Streaming Savings Is Bitcoins Killer App

I’ve been messing around with value-for-value apps over the last few months and getting used to the idea of streaming sats and paying based on consumption. For those of you who have not tried the value for value model (v4v), here’s how it works. Instead of paying a subscription model or buying something for a set fee, you only pay for what you consume.

Instead of having a Netflix subscription, for example, where you pay a set fee, and it’s up to you to get the most hours out of it, with v4v, you pay up to the minute. If you only watched a video or listened to a podcast, or scrolled through an article halfway, you only pay half the price.

The monetisation idea might be easy, but I can see how it’s an upgrade on the current incentive structure we have today. Let’s take Netflix, for example; suppose you like Stranger Things, so you purchased a subscription to watch the show; that was the draw card and maybe a few moves here and there.

Those funds get pooled by the company and used to create a host of garbage shows just to increase watch time; it simply goes to waste as the signal towards what works and what doesn’t isn’t very strong. In a value-for-value model, the content creators/show-runners/writers and company can see up to the minute how much people are willing to consume, what turned them off a show and what they are willing to pay for, giving them more signal.

This model not only works for large entertainment businesses but the small content creator, bloggers, vloggers, podcasters or newsletter writers. It can be scaled to any level since the model runs on micropayments, which is only possible due to bitcoins programmability and the Lightning Network.

Fiat settlement is slacking

We couldn’t have value for value before because fiat settlement is so slow due to the rails it runs on and the counter-party risk involved. When you’re bank has to pay another bank, there are time delays, and then only the recipient gets it; there are also manpower, currency swaps and risk and infrastructure costs involved that layer on fees and make it expensive and slow.

This makes micro-payments impossible on the digital fiat system and renders the concept of the value for value model. impractical.

So why the bloody hell am I going on about v4v? What’s that got to do with savings?

I started thinking if this model wasn’t available due to fiat payment limitations, what other fiat payment limitations do we have today. When I think of my own saving journey, I think of the barriers put up to getting into savings.

• You need to have a minimum amount to access certain accounts or asset classes.
• You need to contribute a certain set amount each month.
• You need pick from a range of assets and figure out the best split.
• You need to consider the tax implications.
• You need to consider if and when you need access to the funds.
• You need to consider the risk with that savings vehicle.

What bugs me the most about saving would be the minimum amount and the contribution amount each month; when you start to work, much of your savings goes to keeping yourself alive and going, and certain months are slimmer than others, building up a nest egg isn’t easy so your money is sitting in the window dying while you cannot access these savings accounts.

Then when you finally get into one, you’re forced to continue adding a set fee each month, and it’s so rigid and doesn’t consider the volatility the average person has to face every day.

You could lose your job; you could have a lower income, you could have additional expenses, and calling up your financial advisor to pause things you can’t afford is a ball ache, so you simply take the knock and keep going.

Another royal pain in the arse is access to funds; it could be a fixed term, it could have fees attached to it, and you’re treated like a 10-year-old who wants to get a cookie from the cookie jar. It’s MY Money. I worked my arse off for it; why are you telling me I can’t touch it because you’re redemption policy covers the fractional reserve fuckery you’re doing with my money.

The fiat money system discourages savings due to the vehicles and rules alone, never mind the pittance of a return on your capital.

Starting to stream savings

I was indeed frustrated with my options until I started fiat mining and dollar cost averaging into bitcoin; it started with once a month, then once a week, and then eventually once a day. The beauty of it is that I can move it back to once a week or month, I can pause wherever I like, and I have complete control over how much savings I want to stream into my bitcoin wallet.

Once the value for value model clicked, I looked at my dollar cost averaging as streaming; I was streaming money from my salary; I was streaming money from things I sold, I was streaming money from poor-performing investments I had, I was streaming the extra cash I had saved, and bitcoin was welcoming all I could give it with open arms.

If I had a good month and saved a bit more, I could contribute more to bitcoin; if I had a thin month and only had a few bucks to spare, it could go into bitcoin all the same.

Instead of streaming value to a podcaster, I was streaming value to my future self, and I am pretty sure I am going to be grateful to my past self for streaming myself those satoshis. I can stream funds in, and I can stream funds out whenever I like; I can do it locally or internationally, and no one can stop me from accessing my funds, and I still get exposure to the price appreciation of the market all the time.

Bitcoin is the most flexible sayings tool I’ve ever come across, and the best part is I can do it all by myself with no help and hold the keys myself too.

Don’t leave a single cent on the table

Since you can buy as little as one satoshi, you have no excuse not to scoop up every cent you have available that you want to hold long-term. Instead of letting those coins, paper notes, and old sets of chairs you should sell on Gumtree rot away, you can turn it all into bitcoin and leave no potential savings off the table. What you’re doing is driving all un-used wealth that you own, into a method that will preserve and appreciate over time.

When I speak to nocoiners, they often tell me, what good is spare change thrown into bitcoin, its an insignificant amount, to which I say, what good is it sitting on your desk or under your couch? Saving in bitcoin is not about dumping a massive amount in and taking it out; it’s about slowly dripping capital you don’t need today into a storage vault you can access at any time and anywhere.

You now have a tool that allows you to save on every level; instead of buying X in bulk to save, you’ll buy what you need because you can save that in something better, bitcoin.

Streaming your savings is a new concept; it takes a mind shift, but what it does is pulls all spare value being wasted and put it into something that continues to grow in value and liquidity. That means the more you save, the more purchasing power you can potentially access in the future without suppressing the purchasing power of others at that moment you want to liquidate.

Once you get the hang of streaming into your savings, you’ll find more excuses to save, you’ll want to see that satoshi scoreboard increase, and you’ll start to turn yourself into a better saver; why? Because you’re practising saving every day. You’re learning the value of the time you put away, the labour you produce and the unit you measure it all in.

How do you see your savings?

So that’s my thinking on streaming value into my preferred savings vehicle, bitcoin; maybe it’s copium, maybe I’ve reached a new level in my bitcoin journey; only time will tell. So how do you see the bitcoin? Is saving important to you, or do you still want to play the active investor game?

Let us know in the comments.