It is also full of banalities: Land of the free, home of the brave, A shining city on a hill. They became clichés as time went on and the country (and the people who make it up) changed. They changed as well as their national motto, from a suitable and pluribus unum (“out of many, one”) to a downright intriguing one”In God we trust.”

Please note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

What hasn’t changed, at least in name, is America’s animating myth: the American dream. The idea that anyone can achieve success through sacrifice, talent, hard work and grit, rather than just plain old luck.

The American Dream means different things to different people, though. I’m a first-generation Greek-American, so for me, the American Dream means taking advantage of the opportunities I’ve had because of a sacrifice my grandparents made by leaving their home country with their children.

Does the American Dream mean the same thing to those whose families came here ten generations ago from England? Or five generations ago from Ireland? Or from Italy? And to those whose ancestors came here on slave ships?

This ambiguity isn’t necessarily a problem. It’s true of many big and important ideas: democracy, for one easy example. Just because there isn’t broad, ubiquitous agreement on what an idea means doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be learned from it. There are guiding principles embedded in these ideas. At the risk of sounding full of non-sequiturs, this is how Bitcoin and the American Dream fit together.

Buzzwords include: Bitcoin fixes this, Bitcoin is [Synonym for Hope], You wouldn’t understand, the number goes up, have fun being poor.

It may seem trite to compare Bitcoin to the American Dream, but from my perspective, the commonalities are painfully obvious.

On the surface level, Bitcoin and the American Dream are a decent combination. Success through “hard work”? That’s exactly what it’s like. bitcoin mining works:the harder you work, the more rewarded you are.

We can ask more questions.

The answers to these questions depend on who you ask. For this reason, Bitcoin and the American Dream are even more similar than they seem.

Bitcoin means something different to me, a fully banked American citizen with access to basically any financial product I can imagine and a relatively stable local currency, than it does to Roya Mahbooban Afghan woman who uses Bitcoin (among other technologies) to help girls in Afghanistan overcomes gender inequality and gains education. This means something different for Argentines and Venezuelans facing hyperinflation.

All of these meanings of Bitcoin can be and are true. Bitcoin is big, it contains multitudes. Unleashing these multitudes to transact without permission is the ethos of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

Bitcoiners can agree that Bitcoin can be many things, just as Americans can agree that the American Dream (and America, for that matter) can be many things. One thing is certain: as Americans are united by the American Dream, there is an ethos of Bitcoin, the freedom to transact, that unites bitcoiners.

I intentionally avoided one question above because it is a top-of-mind issue for both the United States and Bitcoin right now.

Is America Captured by Corporate Interests? Bitcoin?

George Carlin once said in a stand-up comedy routine that “it’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.” He said the country has long been hijacked by profiteers. In some ways, I share some of that cynicism. Consumerism and the obsession with acquiring things embarrass me as an American.

This cynicism is echoed by the father of gonzo journalism, Hunter S. Thompson, in his acclaimed book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Wild Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. The title conveys the message: Las Vegas, as an epicenter of gambling and entertainment, is a caricature of American excess and consumerism, both of which (along with the drugs that figure prominently in the book) threaten to tarnish America’s name.

As for bitcoin, it is now being sold, in a sanitized way, by companies like BlackRock, the largest and most traditional financial company in the world, through US Spot ETF. Bitcoin, the idea and asset born from the ashes of the Great Financial Crisis as a rejection of the Icarian behavior of the leveraged, derivatives-obsessed financiers that gave rise to the crisis, is now being advertised for purchase by these same institutions. Has Bitcoin been captured by corporate interests?

Maybe, at least partially.

That said, I think one of the best parts of being an American is being able to complain about America. That’s one of the best parts of being a Bitcoiner, too. And both are better for it, even though there are Americans and Bitcoiners who will yell at you for doing this.

Happy 248th birthday, America!

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