Permaculture has long recognised that our monetary system is corrupt. In an attempt to bypass our broken monetary system, many communities have created their own local currency.
They are known as Community Exchange Systems (CES), Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), Mutual Credit trading systems or Time Banks. These exchange networks aim to build community and keep wealth where it is created. As the internet came into being, these networks were able to link up in a national and international way.
Whilst these systems recognise that money is just information, they miss two important characteristics required to support the functions of money.
The first is scarcity. The paradox here is that scarcity in money creates abundance in resources. We want scarcity in good money as it is a reflection of our limited time. When the money we use to measure value is scarce - prices fall to the marginal cost of production. Why? Because technology is deflationary.
If money is information then it can be easily copied and counterfeited. This is the core problem with fiat currency. Governments and central banks can issue an infinite amount of units. Running never-ending deficits and causing prices to rise. This is the root cause of all inflation. This is obvious in countries like Argentina, Venezuala or Zimbabwe which have run the money printer too hard and experienced hyper inflation.
These LET systems also fail to solve the problem of counterparty risk. You must trust the person or organisation that is maintaining the information. When money can be corrupted, it’s only a matter of time until it is.
Whilst our fiat monetary system is broken. Money has been a very important part of culture since we evolved beyond a tribal-level existence. It’s technological solution that solves the double coincidence of wants problem.
As we enter the digital age, we are seeing a rapid transformation in the world of money. With encryption, blockchain technology and the internet anyone can spin up a cryptocurrency.
But what gives any currency its value? This is a deep question and to answer it we need to go back to first principles. We must answer the question What is Money?
Over the last few years I’ve spent thousands of hours trying to understand the answer to this question. I've come to the conclusion that bitcoin is the best money we've ever discovered.
I won’t unpack it all here. My holistic approach to wealth (11 Forms of Capital) touches on it. My free ebook, "Money Matters" goes much deeper into the topic.
This article will focus on 5 ethical foundations shared between bitcoin and permaculture.
1. BYBASS THE BROKEN SYSTEM
Both Permaculture and Bitcoin have figured out that fighting the broken system only perpetuates it. You can’t fix systemic problems from within the system. Any attempt to do so only exacerbates the problems.
"The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10 percent of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter." Bill Mollison, co-originator of permaculture
Bitcoin represents the practical manifestation of the Austrian School of Economics. One of the great thinkers F.A. Hayek in 1984: "I don't believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, that is, we can't take it violently out of the hands of government, all we can do is by some sly roundabout way introduce something that they can't stop."
Bitcoin is a stable, secure, decentralised open-source protocol that exists outside of and independent of the broken fiat monetary system. All the greatest contributors and thinkers in the bitcoin space are focused purely on building a new system and are not interested in fighting the old.
2. LOW TIME PREFERENCE (LONG TIME HORIZON)
Having a low time preference means your worldview and decisions are orientated in the long term. The words and actions of the best bitcoiners and permies are orientated far into the future, often thinking multiple generations ahead.
Because Bitcoin is the only thing that exists with a perfectly limited supply (apart from your time) - it is proving itself to the world to be the ultimate store of value. When money is scarce and its purchasing power is always increasing, your incentive is to only spend it if you absolutely must. If that car costs you 1 bitcoin today - but 0.5 bitcoin next year. Then you are incentivised to wait. This incentivises producers to produce only the highest quality goods as they compete for your bitcoin purchase. Under a sound money standard like this, mindless consumption would fade, the quality of goods and services would increase and more people would save for the future.
Because the purchasing power of bitcoin increases in the long term - the incentive is to hold on for dear life (HODL) and only spend it when absolutely necessary. This then incentivises gifting, favours and community building.
The current fiat system incentivizes spending or “investing” because the currency is losing value so rapidly. Simply saving is not enough, everyone must become a financial adviser (or worse still hire one) - just to stay ahead of inflation. On top of that, all these investment options have multiple layers of risk and require work to maintain.
The characteristic that supports this long term orientation is anti-fragility. Permaculture is focussed on building long term, low risk anti-fragile systems that are resilient to a changing climate and unpredictable weather. Due to it’s unique design and immaculate conception - bitcoin has never been hacked and gets stronger as the everything around it becomes more chaotic.
3.DECENTRALISED OPEN-SOURCE PROTOCOL
Both permaculture and bitcoin have originators who drafted the manifesto and got the ball rolling. Then once it got going they managed to get out of the way and let the idea spread to every corner of the globe. These ideas have spread as an unstoppable decentralised mind-virus with no top-down enforcement.
People join bitcoin and permaculture completely voluntarily because they can see the value in adopting the protocol and participating in the network. Sure, some people have gotten rekt in both permaculture and bitcoin through poor decision-making - but that is not because of the foundational concepts of either. It has more to do with interfacing with fallible human egos operating in a corrupt system of broken fiat money.
Bitcoin’s strength lies in its distributed ledger, maintained by a decentralised network of nodes and miners, making it resistant to single points of failure. It has no issuer, no CEO, no board of directors. No government, corporation or individual can control or corrupt it. Whilst both bitcoin and permaculture are very well codified in their axiomatic operating protocol - countless individuals contribute to the system and test the edges of what is possible. Both systems can be updated if the update offers true value to all participants. Acceptance of any changes only happens after rigorous evaluation from all participants in the network. Reaching consensus in such a way takes a lot of work!
4. ENERGY AND RESOURCE EFFICIENCY
While Bitcoin’s energy use is debated, its proof-of-work mechanism secures a global monetary network with minimal energy consumption and physical infrastructure compared to traditional banking and financial services. Just think of the amount of embodied energy in all the government, banks and payment systems, from the physical infrastructure and electricity to support it, to all the peoples time and energy required to run it!
Then there is all the wasted energy as people seek to store their wealth in everything except money. Since fiat currency does not act as a store of value (the primary function of money) - people seek to store their wealth in other goods like real estate - artificially inflating the price above its utility value. This is called the monetary premium. If money was the best store of value - then there would be no-need tot buy that second property as an “investment” - which would in turn make housing much more affordable!
The monetisation of energy (through bitcoin mining) incentivses miners to find the cheapest energy possible. Not longer are stranded energy sources required to be wired in or transported to where it is needed. Estimates show that over 50% of the bitcoin network is powered by renewable energy.
Permaculture design is all about localising and optimising energy flows. Whether it be through maximising photosynthisis thru syntropic agroforestry, or holistic roational grazing, to water harvesting, it’s all about working with natural cycles—to maximize output with minimal waste.
5.REVOLUTION IN CONSCIOUSNESS
Both bitcoin and permaculture are anchored in the idea of radical self-responsibility. Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network, free from central banks or governments, empowering individuals to control their finances.
Similarly, permaculture emphasizes self-sufficient systems, encouraging local food production and resource management without reliance on industrial agriculture or external inputs.
No one is coming to save you. Your ability to thrive in an uncertain future depends on your ability to produce value for yourself and your surrounding community. To do this, you must be honest about objective reality, honest with yourself and honest with everyone in your network.
Both systems give hope for the future. When you interact with bitcoin or permaculture communities - you get inspired to be a better version of yourself and to help the world through this transformative metamorphosis.
Bitcoin fosters a peer-to-peer economy where individuals transact directly, building communities around shared values. Permaculture thrives on community involvement, sharing knowledge, seeds, and harvests to create resilient local networks.
Both bitcoin and permaculture share the premise that free and voluntary exchange (without the threat of violence or coercion) between all parties in every interaction is the basis of a fair, just and peaceful human existence.
So there you have it. 5 reasons why permaculture and bitcoin go hand in hand.
WRITTEN BY: Rupert Faust