sCrypt Hackathon 2024: Matt Welsh on the world currency for the Age of Aquarius

“This feels like history in the making. A lot of people think this is over, but I think it’s just getting started.” Wrapping up Day One of the sCrypt Hackathon 2024 in San Francisco is musician Matt Welsh with a more personal and spiritual take on Bitcoin, what it means to humanity, and whether we’re all in the Age of Aquarius right now (spoiler: yes, we are).

The full afternoon session of Day One is available at this link, and you can catch the entire two-day series of sCrypt Hackathon 2024 presentations on the CoinGeek YouTube channel. Most of the presentations present the blockchain’s basic features and then go into more technical detail about how sCrypt’s TypeScript-based environment makes it easier for developers to turn their visions into working products.

“As humanity settles into the new Age of Aquarius, more people will become mentally, physically, spiritually, and financially free than ever before in human history,” Welsh says.

Welsh gives a presentation that some will consider “old school” in the Bitcoin world, touching on elements of mythology, esotericism, numerology, astrology, religion, historical events, and fundamental/technical analysis. But before anyone suggests Welsh’s talk is the most San Francisco thing to happen at sCrypt’s event, he notes that it’s his first time in the city.

“Age of Aquarius” is a concept often mentioned in New Age circles, referring to the 25,920-year-long astrological epoch—each zodiac sign has its own age within that cycle of roughly 2,160 years. Given the lengths of time involved, there’s no clear consensus on when the ages change. However, astrologers believe that the coming of a new age brings with it significant shifts in culture, politics, technology, and human consciousness. Welsh describes the current era as shifting from the age of “I believe” to the age of “I know.”

Sectors of the IT industry, particularly on the U.S. West Coast, have a long association with New Age beliefs. The more mainstream term “Information Age” aligns with Aquarian principles and the age of knowledge with advances in communications, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Welsh considers blockchain one of those significant advances—and it could be the one that truly begins the Aquarian era.

One common misconception is that the Age of Aquarius is necessarily utopian. It could just as likely see powerful groups seeking to harness changes in society and technology to seize power and rule over the masses.

“How does this lead to Bitcoin? Follow the money!” Welsh says. The motto “Novus ordo seclorum,” or “new order of the ages,” appears on U.S. currency. He also refers to The Economist’s famous 1988 cover declaring, “Get ready for a world currency (by 2018).” The term “BSV” first emerged in 2018. And 36 years after that, in the Economist edition, the SEC approved a BTC ETF.

BSV, as Welsh realized via pronouncements by sCrypt Co-Founder Xiaohui Liu and Dr. Craig Wright, was a Turing-complete supercomputer. It’s truly decentralized and scales horizontally on-chain, doesn’t require Layer 2 solutions just to make it work, can process smart contracts, and represents the “true Web 3.0”. It’s also “the best, despite being first.”

Welsh’s talk at the sCrypt Hackathon is a departure from the technical demonstrations of the other presentations. However, he also credits the work and direction of Xiaohui Liu and sCrypt for leading him to BSV, referring specifically to Xiaohui Liu’s research on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) on Bitcoin and the applications that the concept could now enable.

If you’re a developer and the presentations from sCrypt’s event sound interesting, check out the other sCrypt Hackathon sessions or look at sCrypt’s work. Even if you miss out on participating in the sCrypt Hackathon 2024, sCrypt’s website is open at any time as a resource for people to find out more.

Watch: Stephen Stonberg—Digital currency as a tool for financial inclusion