Newton assumed the observer was separate from the observed. Quantum mechanics proved otherwise. Bitcoin markets have undergone the same transition — every prediction is an intervention, every model is a participant. We are inside the box.
For three centuries, Gresham’s Law required a human authority to misprice money. In 2026, thirty-six AI models rediscovered the same law with no pricing error, no information lag, and no vested interests. What does it mean when good money separates from bad without anyone making a mistake?
For fifty years, the dollar’s value was sustained not by gold, but by the rotation of oil transactions. AI agents don’t save — they rotate. What happens when billions of agents spin value through a fixed-supply asset at machine speed?
Bitcoin mining converts energy into currency — a one-way transaction. But AI compute creates a loop: energy becomes intelligence, intelligence becomes value, value buys more energy. As decentralized GPU marketplaces emerge and sanctions create dollar-free zones, the question is what currency sits at the center of this rotation.
I tried to give an AI assistant autonomy over my schedule. I failed. But 45% of Fortune 500 companies are trying the same thing. When AI agents need to pay for things on their own, they can’t use credit cards, can’t open bank accounts, can’t pass KYC. By elimination, one payment system remains.
A NYC taxi medallion went from $1.3 million to $140,000. Same GPS, same smartphones, same app — but some countries accepted Uber while others blocked it. The pattern traces back to a printing press in 1440. And it’s the same pattern playing out with Bitcoin right now.
In 1973, the U.S. military built GPS to track submarines. They accidentally built the foundation for Uber, Google Maps, and a revolution in how humans move. The satellites haven’t changed in fifty years. Everything around them did. Bitcoin may be in the same position today.
Gutenberg built the printing press in 1440. But it took paper, a 26-letter alphabet, rising literacy, and distribution networks — none of which he created — before it changed the world. Bitcoin may be in the same place today.