Bankless · Monday, July 13, 2026
Dan Held, an early Bitcoin adopter, reflects on the evolution of Bitcoin's cultural ethos, noting a shift from its rebellious, anti-government origins to a more institutionalized present with ETFs and mainstream attention. He argues that while the community culture has changed, Bitcoin's core code has not been compromised by institutions.
“Back then, Bitcoin is a very rebellious, anti-government sort of mechanism, right? You had people who were into Silk Road, peer-to-peer file sharing, so torrenting, those sort of, you know, online gambling. The origins of Bitcoin came from a pretty, I would say, rugged place. It wasn't, this wasn't clean, nice, institutionalized, anything like that. So Bitcoin's core ethos, I used to joke, is, you know, 3D printed guns, drugs, and Bitcoin. That's what it originally was.”
“Today, the culture is much more institutionalized. You have Bitcoin and ETFs. You've got top investment banks. You've got, you know, Fed chairmen. You have presidents talking about Bitcoin. You have them referencing it in a positive and negative manner. You know, Bitcoin has largely been institutionalized.”
“So I think there's a lot of hand-wringing around the idea that Bitcoin has been captured. That's The original Bitcoin cultural ethos has changed. I do think that's true.”
“So from Bitcoin's code perspective, it didn't bend the knee. The institutions bent the knee to bring Bitcoin into it. So I don't think Bitcoin has compromised on its core code values, but the community certainly has changed. And as an OG, I don't mind that. I think this is how institutionalized and mainstream adoption works.”