The late Apple founder Steve Jobs, who oversaw the rollout of world-changing innovations like the iPhone, preferred to spend his time with an earlier generation of inventors like Intel's Andy Grove and Robert Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor. He explained why to historian Leslie Berlin.
"I wanted to smell that second wonderful era of the valley, the semiconductor companies leading into the future. You can't really understand what is going on now unless you understand what came before," Jobs told her for the Silicon Valley history Troublemakers.
I thought of this story in light of last week's demise of LocalBitcoins, a site founded in 2012 that arranged peer-to-peer crypto trading. In its early days, the site was best known for helping Bitcoin enthusiasts arrange in-person meetups so they could swap crypto for cash in parks or coffee shops.
I never bought crypto this way myself but do recall encountering such real-world cash-for-Bitcoin swaps when I first started reporting on crypto, and hearing users proclaim that the "only real way to buy Bitcoin was to buy it on the street." Likewise, I've had a number of old-school crypto founders fondly recount to me how they used LocalBitcoins years ago.
I recount all of this not to lament the end of LocalBitcoins, whose original service had become obsolete as a host of other companies sprung up that offered faster and more convenient ways to buy Bitcoin. Instead, I bring up the service in light of Jobs' observation that it's difficult to understand the current state of technology—whether it's the world of chips or crypto—without knowing what came before.
Today, it's becoming increasingly rare to meet people, even among crypto professionals, who were around for the rough-and-tumble early days when it was more like an undercover movement than a major financial industry. I enjoy encountering such folks not only because they have a deep understanding of the evolution of crypto, but because they possess a scrappy, chip-on-the-shoulder defiance borne of perseverance during an era when most thought Bitcoin was only for criminals or fools.
And during a time like the present, when U.S. regulators are launching what may be the most ferocious crackdown on crypto to date, those from the first era of crypto offer a helpful reminder that crypto has faced dark moments in the past and always survived. In other words, LocalBitcoins may go away but its spirit lives on.
Jeff John Roberts
jeff.roberts@fortune.com
@jeffjohnroberts
