Introduction
A debut into the Substack universe
Bitcoin has changed my life.
That’s quite the sentence to start my first post on the BITROCKS Substack, but I truly mean it.
My name is Rocco Costanzo and I’m 25 years old. I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2022 with a B.S. in Statistics. I currently work as an actuarial1 analyst.
I have a lot of hobbies, but little did I know that after graduating college I’d stumble upon one of my biggest obsessions: Bitcoin.
When I started my first full-time job, I knew that I needed to save money and invest. I took finance electives while I was in college and was ready to start my investing journey with a portfolio with my own hand-picked stocks. People called me the “finance guy” while I was in college.
When I actually sat down during the first few months of my first job to do research on investing, I took a deeper dive into Bitcoin. All of a sudden, I felt this paradigm shift. Bitcoin challenges our current financial system, which is dominated by fiat currencies that can be endlessly printed and debased by governments. The United States dollar is what people think about when they think of money, but when I think of money, I think of Bitcoin.
Many people have written books, blog posts, and twitter threads that talk about why Bitcoin is important and why you should care. If you are new to Bitcoin and are looking for resources, here are some of my recommendations for books to get started:
The Bitcoin Standard by Saifedean Ammous (2018)
Broken Money by Lyn Alden (2023)
Resistance Money by Andrew Bailey, Bradley Rattler, and Craig Warmke (2024)
This is not an exhaustive list of all the amazing Bitcoin books that are out there, but the ones above I think are a great place to start!
However, if I had to summarize why Bitcoin is important and why you should care in a single sentence:
Bitcoin is decentralized, scarce, transparent, immutable, borderless, censorship-resistant, digital, programmable, trust-less, and resilient.
I think money should have all of the properties discussed in the above sentence. Does the US dollar have all of those properties?
(it doesn’t)
So, the default assumption that I will be making in all of these BITROCKS posts is that Bitcoin IS MONEY and the goal is to accumulate as much bitcoin as you can, not dollars.
One thing that I have noticed in the Bitcoin space is that there aren’t a lot of bitcoiners that talk about how they have integrated their personal finances with bitcoin. A lot of new bitcoin holders make mistakes when they first start buying. Some buy too much and capitulate during bear markets, while others don’t buy enough. Many people fall for phishing scams and lose their bitcoin forever. Using centralized exchanges can put your bitcoin at risk, but self-custody can be difficult to set up without guidance. Some newcomers buy other cryptocurrencies to chase higher returns, when they should be accumulating bitcoin instead. Doing your personal finances in bitcoin is complex and can be daunting, especially since bitcoin isn’t normally accepted as a medium of exchange in most places, so by default bitcoiners still have to use their fiat currency for most everyday transactions.
In recent years, Bitcoin has transformed from a niche digital asset to a global financial force, and now institutional adoption, with US Spot Bitcoin ETFs being approved earlier this year2. Some financial advisors are now allowed to recommend the Bitcoin ETFs for their clients3! Bitcoin is here to stay, whether you like it or not.
Getting a true sense of where the Bitcoin market stands today means looking beyond just price charts and headlines. It’s about digging into the data, spotting trends, and watching for key market signals. I’ll be diving into the metrics and insights that give Bitcoin its unique rhythm, from on-chain data that shows us real-time network activity to the broader economic factors that can sway its value. Using a data-driven approach, I’m here to bring you a clearer, more grounded view of where Bitcoin is, especially in relation to its observed price cycles.
Whether you’re new to the Bitcoin ecosystem or a seasoned enthusiast, I hope this Substack will offer valuable perspectives that will help your Bitcoin journey. I can’t wait to get started.
In the meantime, pump it up with me on Spotify:
Actuaries are professional risk managers that work in a variety of fields, mostly insurance. I’m currently in the process of becoming a fully-credentialed actuary, and have to take many actuarial exams to recieve my designation. Guess how many actuarial exams I have passed in the comments and if you guess correctly I’ll send you some bitcoin!
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/gensler-statement-spot-bitcoin-011023
https://www.advisorhub.com/morgan-stanley-to-let-advisors-recommend-bitcoin-etfs/#:~:text=Morgan%20Stanley%20Wealth%20Management%20aims,exchange%2Dtraded%20funds%20to%20customers.