The 2025 Bitcoin Conference is in full swing in the United States.
For this conference attended by politicians and businessmen, I have never been very interested, as I could easily guess what they would say.
However, Vance's speech at the conference caught my attention.
TechFlow published the full translation of this speech (see reference link at the end of the article).
This speech cited three perspectives that were refreshing and resonated strongly with me:
"Cryptocurrency is essentially a conservative or right-wing technology, while artificial intelligence is essentially a left-wing or authoritarian technology"
"Many smart right-wing tech talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing tech talents are devoted to AI."
"I do not want AI's development to negatively impact American national interests. The best way to ensure smart, visionary people are part of this AI dialogue is to make the Bitcoin community part of the AI dialogue"
Before sharing my views, let me first introduce the Western traditional definitions of right-wing and left-wing.
In a more general sense:
The right wing advocates for small government, champions individual struggle, and promotes a free economy, with a strong vigilance against centralization, control, and intervention. The right wing is also known as conservatives.
The left wing advocates for big government, values government control of society, and promotes government-intervention economics. The left wing is also known as liberals.
In modern society, pure right-wing and left-wing no longer exist, only differences of being slightly more right or left.
Vance's reference to Bitcoin attracting right-wing and AI attracting left-wing immediately made me think of some very typical figures in these two ecosystems.
Wei Dai, one of Bitcoin's pioneers, planted a seed in his heart after witnessing his grandfather's tragic experience during the Cultural Revolution: hoping to use technology to create a society where individuals are protected from power oppression.
Satoshi Nakamoto has always tried to conceal his online traces and remain anonymous.
......
Among the friends I've encountered in the crypto ecosystem over the years, I've discovered an interesting phenomenon: when the conversation goes deep enough, I can often guess their values and subsequently their true attitude towards Bitcoin. And when I carefully inquired about their Bitcoin operations, I almost always found a common point:
Almost without exception, participants with strongly right-leaning views will firmly hold a portion of Bitcoin. Although they may trade, they always keep a part that they never sell. For this practice of keeping a portion unsold, they would excitedly say it's a tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto.
Therefore, I have always believed that in the crypto ecosystem, investing without value support is unlikely to yield substantial returns. I don't believe CZ sold his house to buy Bitcoin purely for business considerations, without any underlying value belief as support and motivation.
My impression of AI participants is almost entirely embodied by Altman. His attitude of closely cooperating with the US government and a project requiring iris scanning for tokens vividly reflects his worship of power and desire for control.
Another typical figure in the tech circle who is in the same boat as Altman is Zuckerberg.
Almost all articles and media on the market praising AI are immersed daily in the pleasure brought by the technology's efficiency and sensory improvements, with hardly any discussing the potential consequences if AI falls into the hands of demons.
Almost all articles and media on the market dismissive of crypto technology will only discuss its inefficiencies and uselessness from aspects like efficiency and cost, never understanding the great significance of crypto technology in achieving financial freedom and escaping centralized control.
A few times, out of curiosity, I looked at other articles by such authors and almost always found they were inherently filled with elitist sentiments of controlling the masses and the pleasure of groveling before power.
Only in the crypto ecosystem have I seen explorers like Vitalik continuously exploring ways to decentralize and improve Ethereum to survive even when attacked by sovereign states.
About two years ago, I wrote in an article about seeing a foreign team proposing a method of training AI using decentralized datasets during a roadshow in Hong Kong. Although the proposal had many issues and seemed immature, such a perspective I mostly only see in the crypto ecosystem.
Of course, tech elites pushing AI forward also pay attention to crypto technology. Altman issued his World Coin and Layer 2 expansion, while Zuckerberg is tentatively restarting his stablecoin plan. But their core purpose is not human freedom, but to control more users and resources, providing more value for their ecosystems.
These two types of people are fundamentally different.
Perhaps this is what Vance referenced: "Many smart right-wing tech talents are attracted to Bitcoin, while many smart left-wing tech talents are devoted to AI".
In my previous articles, I also shared my expectation for the best scenario of AI + Crypto combination: using crypto technology's decentralization methods to decentralize AI's computing power and data, ensuring this revolutionary invention is not controlled by a centralized institution. Only then can it truly benefit all humanity and become an invention humans can be proud of; otherwise, it might create disasters and become a weapon to destroy humanity.
Vance's speech expressing hope that AI does not negatively impact the United States and wanting the Bitcoin community to join AI is precisely the combination of these two technologies I anticipate.
The perspectives Vance referenced, in my view, are the best annotation of the values behind crypto and AI technologies, and the best interpretation of their complementarity.
My preconceived notion of politicians is that they only speak lies, empty words, and platitudes, but Vance was actually able to cite/express such brilliant perspectives, which was truly unexpected.
A person without a technical background being able to understand the values behind these two cutting-edge technologies to this extent has already surpassed most participants in these two ecosystems.
Now I somewhat understand why Peter Thiel from Silicon Valley has long supported and helped Vance.
If such a person becomes the US President in the future, crypto technology and artificial intelligence will only accelerate on that land.
