What can astrology tell us about Bitcoin? Does it have a natal chart? Yes, it does - let's check out Bitcoin's horoscope!
Bitcoin is a powerful symbol of our zeitgeist.
With a concentration of planets in Capricorn and Aquarius this is a currency that perfectly represents the transition of our times from top down controls and institutions to a far more lateral, communal and virtual world.
Has the moment of Bitcoin truly come? Uranus in Taurus 2018-2026 is here to transform the way we view money and resources for good and it doesn’t take much imagination to see this as the perfect gateway to electronic currency. But where does Bitcoin fit in all that? Will it survive the transition? What can astrology tell us about Bitcoin? Like any entity that is born, Bitcoin has a natal chart. Let’s see what this birth chart can tell us about Bitcoin’s genetic make up (Part I), and what the Astrology of Bitcoin (Part II) can tell us about its past, present and future.
Bitcoin Natal Chart
Bitcoin has a dark, volatile reputation and that often scares people off. But we often fear what we do not understand. So, perhaps, it’s time for astrology to shed some light into what this subversive revolutionary entity, that simply refuses to go away, is all about.
Bitcoin’s birth chart unveils what lies behind that fear and how Bitcoin’s subversive public image can cause difficulties - especially when it comes to endorsement by the general public, something that is beginning to change.
Surprisingly, Bitcoin is actually a stable, conservative entity. Underneath all that volatility lies a solid core. This is a reliable, resilient currency, carrying as its very foundations a nascent and highly idealistic notion of community-driven value.
The volatility that undoubtedly surrounds Bitcoin stems from various other places in the birth-chart. One is Bitcoin’s revolutionary, transformative, anti-establishment agenda geared toward decentralisation. Another is Bitcoin’s obsessive, subversive world mission and its guerrilla warfare public image. A third is its manic intrinsic pattern of growth.
A look at Bitcoin’s birth-chart gives us a glimpse of why Bitcoin grows in manic fits and spurts.
All in all, astrology places Bitcoin at the heart of current events as a real catalyst for change into the 21st century. So let’s take a closer look.
Data used: Bitcoin’s birthday is given as the 3rd January 2009 at 18:15 GMT (by blockchain.com). I set the chart for London, honouring the fact that it’s a headline from The Times newspaper that is encoded within the raw data of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block (plus reports that the spelling used is British). This is a good starting hypothesis, borne out by the natal chart and some historic data, at least on an initial broad sweep.
This article is about the intrinsic potentials of Bitcoin’s natal chart and Part II examines the long term trends borne out of major transits and progressions. It does not focus on predicting short term price fluctuations, which, if possible, requires a more detailed approach.
Bitcoin the Ground Breaker!
Bitcoin is born on the Saturn-Uranus opposition of 2009 - the culmination of a business cycle that began back in 1988. Those were the seeds of globalisation (through the rise of fewer and bigger global institutions) and the birth of the World Wide Web (in Sir Timothy’s mind). Bitcoin is born at the height of this cycle and has, unsurprisingly perhaps, combined both in becoming a global digital currency.
Bitcoin represents the pinnacle of innovation and achievement in the cycle that was seeded in 1988, but also the very thing that begins to break down existing structures to make space for something new. And the moment to do this has come, now in 2021.
This opposition adds to Bitcoin’s volatile nature (also visible elsewhere) with Uranus creating sudden break-outs and Saturn pulling back into correctional contractions. But that, in itself is a bullish configuration, as Uranus tends to eventually win out. And right now, in 2021, we have a key moment in the cycle that gave birth to Bitcoin, the closing Saturn-Uranus square, as this cycle begins to wind down. This is usually a difficult time for the economy. Time for Bitcoin to be put to the ultimate test. (More on this in The Astrology of Bitcoin Part II: Past, Present and Future)
Bitcoin's Solid Core, a Real Contender
Bitcoin is a Capricorn by sun sign and a Leo by rising sign. Now that’s a pretty authoritative combination. It has staying power! Bitcoin is the leader of the pack (Leo) with ambitions to rise to the top (Capricorn).
Bitcoin's raison d’être is to strike at the very heart of the system and rise in successive steps, humbly, simply by providing a service (6th house Sun).
Bitcoin is ultimately an instrument, a currency aimed at utility. And Bitcoin is playing the long game.
A Sun-Saturn trine - with Saturn in eye-for-detail Virgo - holds down the fort through rigid technical controls, offering a reliable basis for the slow rise of Bitcoin through frequent testing.
This is a currency that matures with time, like a good wine (often said about Capricorn) and which is supported in its rise through technical mastery, automation and skill (Saturn in Virgo).
Ceres conjunct Saturn also suggests that wealth creation is slow and steady.
Bitcoin’s chart shape - a bucket with Saturn as its handle - further emphasises this slow maturation process, learning through trial and error. Again, this is the hallmark of a highly conservative and reliable currency - ring-fenced by technical skill and solid systems (Virgo). Saturn is freshly retrograde and even more potent for that, securely holding the currency in check. And so progress involves two steps forward and one step back. But it’s progress nonetheless.
In fact, Bitcoin has been growing for a decade now, steadily, quietly, behind the facade of its volatile public image. And that is a testament to its ultimately conservative and solid core.
So whence all this volatility? We have already seen the key Saturn-Uranus opposition which drives Bitcoin to break new ground through sudden breaks and contractions. Let’s look further.
Bitcoin’s Guerrilla Warfare Mission
Bitcoin’s volatile reputation is well signified by its midheaven in Aries, ruled by Mars conjunct Pluto and Lilith in Capricorn. Mars is the warrior planet and Aries a pioneer. Pluto is god of the underworld and all that’s hidden (‘crypto’), as well being the planet of power and transformation. Lilith too is a demon or dark goddess of the night.
Bitcoin’s public face is that of an undercover guerrilla warrior and pioneer! With Pluto’s cloak of invisibility all over its public face, Bitcoin is the ultimate “crypto” currency, with the power to effect radical change.
Mars is in Capricorn, furthermore, in exaltation, giving Bitcoin great power to achieve its mission. This combination is a volatile, volcanic mission statement aimed at transforming existing power structures by any means.
As much can be read from what is encoded within Bitcoin’s raw data itself - a secret message that reads: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks", a headline of the London paper of that day. Many consider this to be Bitcoin’s mission statement, borne out of rage at banking bailouts and the idea that some institutions are 'too big to fail'.
Mars-Lilith-Pluto ruling the Midheaven is the perfect symbol of this subversive intent encoded in the mission statement of Bitcoin itself.
On the flip side, this guerrilla objective combined with Bitcoin’s invisibility cloak offering anonymity is also what turns it into a safe haven for behind the scenes activities and the dark web.
As if that wasn’t enough, we also have Eris, goddess of discord, closely conjunct the Midheaven, again signifying the strongly revolutionary aims of this currency. This is guerrilla warfare operating in the speculative markets (Mars-stellium in Placidus 5th house), fighting the system from within (whole sign 6th house). A first quarter waxing Moon in warrior sign Aries also reflects this outward, action-oriented purpose of the currency to effect change in the world, as well as the pioneering people who embrace it.
Pluto and Lilith represent dark activity and that seems to be built into the public face of the currency itself.
This Mars-Pluto-Lilith combo also suggests that Bitcoin’s public image can never be fully sanitised.
Arguably, this makes it harder for Bitcoin to be embraced in full open transparency by governments and institutions. And it also makes Bitcoin’s public image a little too scary for the public (Mars-Pluto-Lilith square the Moon). Still, Bitcoin refuses to be domesticated and has the ability to survive and overcome attempts to attack it, tame it or destroy it.
Bitcoin is Endgame, a Cynic of Institutionalised Wealth
Another volatility indicator is Bitcoin’s Jupiter in the last ‘anaretic’ degree of Capricorn. Jupiter symbolises abundance and wealth creation and is weak in Capricorn, the sign of its fall. Jupiter in Capricorn aims at a slow maturing growth, protected by its own structural configurations and limitations. It’s at a ‘limit’ degree suggesting a wealth and growth trajectory that aims toward a certain limit, perhaps captured by the 21 million cap on the amount of Bitcoins to be mined (with that number becoming harder and harder to reach).
Jupiter at the critical, intense and cynical last degree of Capricorn lends Bitcoin’s fortunes a manic volatility. Jupiter symbolises growth and this arguably accounts for Bitcoin’s manic growth spurts, its frequent “last minute” periodic rises with a subsequent fall and recalibration. It looks like this is built into Bitcoin’s growth pattern itself.
Jupiter’s presence at the final Capricorn degree also makes Bitcoin a cynic about centralised top down institutional wealth creation that has reached its limits. Planets in critical degrees carry all the wisdom and lessons of the past alongside the burden of their resolution. These planets also have an urgency to them, a “get your foot in the door” feeling. Bitcoin seeks to solve the equation of reliable, authoritative wealth creation.
In this sense Bitcoin is an endgame currency, the final chapter of a long line of policies, the wisdom of which it carries. Bitcoin is also perfectly poised to benefit from the collapse of this system whilst at the same time catalyse it and resolve the lessons of the past.
The importance of Jupiter for Bitcoin and its precarious position is emphasised further by the Ascendant/Midheaven midpoint falling right on it. This is how the currency manifests in this world. Still, the net result is a steady rise, if experience is anything to go by, at least until some sort of final limit is reached (or transcended). For Jupiter represents growth. Jupiter’s wide (out of sign) conjunction with the North Node also suggests that growth and profit do lie along Bitcoin’s evolutionary path.
In fact, Jupiter at the end of the sign is exactly what allows Bitcoin to always catch its lucky break at the 11th hour, just when everything else is running out of steam!
Bitcoin’s Jupiter in the last degree of Capricorn, in fall, also invites us to think more deeply about the meaning of wealth creation, growth, money and abundance. So here, once more, we see Bitcoin’s powerful mission statement, encoded in the birth chart, in its manic growth spurts and in the fact that it does well just when all other avenues have ran out.
Bitcoin’s Jupiter in the last critical degree of an earth sign also signifies the way in which Bitcoin wealth-creation is still bound with the physicality of the old world money conception.
Literally, we have Bitcoins burried deep within physical hard drives and often even accidentally thrown away. It does well to remember that, no matter how pioneering, Bitcoin has Jupiter, planet of wealth creation, still dragging with it the remnants of an earth sign.
Bitcoin’s Fragile Romantic Ideal of Value
What about Bitcoin’s Venus, representing value and worth? Venus is in exaltation at the purest (first) degree of Pisces, a critical degree of beginnings. And it rules Bitcoin’s roots and self-perception. Bitcoin’s self conception thus constitutes a fair and romantic take on value, a romanticism that adds further fuel to its raging fire.
At its very root, Bitcoin puts forth a fragile, nascent and idealistic expression of pure value.
Moreover, Bitcoin’s nascent sense of value is tied to the highest altruistic and humanitarian sentiments. Venus in Pisces is not alone. It conjuncts Neptune-Chiron in Aquarius. Neptune and Uranus in mutual reception further emphasise this highly idealistic blend of technology and ideology as the very underpinning of this currency.
Bitcoin’s nascent sense of pure value is thus bound up with a high, almost utopian ideal of a society totally decentralised and technologically advanced.
It is also borne out of the pain (Chiron) of seeing the fabric of society torn asunder, leaving half the population on the outside looking in.
Ultimately, a strong Venus is a good thing for an entity to have especially as a store of value, i.e. a currency. And while Venus in early Pisces can be as yet untested, a little fragile and naive, it is exalted. And that is a good omen for Bitcoin as far as value goes, even if it has to go through a few lessons along the way from its romantic and pure beginnings.
Bitcoin’s Decentralisation Destiny
Bitcoin’s fortunes are irrevocably tied into the world - its destiny to abandon the paternalistic and self-serving attitudes of the past and invent a more lateral, equalised and algorithmic playing field. This is clearly indicated by the Lunar Nodes - eclipse points - lying exactly across the horizon (when the chart is calculated for London).
With a score of elements in Aquarius too, including the North Node, Bitcoin’s destiny is one of decentralisation.
Bitcoin’s Leo Ascendant is right on the South Node, literally personifying the Dragon’s Tail striking a blow at the very heart of centralised leadership, elitism and inflated self-interest. The Dragon’s Head, or North Node, lies over at the other side in Aquarius. It is hungry for equality, collaboration, community and progress, which pretty much sums up Bitcoin’s evolutionary imperative.
Mercury, planet of information, language and trade is also in Aquarius, conjunct the Descendant and North Node. This ties Bitcoin’s evolution not only to coding and data, but also to usage by actual people in mutual exchange.
The anonymity of Bitcoin’s very creator also ties in nicely with Bitcoin’s evolutionary agenda - the only trace of identity left, light as a feather, barely making a footprint across a few raw bits of data.
This is truly an electronic people’s currency (Mercury is also sextile the Aries Moon), its fortunes tied to the combined activities of its entire pioneering community.
Bitcoin as a Catalyst into the 21st Century
Ultimately, Bitcoin’s evolutionary destiny (North Node) is an Aquarian one and very timely as such. Bitcoin’s wide stellium in Aquarius acts like a chain reaction - its Aquarius points all tied up in a pretty bow by Jupiter on one side and Venus on the other.
Bitcoin is like powerful chain reaction moving us from the financial institutional lessons of the past toward an as yet untested, fragile and nascent romantic ideal of value. In that sense Bitcoin is a catalyst into a new era.
Be that as it may, Jupiter and Venus are still the traditional benefics in astrology, the planets of value and growth, respectively.
So Bitcoin’s revolutionary agenda of decentralisation is enclosed in a precarious yet protective bubble of value and growth.
This bubble might be fragile at times, even critically unstable - due to both Venus and Jupiter being at critical degrees - but it is ultimately cushioned. And let’s not forget that, at heart, Bitcoin is made of solid, sturdy stuff (Sun in Capricorn trine an extremely powerful stationary Saturn, technically masterful, functioning as the handle to Bitcoin’s bucket of goods).
It’s clear from Bitcoin’s transformative mission statement, its packing a punch at the heart of the system, its nascent sense of value and cynical treatment on institutional wealth that this instrument is a catalyst. It is leading us into the 21st century and beyond, well into the Aquarian age. The question is, is there an end point when this purpose is achieved? If so how long? And what then?
Part of this answer can be given from first principles.
The three star signs that Bitcoin stretches over - Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces - are major players on the world stage over the next three decades or so. So, Bitcoin has an important role to play and, whether finite or not, it’s going to take a while yet to unfold.
And with the world right now, in 2021, straddling this transition from Capricorn to Aquarius, the starting point of Bitcoin’s planetary chain reaction, no wonder Bitcoin is finally coming strongly into its own.
To better understand Bitcoin’s present challenges and its overall chances, look to Part II of the present article, The Astrology of Bitcoin Part II: Past, Present and Future, which examines Bitcoin's past through the lens of astrology, as well as its present and future trends.
Disclaimer: This article is written by an astrologer, not a financial markets expert. It contains the author’s astrological opinion and does not constitute investment advice. If you rely on this information for financial investment you do so at your own risk. If investment advice is what you are seeking, please look to a certified financial professional!