2140Art and the rise of Bitcoin-powered creativity

For Nat Cole, the story of British music – from punk clubs to rave warehouses – is really a story about freedom. His goal is to make that freedom sustainable in an era where algorithms, contracts, and platforms decide who gets heard. Through his project, 2140Art, Cole is trying to rebuild the foundations of the music industry – giving artists a way to create, share, and earn without waiting for permission.

“The British music scene has always been about permissionless creativity,” Nat Cole told Guardians of Bitcoin. “We’re going to say what we want. We’re going to fight for our rights. We’re going to party in the street and bring these speakers outside.”

The roots of 2140Art’s philosophy of independence

That passion for independence runs deeper than music. Cole’s fascination with technology began early. “I built my first PC when I was about 10,” he said, describing himself as an internet obsessive long before broadband arrived. He later worked in network security and telecommunications – a background that gave him a front-row view of how digital systems shape power and access.

His introduction to Bitcoin came in 2013, though it didn’t impress him at first. “I thought it was just another dark web thing,” he admitted. But after watching an episode of the Kaiser Report featuring Andreas Antonopoulos explaining blockchain’s permanence, he saw the potential differently. “Learning about the blockchain, its immutability – that’s when I realized this isn’t just cypherpunks messing around on the internet.”

That realization changed his understanding of both money and art. “Prior to learning about Bitcoin, I don’t really think people understand how money works, or why the games are kind of rigged,” he said. “If there’s a way to fight fiat tyranny, we’re going to have to fight it digitally.”

Reclaiming the music economy

Determined to put his ideas into practice, Cole launched 2140Art – a project aimed at returning ownership to artists. “We’re a facilitator of the new music economy,” he said. “Labels stopped developing talent and started signing artists just for profit.”

He sees the current system as one that rewards scale, not creativity. For decades, musicians have traded control for exposure, handing over ownership to streaming services and labels that measure art in clicks. Cole’s model flips that equation. Using open technologies such as Podcasting 2.0 and Nostr, he wants to give musicians the tools to publish, connect, and get paid directly by their audiences.

“You don’t need permission anymore,” he said. “You can set up your own infrastructure, host your music, and distribute it globally without traditional gatekeepers.”

And this isn’t some mission to replace the entire industry, just an attempt to restore balance to it. “Big labels will still exist,” he said. “But artists should lead their own careers.” 

Britain’s heritage of rebellion

Britain’s punk and reggae roots embody the same permissionless spirit that Nat Cole sees in Bitcoin. Photo: Unsplash / Viktor Forgacs

Britain’s music has always found its power outside the mainstream. From punks and ravers to the sound systems that turned streets into stages, each generation has reclaimed culture on its own terms.

“Sound system culture is rave culture, it’s drum and bass, garage, grime, hip hop – everything mixed into one bowl,” he said. Those self-made scenes, built on borrowed equipment and community spirit, proved that art could thrive without industry permission.

“The British music scene would benefit a lot if more of them actually took some time out to realize that Bitcoin is that ceiling that they either rap or sing about in a lot of their songs,” he said.

That connection between protest and creativity – between social resistance and sonic experimentation – is what Cole hopes to preserve. 

The state of independence in the UK

Despite Britain’s creative legacy, Cole admits Bitcoin adoption in the UK remains limited. “It’s not high, that’s what I would say,” he explained. “You still have a very large presence of Bitcoiners in the UK – lots of good Bitcoin communities all up and down the country – but it’s just not talked about as much.”

He points to a combination of regulation and public perception as barriers. “In the UK generally, I think you have the people who have open minds, but they’re skeptical because they’ve seen bad or heard bad things,” he said. “And then the other people just don’t get it – they don’t give it enough time to get it.”

That hesitation, Cole argues, has left the UK’s creative class missing an opportunity. “Unless we can change that culture with things that people can identify from that culture with Bitcoin, then it’s going to be very difficult to get people over the line,” he said.

Still, he’s optimistic. Across Britain, he counts around 85 active communities experimenting with peer-to-peer tools, small businesses accepting digital payments, and artists seeking more autonomy. He says they represent the same underground energy that once gave rise to new genres – small but steady movements that eventually reshape the mainstream.

DIY creativity as infrastructure

Nat Cole’s vision of self-sovereign creativity starts with artists producing and distributing their work without labels or banks. Photo: Unsplash / Techivation

Cole approaches independence as infrastructure – hardware, software, and connections that keep artists in charge of their own work. He spends much of his time helping musicians understand how to use the tools already within reach: self-hosted websites, RSS-based publishing systems, and open payment systems that remove middlemen.

“You can literally have a hard drive, host all of your music on your hard drive, give it different RSS links – and if somebody pays, it goes straight to you,” he said. “No bank involved. No payment service providers. Nobody taking a percentage.”

It’s a simple idea with big consequences. Artists can build audiences directly, release music globally, and earn instantly – all without relying on platforms that decide who gets heard. Cole believes this shift restores what record labels once did best: supporting creativity, not exploiting it. “Labels stopped developing talent, and they just started signing talent for the profit,” he said. “So you don’t need any of that anymore – and I’m very, very glad of it.”

He also points to the permanence offered by digital publishing as an artistic strength. “If you want to put something out that you want to have that level of permanence, you can do that too – and you can earn or share or fractionalize that on Bitcoin as well.”

A creative future built on freedom

When Cole talks about the future, he rarely mentions markets or prices. His focus stays on people – on artists finding new ways to stand on their own. “It’s about freedom,” he said simply. “We can’t print our own money, and we know what happens when people begin to do that.”

He believes those systems will eventually fade into the background, leaving only the culture they helped create. “If you continue to use Bitcoin right, you are locking in your long-term wealth,” he said. 

“By 2140, Bitcoin will likely be the global reserve currency. But more significantly, Bitcoin culture will become mainstream culture – so integrated that we’ll no longer see it as something separate.”