“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it”

As an American and someone who believes in individual liberty, I still believe those words to be true. That we have a right to live freely and pursue liberty, and when the state infringes on these rights and our sovereignty, that is is our duty to respond and alter or abolish said state.

Personally, 2025 was a year of setting foundations and unsettling realizations.

In this piece I want to reflect on some of my biggest takeaways from 2025 and share what goals I’m personally setting for 2026.


Firstly, the positives.

As the year wraps I’ve decided I want to establish an outlet for myself to share writings, personal projects, thoughts, or to just interact with the corner of the internet I’ve called home for almost six years. The bitcoin and cypherpunk movement has had a monumental impact on my young adult life, it has reshaped most of my worldview and showed me what life and liberty can look like in a digital age. One of the more surprising things I learned this year was that most of this space tends to skew older, and that being part of Gen Z put me on the younger side of this corner of the internet, hence Gen ₿. A small number of you may remember me as Zoomer Cincy from the first episode of their “Zoomer Series” on episode #353 of Rabbit Hole Recap with Matt Odell and Marty Bent. I believe that being a Zoomer gives me a unique perspective in this space and I am establishing this outlet to communicate those ideas to whoever wants to listen. So, thank you reader for helping me do that.

In this last year I’ve started thinking more about what it means to be truly sovereign and my main area of focus outside of bitcoin has been growing my own food. I am by no means any kind of farmer, nor do I have the experience or resources currently to supply myself with 100% home grown food. However, I do have a large enough balcony to put out different pots and to experiment with different flowers, fruits, and vegetables to learn the basics of having a home garden. I tried growing a number of different vegetables this year. Some had a great harvest, some lesser so, and my cucumbers died because I planted them in the same pot as my carrots. Apparently root vegetables don’t play nice with other plants. Who knew. Like I said, I do not have the resources or land currently to grow 100% of my own food, but this first year of experimentations has laid the foundation for me to learn much more and prepare for when I have my own land.

A combination of this foundation and also some unsettling realizations have inspired me to take action, to think about my own sovereignty, and figure out what steps I need to take to claim my own liberty.

Now, let’s talk about some of the more negative realizations from the year.

There is an ongoing attack from the state both domestic and foreign against digital privacy.

We have seen this firsthand in the United States by observing the dichotomy from our leaders’ words and the actions they are taking against developers in our space. The Trump Administration was ushered into power in January of this year, and touted how the U.S. would become the “Crypto Capital of the World.” The “Blanche Memo” vowed to end regulation by prosecution, yet two privacy developers are now in Federal prison without breaking any laws. At the time of this writing the Trump Administration has not pardoned the Samurai developers.

Across the pond, the European Union continues its assault against online privacy. From digital IDs to chat controls and wealth taxes, our friends in Europe are seeing a rapid decline in individual liberty and as a result the most productive and wealthy are fleeing to freer countries. A wild stat to come out of this year is that the E.U. makes more money in fines on American corporations than all net income from their domestic companies combined.

One of the main reasons I’ve been involved in this space for so long is because it is the only place that offers a real solution to the state’s infringement on our liberty. I believe that cryptography is a powerful weapon and that the more individuals use it to exit state sanctioned digital prisons, the more we siphon off the state’s ability to control our every action, thoughts, and transactions.

While cryptography is a peaceful weapon, the war will not be won with cryptography and homesteading alone. When we use peaceful tools like encryption and farming to liberate ourselves from the state’s tyranny, our enemy will not sit idly by and let their power slip away.

We have seen on a larger geopolitical scale this year, the state’s willingness to create confusion, lie, and inflict violence on those it deems as a threat to, or directly infringing on, their imperialistic power. I believe that willingness is not isolated to certain nations or foreign political groups, but also to domestic movements like Charlie Kirk who believed in our First Amendment rights, and cypherpunks like Keonne Rodriguez and Bill Hill.

Does encryption matter when the enemy has you chained and shackled? Do your private keys protect you when there’s a gun to your head, or a sniper locked on to your neck? The time will come when we are winning so decisively that the last dying effort of the state will be to use its asymmetric monopoly of violence on all those using these tools to liberate themselves from the traditional captured systems. We must organize and be prepared for when that time comes and we must learn from those who failed to protect themselves.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. I don’t know exactly what organizing against a tyrannical deep state looks like in 2026 and honestly I’m not sure if it’s too late for us to win at scale. But there are things I know I can focus on day by day personally in 2026 to make my life better, to set myself on a path to one day be liberated, and to make sure I’m leaving a better life for the future of my family.

For me personally, 2026 is going to be the year of focus and proof of work.

After now establishing Gen ₿ at the end of 2025, I want to put something out at least once a week in 2026. Whether that is a writing, a podcast where I cover some news or share my thoughts, or maybe one day even an interview with someone I find interesting. One of the problems I had in a prior similar project was that I tried to put something out once per day, and that led to lower quality work and feeling overwhelmed and behind if I missed a single day. Eventually, this just led to the project failing and me walking away. I think committing to putting something out once a week gives me time to make sure it is higher quality, has more thought, and is less overwhelming for my brain.

Another personal goal I’m putting out into the ether for 2026 is to make some kind of revenue from something other than my 9-5 job. Whether that’s from Gen ₿ or something else, I want to prove to myself that I can start to build revenue in another area besides my corporate 9-5. Part of this last year was realizing that I cannot depend on the corporation, and the corporation doesn’t give two shits about me.

The key will be to not get discouraged and to carry on day by day, week by week, no matter what. To be truly successful with this outlet I need to start by sticking to my goals and commitments and having my first full year of Gen ₿ content. For now it will be more of a log of my own thoughts and what I’m following. I’d love to expand into all kinds of content, not just bitcoin and freedom tech stuff but also homesteading and whatever I find interesting.

Finally, I want 2026 to be a year of progressing my personal relationships. I want to grow in my relationships with family, friends, and my partner and have this year be a milestone year to look back on. Hopefully I’ll have more to share in this area throughout the year.

Pursuing life, liberty, and happiness is not always easy, and it is definitely not always linear. There will be times of great progress and troubling setbacks. Pursuing liberty can cause you to be seen as an outsider by much of today’s society. If you’ve also been on the path of pursuing liberty and felt this way, I empathize with you. I admire you for thinking for yourself and forging your own path. Together, we can achieve true liberty and sovereignty.

Cheers to 2026.