As the halving approaches, I cannot help but think about a common critique of Bitcoin’s future. Will transaction fees be enough to incentivize continued operation of miners? I would argue that large scale mining operations will decline as rewards lessen but that this is not necessarily a bad thing. From what I’ve listened to & read the ideal scenario is that competition for the scarce block space will create a market where entities will pay a premium to ensure expedited confirmation of transactions. Miners wanting to operate in a net positive will naturally accept these higher fees & the world keeps turning. Tick-tock next block. A future of large mining companies controlling block creation is far from ideal in my opinion. While full nodes are the ones in control of consensus rules & each node owner is the master of his own ship, the increasing interest of corporate/institutional entities casts a dark shadow on the networks future. Those who have benefited from the current fiat system can attempt to weaponize the network to either hinder or alter consensus to their demands. Or as publicly traded mining companies become beholden to local governments or shareholders, collusion to perform a 51% attack becomes increasingly possible. Enter home mining & the freedom tech it embodies. Through the ingenuity of the can do spirit many bitcoiners have found a use for the waste heat that is generated from heating pools to modifying water heaters. Companies such as Heatbit have commercialized this to put a mining device in the homes of all who suffer from unbearable winters. The creation of the Bitaxe & Bitaxe ultra to build out DIY mining rigs is another breakthrough as individuals are looking to build out low power mining rigs that go beyond the idea of a lottery miner. As these advances continue the idea of a bitcoin miner in every home becomes a legitimate possibility where individuals are contributing to the decentralization of mining hash rate without even thinking. As IoT continues & miners become common components of household appliances the network grows & strengthens from the control of the few to the many. Large scale mining facilities still perform a critical role in a Bitcoin Standard future. By tapping into trapped or stranded energy sources & incentivizing expansion of energy grids we as a culture are advancing towards more renewable & economical energy production. The actions taken by miners in Texas to strengthen the power grid against blackouts & helping to maintain steady supply to homes is another great example. This is not a piece written to dissuade mining companies or bitcoiners from lauding the efforts made by them to advance bitcoin further but to remind others of ways to put power back into the hands of the people. We cannot let our ambitions and dreams of a bitcoin backed future blind us to the small actions that will only help to strengthen the foundation of that future. Stay Humble, Stay Sovereign, And as always, Stack Sats my friends.