About this site

Gradually, Then Suddenly is an independent publication launched in December 2022 by Parker Lewis about bitcoin. Not crypto. Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the most important innovation in the world and crypto is a grift. Bitcoin provides the world with a form of money, with a fixed supply, which no one can print. It is global, permissionless and resistant to all forms of censorship. I believe it is important that more people understand bitcoin, which is why I initially took to writing.  

The History

After falling down the bitcoin rabbit hole in 2016, I set out to work on bitcoin in 2017.  In 2019, I began writing about bitcoin in part to support my then current role at Unchained Capital, publishing my first of a series of essays in July of that year. Initially, it was meant to be a weekly newsletter but instead, it evolved into my own explanation of the fundamentals of bitcoin. I wrote 17 essays over the subsequent 18 months which can be found here. My last essay of the series, Bitcoin is the Great Definancialization, was written in December 2020 and was contributed to Edition III of the Bitcoin Times (Legend of Prometheus).  

The Present

Currently, I'm working on a book version of Gradually, Then Suddenly, which will be a collection of my past writings. From time to time, I will be adding to the series, which will be posted on this site initially. My philosophy in the past was not to write for the sake of writing. I only wrote to the extent that I thought I had something worth saying (and that needed saying). After a few years of hiatus, I felt like there was more work to do. As in the past, I will not be writing on a particular cadence and my highest priority will be completing the book version of past essays.

Contributions

At the end of each essay, you will see a BTCPay button for anyone who would like to contribute on a value for value basis. I was inspired to trial the value for value model by Adam Curry, the podfather himself. It is difficult to price content because it is impossible to know to what extent each reader values it (or valued it). And with bitcoin especially, you can only understand and appreciate the value of content after you have come to realize the value of bitcoin. If you find value in my writing, please contribute; if you do not, do not. Below is how the payment links will appear. By clicking the link, an invoice will appear with an onchain bitcoin address, which you can use to send bitcoin. You can contribute any amount you wish or none at all.

Contribute with

Infrastructure

Currently, I am using Voltage to implement a BTCPay server. Voltage is a bitcoin infrastructure company, enabling a suite of services to make running bitcoin nodes, lightning nodes and BTCPay (among other services) easier for individuals and businesses. BTCPay is an open source project to enable bitcoin payments and payment processing, eliminating the middleman. All bitcoin contributed go directly to me, with cold stored keys that I control. Welcome to the future and thank you to all that have contributed and made this possible.

Best, Parker