I've been thinking about a question recently: why do so many people see voting as the only way to create change, yet in reality, the pace of change is always so slow?

The data is quite sobering. Although voter turnout is increasing, Americans' trust in the government is actually declining—70% lack confidence in the presidential system, and 74% feel the economy is worsening. Before every election, politicians say it's "the most important election of our lifetime," but after the vote? The government still expands, and trust continues to fall. This suggests that traditional voting methods might really be insufficient.

But that doesn't mean we have no other options. Think about it—every day, we're actually voting with our wallets. When you choose which brand of product to buy or which service to use, you're sending a signal to the market. In 1985, Coca-Cola launched a new formula, and the consumer backlash was so strong that the company gave in within a year. That’s the power of consumer voting.

Besides voting with money, there's an even more direct way: voting with your feet. After the pandemic, a large number of Americans moved from strict lockdown states like California and New York to Florida and Tennessee, with California’s population declining for the first time in 2020. When people move, governments have to adjust policies to maintain their tax base. This migration pressure is often more effective than any ballot.

And the Bitcoin community has taken this logic to the extreme—simply choosing to opt out of the fiat currency system. But this also raises a practical question: which places are best suited for Bitcoin users to live? This question prompted some researchers to develop the Bitcoin Index, ranking and evaluating all 50 U.S. states.

This index scores each state on four dimensions: cost, business friendliness, monetary freedom, and policy orientation, with each category up to 100 points. Costs include taxes, electricity prices, and housing; business friendliness considers labor laws and fiscal stability; monetary freedom assesses regulation of mining and fund transfers; policy orientation looks at state officials’ attitudes toward Bitcoin. Interestingly, this index was created by the Bitcoin community itself, specifically with Bitcoin users in mind.

With remote work becoming more common and more people holding Bitcoin, state governments are starting to take this community’s needs seriously. El Salvador has already done so, and research shows that several U.S. states are moving in this direction. It’s easy to imagine that more regions will develop policies to attract the Bitcoin community in the future.

So, instead of relying solely on traditional ballots, it’s better to learn how to vote with your wallet and your feet. Vote with your money for the products and services you support, and move to places with more friendly policies. These methods are often faster and more effective than waiting for election results. For those looking to find like-minded communities, tools like the Bitcoin Index become especially valuable.