite supply.
Liquidity is not infinite.
And narratives don’t fix math.
This is why pumps fade so fast.
“Good News” Isn’t Bullish Anymore
Another uncomfortable truth:
Macro strength no longer helps crypto.
Strong data now means:
Rates stay higherLiquidity stays tightRisk assets stay suppressed
Markets fear tightening more than recession.
That environment does not reward speculative assets.
It punishes them.
This is why rallies feel weak and short-lived.
Bitcoin Has to Do Something First — And It Hasn’t
For altseason to start, Bitcoin must:
Break higherStabilizeStop absorbing all liquidity
Not pump and dump.
Not wick and reverse.
Stabilize.
Only then does capital rotate outward.
Right now, Bitcoin is still acting like a sponge — pulling liquidity in, not releasing it.
Ethereum Is the Gatekeeper — And It’s Not Leading Yet
Every real altseason starts the same way:
ETH outperforms BTC for weeks, not days.
That hasn’t happened.
Without ETH leadership, alt moves are shallow, chaotic, and short-lived.
Exactly what we’re seeing now.
Liquidity Conditions Are Creating Fake Signals
Low-liquidity environments distort reality.
Holiday trading, thin order books, and liquidation-driven volatility create:
Fake breakoutsViolent wicksShort-lived pumps
This is not trend formation.
This is noise.
And noise traps late buyers every single time.
So What Actually Unlocks a Real Altseason?
Not tweets.
Not hype.
Not vibes.
A real altseason requires:
BTC holding highs without sucking in liquidityBTC dominance rolling overUnlock pressure easingLiquidity expanding globallyRisk appetite returning
Until those align, what you’re seeing is rotation and chop — not a cycle shift.

Most people think Bitcoin was built by one person.
That’s wrong.
Behind Satoshi Nakamoto was a second figure.
A developer who reviewed the code.
Answered the world’s first Bitcoin questions.
Ran the first exchange.
Executed the first real BTC trade.
And received one of the largest early Bitcoin transfers ever directly from Satoshi.
His name is Martti Malmi.
I went through their private emails, early forum posts, and forgotten archives.
What I found completely changes how Bitcoin’s origin story is told.
This is the untold story of the man who helped Bitcoin survive its most fragile days — and why he quietly disappeared when the world finally noticed BTC.
Bitcoin Before Price, Before Hype, Before Belief

In mid-2009, Bitcoin was nothing.
No price.
No exchanges.
No market.
No media.
Just a strange piece of software running on a few computers.
Martti Malmi was a college student in Finland when he stumbled across Satoshi’s whitepaper. Not because he wanted to get rich — but because the system itself fascinated him.
He started mining Bitcoin on his personal computer.
Not to speculate.
Not to sell.
But to understand how it worked.
That curiosity would place him at the center of Bitcoin history.
Satoshi’s Only Partner
Very quickly, something unusual happened.
Martti didn’t just mine Bitcoin.
He started reviewing the code.
Line by line.
At the time, there was only one developer writing Bitcoin’s source code: Satoshi Nakamoto.
Martti became the second.
He fixed bugs.
Improved implementations.
Helped stabilize early releases.
For a period of time, Bitcoin development was effectively a two-person operation.
Satoshi relied on him.
This wasn’t symbolic. It was practical.
Bitcoin would likely not have survived its earliest phase without Malmi.
The Voice of Bitcoin
Bitcoin didn’t just need code.
It needed explanation.
Under the alias “Sirius”, Martti wrote the first Bitcoin FAQ.
He answered emails from skeptics.
Explained the system to early users.
Defended Bitcoin against accusations of being worthless, illegal, or pointless.
For many people, Martti — not Satoshi — was the first human face of Bitcoin.
Years before institutions showed interest, he already understood Bitcoin’s political meaning:
Bitcoin separated money from the state.
That idea terrified critics.
Martti defended it relentlessly.
The First Bitcoin Trade That Changed Everything
In October 2009, Bitcoin crossed a line.
Martti executed the first real Bitcoin trade.
He sold 5,000 BTC for $5.
Not because he needed the money.
But to prove something critical:
That Bitcoin could have real-world demand.
That transaction established Bitcoin’s first price.
Bitcoin was no longer just software.
It was an asset.
Building the First Exchange — With His Own BTC
In 2010, Martti took things further.
He launched one of the first Bitcoin exchanges ever created.
There were no market makers.
No liquidity providers.
No VCs.
So he used his own BTC.
Tens of thousands of coins mined when nobody cared.
This exchange onboarded hundreds of early users and helped Bitcoin spread beyond forums and mailing lists.
Satoshi actively supported this work.
The 500,000 BTC Connection
At one point, Satoshi sent Martti a massive amount of Bitcoin.
Early transactions between them included transfers that today would be worth tens of billions of dollars.
This wasn’t charity.
It was trust.
Satoshi believed Martti was building something essential — infrastructure Bitcoin needed to survive.
Few people ever received that level of access.
Cashing Out Before the World Woke Up
In 2011, Bitcoin started rising.
For the first time, it felt real.
Martti sold part of his holdings.
Not to flex.
Not to speculate.
He bought a modest apartment in Helsinki.
One of the first major real-world Bitcoin outcomes in history.
Bitcoin crossed from theory into life.
Then something strange happened.
Martti stepped back.
After Satoshi Disappeared
When Satoshi vanished, chaos followed.
Power struggles.
Narrative battles.
Ideological fights.
Martti didn’t chase influence.
He didn’t try to lead.
Instead, he appeared only when needed — explaining Bitcoin’s decentralization, defending its original principles, and pushing back against attempts to centralize control.
He understood something early most people still don’t:
Bitcoin only works if it outgrows its creators.
Why Martti Malmi Matters More Than You Think
Today, Martti works on decentralized communication systems like Nostr.
He still believes in Bitcoin — not as a leader, but as a system that no longer needs one.
Without Martti Malmi:
• Bitcoin’s early code would’ve been weaker
• Its public explanation would’ve been poorer
• Its first exchange may not have existed
• Its survival window would’ve been much narrower
Satoshi built the spark.
Martti helped keep it alive.
And then he walked away — before power, money, and politics took over.
That might be the most Bitcoin thing of all.