From Crisis to Renewal: How Bitcoin and Decentralized Tech Power the Shift From the Fourth Turning to the First Turning
What Is the Fourth Turning?
According to Strauss and Howe, the authors of the Fourth Turning book, history moves in repeating cycles called turnings, each lasting roughly 20 to 25 years.
- The First Turning (High)
A period of stability, confidence, and strong institutions. Society believes in the systems that govern it. - The Second Turning (Awakening)
A spiritual or cultural upheaval. People begin to question authority, values, and centralized power. - The Third Turning (Unraveling)
Institutions weaken, individualism rises, and trust erodes. Systems still function, but belief in them is fading. - The Fourth Turning (Crisis)
The old systems break. Economic shocks, political instability, social fragmentation, and institutional failure dominate. This is the phase we are living through now.
The Fourth Turning is not subtle.
It is loud, uncomfortable, and destructive.
It clears out what no longer works.
But it is also the necessary precursor to renewal.
Why the Old Systems Cannot Carry Us Into the First Turning
Every Fourth Turning ends the same way: centralized systems lose legitimacy.
- Fiat currencies are debased through debt and money creation
- Institutions demand trust they no longer deserve
- Rules are enforced unevenly
- Individuals are expected to sacrifice while systems protect themselves
The First Turning cannot be built on the same foundations that collapsed in the Fourth.
New systems must emerge that are:
- Trust-minimized instead of trust-based
- Transparent instead of opaque
- Resilient instead of fragile
- Bottom-up instead of top-down
This is where Bitcoin and decentralized technology enter the story.
Bitcoin as a Fourth Turning Invention
Bitcoin is not just money.
It is a response to systemic failure.
- It removes monetary policy from political control
- It enforces rules with code, not promises
- It operates without permission
- It cannot be inflated, censored, or rewritten by decree
In every previous historical cycle, new monetary systems emerged after crisis.
The difference this time is that Bitcoin was created before the collapse fully played out.
It is a lifeboat built while the ship is still taking on water.
Decentralized Technology as the New Institutional Layer
Bitcoin is the foundation, but it is not alone.
Decentralized technologies are quietly rebuilding the functions that failing institutions once provided:
- Money: Bitcoin as neutral, global, sound money
- Identity: Cryptographic keys instead of bureaucratic IDs
- Communication: Peer-to-peer networks instead of platform-controlled speech
- Infrastructure: Mesh networks, local servers, open-source software
- Governance: Voluntary coordination instead of enforced compliance
These tools shift power away from centralized authorities and back to individuals, families, and communities.
That shift is not ideological.
It is structural.
What the First Turning Will Look Like
The First Turning that follows this crisis will not feel like the past.
It will not be built on blind trust in institutions.
It will be built on verification, transparency, and sovereignty.
Characteristics of the next First Turning:
- Individuals custody their own assets
- Communities rely on local resilience, not distant systems
- Rules are enforced by open protocols, not selective enforcement
- Value flows peer-to-peer, without intermediaries extracting rent
Bitcoin and decentralized tech do not guarantee a positive outcome.
They provide the tools.
The difference between chaos and renewal is whether enough people adopt them.
The Choice of the Fourth Turning Generation
Every Fourth Turning generation faces the same question:
Do we cling to collapsing systems, or do we build the next ones?
Bitcoin is not about getting rich.
Decentralization is not about politics.
They are about laying the groundwork for the next era of stability.
The First Turning does not arrive by accident.
It is built, one parallel system at a time.
Those who understand this early do not just survive the crisis.
They help shape what comes after.
Buy & Sell Bitcoin, Dollar Cost Average management abd pay your bills with Bitcoin on the the best Bitcoin only Exchange.
Comments ()