Bitcoin turns 18 as small-business owners say they still pay for bank bailouts
An opinion marks Bitcoin's 18th birthday with a call to hold a reserve in bitcoin
On Oct. 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper, 18 years ago. It came four weeks after Congress approved a $700 billion bank rescue, and the first block added in 2009 quoted a London headline about another bank bailout.
Michael Tanguma, chief executive of crypto onramp Onramp, writes in an opinion piece that the rescues have not stopped. Big institutions still get support, and small businesses still see higher prices. He argues that bitcoin offers a reserve that cannot be diluted by another rescue package.
Rescues and money supply keep growing
Tanguma traces the rescues from the 2008 bailout to March 2020, when the Federal Reserve cut interest rates close to zero and promised to buy bonds without a stated limit, and to March 2023, when regulators used a systemic-risk exception to protect every depositor at Silicon Valley Bank, including those above the $250,000 federal insurance cap.
He says the system behind those rescues grew fast. The Federal Reserve's balance sheet rose from $0.9 trillion in September 2008 to $9.0 trillion in April 2022. Annual growth in M2 money supply reached 26.8% in February 2021, the fastest pace since 1960. Net interest on federal debt hit $1.05 trillion in fiscal 2026, more than the $965 billion spent on defense, according to the author's citations.
Higher costs, closures, and prices paid by small firms
Small businesses start with little cash buffer. Tanguma cites a survey from the first weeks of the 2020 shutdowns finding that the median firm with more than $10,000 in monthly expenses held about two weeks of cash.
Prices rose along the way. Ground beef cost $3.87 a pound in February 2020 and $6.79 in September 2026, an increase of 76%, against a 30% rise in overall consumer prices. In September, 31% of small business owners said they had raised selling prices, more than double the historical average of 14%. Restaurant, bar, and food service businesses lost 1,928 net locations in New York State between early 2025 and early 2026, with 1,102 in New York City.
Nationwide, private business closures rose to 1.23 million in 2024 from about 948,000 in 2008 and 925,000 in 2019. Each year from 2022 through 2024 was higher than 2008.
Bitcoin is priced differently because its supply is fixed
Tanguma says Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins cannot be printed. Measured in satoshis, the smallest unit of bitcoin, the author reports that a pound of ground beef fell about 79% between February 2020 and September 2026, from roughly 40,100 satoshis to about 8,400.
Cash reserve buys less over time
The piece argues that a business reserve held in dollars loses purchasing power. It cites the U.S. M2 money supply being about 50% higher than in February 2020.
Using a Ground Beef Index, the author calculates that $100,000 held since February 2020 would have bought about 25,900 pounds of ground beef then, but only about 14,700 pounds by September 2026, 43% less. For a broader basket of goods, that same cash bought about $77,100 worth of what it once did.
Volatility in bitcoin versus steady losses in cash
The author acknowledges Bitcoin's price swings, noting it fell 77% between November 2021 and November 2022 before climbing back above that November 2021 high. In contrast, he says cash has lost about 23% of its buying power since February 2020 across consumer prices and 43% against ground beef.
This is an opinion piece. Tanguma concludes that business owners can still hold part of a surplus in bitcoin as a reserve outside the reach of future rescues, while noting the trade-off is Bitcoin's own price volatility. The article does not say all businesses should do this, and it frames the decision as one the owner makes.
What this report says and does not say
The claims about bailouts, money supply growth, prices, and closures come from the cited government and survey sources. The interpretation that bitcoin is a hedge against that system is the author's argument, not a reported result. Readers should note the piece is opinion, not verified market analysis.
Source
Newisty Editorial Team covers technology, cryptocurrency, digital products, online platforms, developer tools and the wider digital economy. Our content is researched from official sources, company announcements, public documentation, market data and other primary or reputable sources. Articles are reviewed and edited before publication for clarity, accuracy and useful context.
