Why We Build
In 1997 the historians William Strauss and Neil Howe published The Fourth Turning, an argument that history moves in cycles of roughly eighty to a hundred years, each passing through four generational seasons they called turnings. The Fourth Turning is winter: a crisis era when people stop trusting the old institutions and the old order comes apart. The First Turning is the spring after. It is when the survivors of the crisis lay the foundations that the next several generations will live on.
You do not have to treat the theory as prophecy to notice the rhyme. Trust in money, media, and government sits at generational lows, and the money itself is the clearest case: our Long View series traces how a dollar quietly lost 94.5% of its purchasing power in a century. By most readings of the cycle, we are in a Fourth Turning right now. That means the building season is close, and the people who see it coming get to decide what goes up.
Bitcoin is the best building material anyone has found for the next monetary order: fixed supply, transparent rules, open to anyone, owned by no one. But a protocol is not an institution. Institutions are built by people, in particular places, over years. Someone has to run the nodes, hold the meetups, answer the beginner questions, and sit down with the coffee shop that is curious about accepting sats. In Kingston, that someone is us.
So when we say we are building in the First Turning, this is what we mean. The next era will be made of whatever gets built during the crisis and just after it. We would rather it be built here, by neighbours, than somewhere else by someone else.
The Ladder
You do not need permission, credentials, or a lot of money to help. The rungs below run from five minutes of effort to a standing commitment. Each one makes the next one easier, and every one leaves Kingston further ahead than it found it. Start wherever you are.
1. Support builders with sats
Pick a show from our #40HPW directory, load a Lightning wallet with a few dollars of sats, and boost an episode you liked. Five minutes, and you have used Bitcoin the way it was meant to be used: paying a person directly for value.
Browse the shows →2. Spend and earn
Money has a second job beyond saving: it has to move. Learn sending, receiving, fees, and Lightning, then look for one chance a month to pay someone in sats or earn some yourself.
Read the guide →3. Hold your own keys
Self-custody is the foundation the rest of the ladder stands on. Start free with a software wallet and build your security in step with your skills.
Choose a wallet →4. Build a signer
Assemble your own air-gapped signing device from off-the-shelf parts: SeedSigner, Krux, or Specter DIY. Bring the parts to a meetup and build alongside someone who has done it before.
Start with SeedSigner →5. Run a node
A node is your own copy of the rules. One small computer verifies everything for you and for anyone in Kingston who points their wallet at it, and the network gets a little harder to capture.
Build a node →6. Bring one person
The community grows one invitation at a time. Bring a curious friend to a meetup, or walk them through the first page of our Learn path over a coffee.
See the meetups →7. Teach or host
Every guide on this site started as one person explaining something to another. If you have built, taught, or run anything, we want your help: give a talk, run a build night, or host a meetup. Hosting is leadership.
Put your hand up →8. Help a merchant accept Bitcoin
The end goal is a Kingston circular economy: places to earn and spend sats without leaving town. If you own a business, or know an owner who is curious, talk to us. A first merchant going live is the most concrete brick there is.
Talk to us →