title: "King.Coms: The Originals Who Saw It Coming" description: "Before Bitcoin was on billboards, before AI was on every landing page, before Web3 even had a name—there were the King.Coms." slug: "king-coms" date: "2025-01-01"

King.Coms: The Originals Who Saw It Coming

Before Bitcoin was on billboards, before AI was on every landing page, before Web3 even had a name—there were the King.Coms. Visionaries. Cypherpunks. Internet-native rebels who didn’t just adopt tech early—they saw through it. And they acted accordingly.

Who Were the King.Coms?

These were the people who understood the internet not as a place to fit in, but as a place to break out. They came from different corners—entrepreneurs, cryptographers, activists—but they shared a belief: information wants to be free, and the gatekeepers are the threat.

Notable King.Coms

Michael Saylor
Once an enterprise software mogul, he saw the writing on the wall. When others mocked Bitcoin, he went all in—quietly turning MicroStrategy into a Trojan horse for monetary freedom.
Kim Dotcom
A digital Robin Hood. His battles with centralized authorities over Megaupload weren’t just legal skirmishes—they were early signs of the war between surveillance capitalism and user freedom.
Julian Assange
Whatever you think of him, the guy put encryption on the map for journalism. WikiLeaks wasn’t just a leak site—it was a proof of concept for what uncensorable platforms could look like.
John McAfee
Wild, unpredictable, maybe even dangerous—but he saw what was coming. Centralized surveillance, digital ID creep, and the collapse of privacy.

These weren’t influencers. They were engineers of resistance.

The Traits They Shared

Paranoia as a Feature: Most were mocked for being “too paranoid.” Now we call it threat modeling.
Open Source Leanings: Even when building businesses, they leaned toward transparency and decentralization.
Disdain for Gatekeepers: Banks, governments, platforms—they saw control systems for what they were.

Why It Still Matters

In 2025, we’ve normalized algorithmic censorship, digital currency controlled by central banks, and AI models trained on questionable data. Most people don’t notice—or don’t care. But the King.Coms? They saw it coming decades ago.

And the blueprint they left behind? Still valid.

Run your own node
Build in the open
Use encryption by default
Never outsource your sovereignty

The Modern King.Coms?

They're still out there. Some are building peer-to-peer apps. Others are funding privacy infrastructure. Some are writing code in obscurity, waiting for the next flashpoint.

Maybe you’re one of them.

Questions for Reflection

Do you know where your data lives? Who controls it?
Are you building for convenience—or for resilience?
Who are the new gatekeepers, and are you helping them or resisting them?

Music for the Revolution

"Genesis" by Armors or "Don’t Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty. Mood: defiance.