What does it look like when a new frontier develops? With Bitcoin, we often refer to the Internet as the analogous frontier by which to envision Bitcoin’s future trajectory. This is certainly the most appropriate comparison, as these two pieces are the yin and yang of the Digital Revolution: The Internet is the digitization of information, while Bitcoin is the complementary digitization of value.

However, this comparison has its limitations, specifically because the Internet is still developing, though our contemporaneous bias is to think of it as complete. When we limit our Bitcoin comparisons to the early days of the Internet, we miss out on the insights we might draw about the future trajectory of Bitcoin beyond the stage of development that the Internet has now reached.

Looking back further in time, we can identify previous frontiers whose development has now reached completion. With one of those examples as a guide, it’s possible to take a deeper look at the evolutionary stages of that former frontier’s development. By comparison, we can take stock of where Bitcoin lies in that journey, and what that could mean for Bitcoin’s arc into the future.

This will be an extended analogy, and while the nature and specifics of the comparison may vary drastically in some respects, the broad brush strokes of history have much to teach us.