THE BLOCK OF REVELATION

Guest Written by Brian De Mint

If you were part of writing history, what would you include for all future generations to see?

That’s not a rhetorical question – it’s something Bitcoiners have been doing from the very beginning. Embedded in Bitcoin’s genesis block is the now-famous message: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” That subtle yet powerful statement was etched into history forever by Satoshi Nakamoto as a commentary on the fragile and manipulated nature of fiat money.

But that wasn’t the last time someone used Bitcoin’s immutable ledger to make a statement that transcends financial transactions.

One of the most intriguing examples came at block number 666,666, mined in January 2021. A user embedded the Bible verse Romans 12:21:

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

To fully appreciate the weight of that message, you have to understand the cultural and historical context of the number 666. Often referred to as the number of the beast, the Antichrist, or even Satan himself, it comes from the biblical Book of Revelation, symbolising a worldly system in rebellion against God – corrupt, coercive, and controlling.

At the heart of this system is a global world order that derives its power from a one-world currency. For many, it evokes images of tyranny, deception, and the worship of false power. 

Bitcoiners are quite familiar with the tyranny of fiat currency and its position in upholding the current world order. Isn’t it strange that the first sovereign nation to attempt to unburden itself from the yoke of that order is called El Salvador, named after Christ, which literally translates to The Savior?

So when a Bitcoiner took the opportunity to inscribe a call to resist evil with good in block 666, it was far from accidental. It was a deliberate act of symbolic resistance – a kind of spiritual protest coded into Bitcoin’s DNA.

As journalist Marco Cavicchioli speculated at the time, “the final victory over evil is foreseen in the book of Revelation, and this is perhaps what the miner was referring to when he inserted this verse in block 666.666…it is possible that this [evil] is a reference to traditional fiat currencies, or central banks and their monetary policies.”

The sender went so far as to direct equal amounts of Bitcoin to addresses starting with “1GoD” and “1BibLE,” and paid a higher-than-average transaction fee to ensure the message was recorded in that specific block.

This wasn’t a mere stunt. It was someone leveraging Bitcoin's permanence to call attention to what they believe is the true moral arc of the technology: the pursuit of truth, transparency, and Bitcoin as a powerful defensive weapon against corrupt powers and principalities.

This isn’t an isolated case either. Over the years, Bitcoin’s blockchain has been used to immortalise all kinds of human expression. From ASCII art tributes to Nelson Mandela, and from embedded Wikileaks documents to religious prayers inserted by mining pools, Bitcoin has become more than a financial network. It’s a time capsule. A public square. A decentralised scroll of history that no institution or government can edit

Why does this matter? Because symbols shape culture. And Bitcoin is now a cultural movement as much as it is a monetary one. The act of writing into the blockchain is not just technical – it's philosophical. It’s the assertion that ideas, when paired with truth and immutability, can endure longer than kingdoms, banks, or governments.

What we inscribe today will be read tomorrow. And in a world increasingly manipulated by digital impermanence, deepfakes, and revisionist history, Bitcoin offers a rare and precious gift: the ability to write in stone.

Because the message “Overcome evil with good” was written into Bitcoin, that message will outlive us all.