The OG Vegan Bitcoiner

What does veganism have to do with Bitcoin? Technically nothing. Is Bitcoin vegan? Weird question that probably no-one has even come close to asking. I hardly know any vegans who are into Bitcoin and I hardly know any Bitcoiners who are vegan. Often, those two topics couldn’t be further apart.

Yet there are parallels that are truly astonishing. As someone with a foot in both worlds, I’ve observed numerous similarities in the philosophical motivations and personality traits of people in both fields – a rebellious spirit, a focus on what truly matters, and that sense of having found a ‘holy grail’ that you feel driven to share with the world.

(Disclaimer: This article contains neither dietary nor financial advice. It is intended for people who are into either one of the two topics and who enjoy thinking outside the box. Ideally you should roughly know what the relative other term – veganism or bitcoin – describes.)

I wish I’d known earlier…

The first amusing parallel I noticed between being vegan and being into Bitcoin came from my own experience: the bitter realisation that I wish I’d known about it sooner. The feeling of being late to the party. The feeling that the now could already be so much “better” if the starting point had been a lot further in the past.

The most obvious yet very simplified conclusions are: The earlier you are vegan the more animal lives get spared, while the earlier you get Bitcoin the higher your financial net worth will be at time X. And to be fair, they seem very contrary, one may seem selfless, the other one selfish.

But this is just a very superficial way of looking at it. There is a lot more to it than the maths and numbers. There is a deeper reason, why the actual felt emotion, this almost regret about the past, is ridiculously similar. True vegans and true Bitcoiners are convinced about their thing in the exact same way:

• It will make the world a better place
• It is incompatible with war and exploitation
• It creates a fairer world
• It will make the future of one’s family and friends better
• It’s the solution to many century-old problems

If you’re vegan and you wonder why the hell a Bitcoiner would also feel that way, then maybe it’s time to look into it. And if you’re a Bitcoiner and wonder why the hell a vegan would also feel that way, then also it might be time to look into it.

The EXACT same rejection from Non-Vegans vs. No-Coiners

So now you’ve found veganism/Bitcoin and it’s been eye-opening and you just know you’re on the right path. The next natural and logical step is to share it with your friends, family and other people you care about. Because if only they had the same information about it like you do, they’d understand and do the same. Right?

Sadly, that’s almost never the case. No matter how much material and “evidence” you show them, they’ll reject it flat out. And again, be it veganism or Bitcoin, you will hear the exact same reasons and excuses as to why someone is not interested: 

• It’s just not for me
• It’s too complicated 
• It’s too risky / there are dangers
• It’s just a trend that’ll be over before you know it
• There is so much contradicting information about it
• I’m in a decent condition, I’ll stick with what I’ve always done
• Person X did it and it made their life worse
• In a real crisis no one would stick to it any more

Many of these are rooted in the avoidance of self-responsibility. With a balanced, “clean” vegan diet we can take many health aspects into our own hands without relying on the medical establishment. Whereas with Bitcoin we have the chance to hold our money in self-custody without relying on banks and governments.

Let food be thy medicine, let bitcoin be thy retirement plan, so to speak. Self-responsibility also means that we can’t blame anyone if we make mistakes with it. Neglected your vitamin B12 intake? Forgot your seed phrase? That’s on you.

What Bitcoiners think about veganism

In my daily vegan-bitcoin-life I see a lot of those false assumptions and prejudices about the relative other topic. However, I think the aversion that Bitcoiners have to veganism is a lot bigger than the other way round. And there is a really annoying reason for that. True veganism simply isn’t visible or represented any more these days.

It has been turned into a trend that many blindly follow just because they want to be part of a community. Or worse, because veganism itself has been “hijacked” by a broader community that aims to blend several ideologies into one big blob.

Okay, I’ll say it, the so-called “woke” have taken over veganism. It’s now part of the rainbow they’ve previously also misappropriated and alienated. And they’re louder about veganism than the original vegan community has ever been, while at the same time not being equipped with enough knowledge about vegan health and nutrition.

While it’s great that more people are turning to vegan food, this current loud and often uneducated representation of veganism is doing way more harm than good for the true course. Originally, being vegan means doing your very best to avoid animal exploitation and suffering.

It’s a very simple goal actually that anyone could set for themselves. As a consequence, an average group of vegans should theoretically be a completely random mix of people, from all societal backgrounds, with all levels of education and income, and across the entire political spectrum. 

The current impression however is, that vegans are all “lefties”, “woke”, “queer”, pro-this, anti-that and push each of their many ideologies in a merely half-hearted way. And where do the Bitcoiners typically stand? Currently Bitcoin finds its biggest platform in the slightly more conservative or even more so, the libertarian corner.

And I think if we claim veganism back from its current trend-bubble we could see how its values overlap with many libertarian values. Both follow the same logic.

What vegans think about Bitcoin

While Bitcoiners encounter veganism as part of the general clash with wokism, vegans don’t really stumble upon Bitcoin that often. Bitcoin is nothing physical so the question whether Bitcoin is vegan or not doesn’t really come up.

Maybe they’ve heard about the huge amount of energy that’s required for Bitcoin mining and might have an opinion on that, but other than that there is no real point of contact. The average vegan will be just as unaware of Bitcoin as the average person in general.

A study on whether vegans are in any way more or less interested in finance, investing, and private retirement provision than the average person would certainly be interesting.

How do you know someone is vegan / a Bitcoiner? Don’t worry! – They’ll tell you

I want to conclude this first vegan bitcoin article with what prompted me to write about the parallels between veganism and Bitcoin in the first place. It’s this classic dad joke that is so stale and so not funny and as a long term vegan I’ve heard it countless times:

How do you know there is a vegan at a party? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. Ha ha ha, hilarious as ever. Recently however, for the first time ever I heard that same incredibly sophisticated joke in a different context. I heard the Bitcoin version of it.

How do you know someone is a Bitcoiner? Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. It is, of course, just as hilarious as the vegan one. In a way it’s ironic for me, that there are two very different niche topics of mine facing the same scepticism and eye-rolling, all summed up in this one joke

That made me philosophise about why not more Bitcoiners are also vegan. But maybe we’ll get there once neither veganism nor Bitcoin is mutually perceived as a fad.