Empire of the White Rock
Posted November 01, 2024
It’s 3000 B.C.
You just broke the news to your spouse: you quit your pyramid job to go collect white rocks 300 miles away.
Understandably, your spouse is not happy.
For a small crew of traders in ancient Egypt, this was life as they knew it.
As much as they could, they’d make long voyages to load up their camels with rocks.
Just plain white rocks from dried-up lake beds.
Everyone thought they were insane.
"Who needs white rocks?" the villagers laughed. "We have REAL merchandise to trade. Gold. Bronze. Cedar wood."
But these merchants? They keep collecting their rocks.
Quietly.
Systematically.
Year after year.
Here's something weird about getting rich: The best opportunities usually look completely insane to everyone else.
Those salt merchants?
They crossed scorching deserts.
They risked death by dehydration.
They fought off bandits.
All for... white rocks.
But they knew something nobody else did:
These weren't just rocks.
This was preservation technology.
The Big Switch
Then something happened.
Civilizations figured out that these "useless white rocks" could:
- Preserve meat for months
- Make food taste better
- Keep armies fed during long campaigns
- Preserve fish for inland trade
Suddenly, everyone needed salt.
But you couldn't just make more quickly.
Salt lakes were rare. Mining was dangerous. Processing it took time. Early methods of sending large amounts around were treacherous.
(Sound familiar, Bitcoiners?)
And yet, those "crazy" early salt traders built:
- The Salt Roads of Africa
- The Roman Via Salaria
- Trading empires that lasted centuries
- Fortunes that funded entire dynasties
Some of their trade routes became actual cities.
(Ever wonder why we say "salary"? It comes from salt.)
The New White Rock
For several years, we’ve been watching the exact same story play out.
People are calling crypto investors crazy. "Who needs digital coins?" they laugh. "We have REAL investments. Stocks. Bonds. Real estate."
But some people are quietly accumulating.
Systematically.
Year after year.
Just like those ancient salt traders.
When You Know it’s Time
Here’s something to chew on this weekend.
Every time Bitcoin is about to explode higher, something counterintuitive happens: nobody cares.
Zero. Zilch. Nada.
Right now, Google searches for "Bitcoin" have dropped to their lowest level in four years. The last time this happened? October 2020. What followed was a 7x move from $10,000 to $69,000.
It’s part of an ancient pattern that keeps repeating.
Dismissal → Creeping Interest → Mania
The masses tune out, the price starts creeping up, and then BOOM – everyone suddenly wants in.
And what about those who laughed at the salt traders?
Well… they called it luck.