From Satoshi Nakamoto to SBF: Who is stealing the soul of the crypto world?

Original text:Lorebuilders And 'Breakers: The Creators And Destroyers Of Communities
Author: @DeFiDave22
Compiled by: Zhouzhou, BlockBeats

Editor 's note: This article explores the difference between cultural builders and cultural disruptors. Like Satoshi Nakamoto, cultural builders promote cultural development through ideas, community participation and values ​​to ensure the sustainability of culture; while cultural disruptors such as SBF pursue personal interests, use culture to make huge profits for themselves, and ultimately destroy the foundation of the community and culture. The article emphasizes that the culture of a community is passed down through the collective efforts and protection of each person. The power of culture comes from the defense and inheritance of its value, rather than selfish manipulation and utilization.

The following is the original content (to facilitate reading comprehension, the original content has been compiled):

Lore is a community's common story, symbolic system and collective memory that closely connects members. It cannot be bought, and for Lore to last, the community must deeply participate and drive its evolution. The most influential Lore is an open invitation to the community, allowing everyone to participate in shaping their mission and destiny. And those who silently cultivate these Lores behind the scenes are the Lore constructors.

Their motivations vary: some people are “just for fun”, while others are driven by a strong inner mission. Regardless of the reason, all Lore constructors have one thing in common - they build not just for themselves, but for something bigger than themselves.

At the same time, there is a completely opposite type of people to the Lore constructor: Lorebreakers. They are self-driven and see Lore as a resource that can draw energy rather than a career worth contributing to. On the surface, they may look similar to Lore constructors and even behave in a similar way, but their real motivations will eventually be revealed over time. Lore sabotagers do not see themselves as part of the story, but as the center of the entire story—who do not hesitate to betray Lore once personal interests require them.

Since the concept of "Lore Construction" is still new, we must remain alert and clearly draw the boundary between Lore Construction and the disruptor. It is precisely in order to establish this distinction boundary that this article was written. When this line is crossed, it is easier for us to identify who is constructing and who is consuming.

Among all the characteristics of these two opposing forces, the most worth remembering is that successful Lore constructors are the guardians of cultural memory, shaping lasting common identity; while Lore destroyers are like parasites that adsorb them, seeing only the desires in front of them, constantly sucking the vitality in Lore until it drys out.

What is a Lore builder

Lore constructors are a kind of people who listen, practice and work with the community to extend mythical narrative. As I mentioned in my previous post, the Lore constructors “can identify emerging ideas, understand their historical context, see collective emotions, and weave them all into a coherent and engageable narrative.” They are Lore's prophets. Excellent Lore constructors do not force directions; they listen, guard, and remain sensitive and responsive to Lore's natural evolution.

It is worth stressing that Lore builders are often not the noisiest or most conspicuous person in the room. They speak and act with clear intentions, and many times they are the ones who work silently behind the scenes - when everyone no longer pays attention, they are holding on to that fire. As for their specific discourse and methods of action, they all have a common core characteristic: they are rooted in the values ​​they believe in and maintain.

Lore constructors are born with a high degree of sensitivity and intuition. They understand the context of Lore they constructed in history and understand what kind of past powers give it meaning and power in reality. They can sense the emotions and atmosphere of the people around them, judge the direction of the next step from it, and see what actions can truly resonate with the community.

Lore constructors have an instinctive perception of the "sense of myth" and can identify those profound moments and actions—whether grand or small—and amplify and spread them in time. After all, the perception of Lore constructors stems from a vision of the future, and they regard Lore as a living story that slowly unfolds in the long river of time.

Lore constructors are selfless in nature, with a high sense of integrity. They let themselves go and serve the community in a humble guardian manner, serving Lore itself, rather than making Lore a tool for self-service. They know that Lore is a collective creation, shaped by many people, and always evolves in a larger wave of narrative and emotional. They understand that actions are far better than words; whether they are well-known or not does not matter, they let their contributions speak out.

Lore builders will take the initiative. They take action without the instructions of others and have a sense of responsibility to drive Lore’s development. This "activeness" can be manifested in various forms: symbolic (such as making Memes, shaping iconic symbols), narrative (writing content, "canonicalizing" specific events, creating roles), ideological (open positions, establishing values), or ritual (holding events, forming habits, repeating certain actions).

Excellent Lore builders know very well when to stand up and when to wait for the opportunity. Taking the initiative does not mean pushing Lore’s development, but rather standing up at the right time. Every proactive attack will keep Lore's "density" growing and expanding.

Lore constructors also have patience and resilience. They understand that the formation and rooting of Lore takes time, and it must be deeply rooted in people's hearts and settled in collective memory. All truly powerful Lores are gradually formed in common experiences - whether it is laughter, struggle, or victory. There is no quick way to build Lore, and it is by no means a single step. It must be built brick by brick, bit by bit, and accumulated through concrete actions.

As long as time is long enough, a spiritual fortress that can withstand various external shocks will eventually take shape.

Ultimately, no matter what they do or how they act, the Lore constructors always see themselves as part of Lore—like a note in a symphony, or a stitch in a mythical brocade, which may be trivial to look at alone, but are indispensable to the overall form.

Satoshi Nakamoto: A model for the Lore constructor

Satoshi Nakamoto was not only the founder of Bitcoin, he also set a standard for all the Lore constructors later. No matter how amazing Bitcoin is, it cannot survive to this day without a Lore that attracts a firm believer.

Satoshi Nakamoto knows the historical background that gave birth to Bitcoin. He understood the importance of the "crypto-punk movement" in the 1990s - this is the ideological basis of Bitcoin. This movement sowed the seeds of "using code to fight for freedom", emphasizing that encryption technology is a tool to achieve individual and collective sovereignty. In that era, projects such as B-Money and Bit Gold laid the theoretical foundation for the concept of digital currency, but it was not until the “double payment problem” was solved that digital currency became truly viable at the computational and economic level.

Satoshi Nakamoto incorporates these progress in cryptography and distributed systems while being loyal to the crypto-punk spirit, and ultimately creates a self-operating digital value transmission protocol that requires no trust and can operate. And the last link he needs is a suitable catalyst.

Then, the financial crisis broke out in 2008. Governments in various countries chose to rescue financial giants, but left ordinary people behind and printed money through quantitative easing policies. These measures have triggered a widespread sense of distortion and the distortion of incentive mechanisms -profits are privatized, while losses are borne by the whole society. The systemic failure of the financial system and the collapse of public trust in mainstream institutions have created an ideal historical window for Satoshi Nakamoto to release the Bitcoin white paper on Halloween 2008.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision is very clear: to build a point-to-point, decentralized system that replaces state-controlled currency. It no longer depends on banks, governments or intermediaries, but only on transactions between people, and the cryptographic trust mechanism protects everything. There is no central server, no individual to be held accountable, there is only an open source network, across national boundaries, anyone can participate.

This involvement is not limited to technical work that runs full nodes or contributes code, but also involves actively participating in the community and social dimensions of Bitcoin. For example, Bitcoin’s forum “Bitcoin Talk” is the base of Satoshi Nakamoto – he not only shares his thoughts and logic on it, but also guides and cultivates a community that will jointly establish cultural norms and improve the core concept of Bitcoin.

In this forum, the philosophical ideas advocated by Satoshi Nakamoto and the community's response to these ideas are no less important than the code he wrote.

For example, the total amount of Bitcoin is strictly limited to 21 million, a mechanism deeply embedded in the cultural awareness of "scarcity" and fundamentally protects the community from the inflationary tyranny brought about by the excessive issuance of fiat currency - this abuse of printing has never received real public consent. In addition, the principles of "detrustworthiness", "sovereign awareness", "license-free", "neutrality", "anti-fragility" and "pragmatic spirit" were also established in the early culture of Bitcoin and laid the foundation for its future development.

Satoshi Nakamoto demanded himself to the highest standards and became a role model for others to follow. He remained anonymous and never sought personal attention. The often quoted slogan "We are all Bitcoin" is not accidental -this is exactly what Satoshi Nakamoto intended to allow everyone to participate in the development of Bitcoin, because Bitcoin is destined to surpass any individual from the beginning. The moment he handed over Bitcoin to the community, it was the birth of a new generation of Lore builders, they will continue to push Bitcoin into the future.

The million Bitcoins that have not been used in Nakamoto's wallet are his most powerful declaration. Although these bitcoins are now worth billions of dollars, they are irrelevant to him—they are measured by a fiat currency system he is trying to create “escape from exports” and their meaning is already subverted. If these bitcoins are sold one day, it will completely deviate from everything Satoshi Nakamoto represents and will destroy the spiritual foundation of Bitcoin - and cause him to degenerate from a Lore constructor to a Lore destroyer.

Since Satoshi disappeared into the history of Bitcoin and society, he has become a mythical figure for millions of people around the world, guided by his actions, and ultimately, he has become the best role model for all successors of Lore constructors.

Lore Saviors and their consequences

Lore sabotagers are those who extract and distort Lore for personal gain, manipulating the communities they participate in to achieve this.

They are false prophets, shaping themselves into saviors, presenting themselves in almost mythical ways, and eventually falling from glory in a form of a biblical fall. Time and time again, people in the digital currency field have shown that they are vulnerable to the temptation of Lore spoilers.

Humans are born to look for saviors; everyone is looking for people worth following, and this tendency is often exploited. If we are to continue to grow and develop as an industry, we must be vigilant, identify Lore disruptors, and bravely expose them.

Lore sabotagers are usually driven by themselves, putting themselves first. Their motivation is for personal glory, and their most concerned thing is how others view them. Their way of thinking is “mine”, not “our”, and their language is usually self-referential. For example, they would say, “Look at me, I’m a visionary person”, not “Look at what we are building together.”

Lore sabotagers are born short-term opportunists and toxic mercenaries. They will only be involved when the story is in their favor, and they will quickly betray the story once a better opportunity arises. Lore sabotagers have no firm beliefs or positions, and they will say anything to please the masses. Rather than saying they are building myths, they are using it, tampering with Lore and ultimately serving their own personal interests.

Lore destroyers seem to be purified and unreal. Their language looks hollow and surface-like like robots, rather than providing anything with substance. They over-optimize metrics and dramatic effects, ignoring the substance and listening to Lore's direction naturally.

Ultimately, the Lore sabotage attempts to extract benefits from the myth as quickly as possible, ultimately bringing the community into ruin and chaos. The Lore constructors have continuously promoted the evolution of myths over the long years, allowing those patient community members to rise together and move forward together.

SBF: The Ultimate Lore Slaughter

In recent memory, one of the most notorious Lore destroyers is Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF for short). From a Lore construction perspective, he did a lot of the right things when building Lore for himself and FTX/Alameda.

He comes from a prominent background, MIT and Jane Street, who initially entered the crypto space by conducting Bitcoin arbitrage in Asia. He portrayed himself as a sloppy genius founder, sleeping on bean bags, living a simple life, but all of this is a carefully designed expression.

The "effective altruism" philosophical framework advocated by SBF emphasizes the most good deeds by any means, which puts him and his actions on the moral high ground. Those who follow him and the Lore he built often see a lot of copy-paste content and the iconic events he is involved in, whether it is his “save” Sushiswap from Chef Nomi’s control or his claim that “he is willing to buy all SOLs for $3”, these are just a few examples.

SBF has consolidated recognition from the outside world, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for FTX from venture capital firms like SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Temasek, Blackstone, and established itself as the legitimate voice of the authority. He met with regulators, testified before Congress, and positioned himself as an "acceptable face" of cryptocurrencies. Crypto Twitter is fascinated by this myth, and accounts like Autism Capital have glorified his image and efforts over the years.

However, signs of Lore's destruction have long been revealed. First, SBF rebuilt the system that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies should have been disrupted between its business and political efforts and replaced it with a cult of personality centered on him. Ironically, he has developed intimacy with those institutions Satoshi tries to break away from, but many choose to ignore this, whether it is attracted by its charm or because it is in their interest to do so. SBF is very opaque in transactions and structures with Alameda and FTX, both of which are essentially the same entity.

From the arena in Miami to posting your face on billboards in San Francisco, claiming that it “joined cryptocurrency to do global good,” SBF mimics legitimacy, but is destroying the mythical basis of cryptocurrencies. He disguised himself as a guise of altruism, decentralization and ethics as a guise to further advance personal and political goals.

As a Lore sabotage, SBF sees cryptocurrency as an industry that can benefit from it, rather than a space worth building. He used this myth to strengthen his powers and his cronies, and when his empire collapsed in November 2022 and FTX filed for bankruptcy, many were abandoned and destroyed.

SBF was convicted of multiple crimes, currently serving 25 years in federal prison and ordered to confiscate more than $11 billion in assets because he misappropriated deposits from FTX clients, supported Alameda, purchased real estate, made political donations, and more. We are lucky that he was caught; if SBF went further, he could become a Trojan horse, completely breaking down everything the industry has built.

in conclusion

The life and death of a community is determined by its cultural heritage, and the fate of cultural heritage is in the hands of those "cultural builders" who take responsibility and promote their development. Cultural construction has always existed, and it is only now that we have begun to define it and distinguish between cultural builders and cultural disruptors. Culture is the lifeline of the community. Although cultural builders are the wise men who give them vitality, cultural destroyers are the vampires who absorb their essence.

Culture is never neutral and always in a state of being shaped and changed by the community. Without excellent cultural builders defending this culture, it will be easily exploited. The future of any project is not driven by code or amount of money, but is determined by those who give it myth and shape its culture.

Today, the founders are romanticized, just like athletes. But we no longer need more founders who raise huge amounts of money, nor more venture capital to fund them. What we need is more guardians, weavers, guardians of myths, and humble shepherds who play a role in keeping the culture passed down and defending it from external forces. To do this, you don't need to show up in the most dazzling way, I don't recommend that.

To be a culture builder, you just need to care and step into your role at the right time.