Why Bitcoin should stay the ‘same’.

Disclaimer:

“Staying the same” is an exaggeration. Not changing too quickly would be a more accurate interpretation of what I mean.

Moving along…

The fact that bitcoin isn’t changing things & moving too quickly can actually be viewed as a strength.

Let me explain what I mean, with an example in contrast: Ethereum.

Ethereum is the premier example in the crypto-sphere of the Zuckerberg adage: “move fast & break things”.

Ethereum is a global, decentralised, development platform, where transactions are powered by gas, which is priced in ether.

Their goal is to build a faster network, a more robust & scalable development platform, and to evolve. Put simply, their #1 priority is innovation.

Ethereum & the real dev community isn’t necessarily interested in speculation, or building / protecting the value of the networks’ currency.Their currency (ether) exists to support the network (Ethereum / EVM).

They want to make the protocol faster, smarter & better — and if it means things break and shit happens along the way, then so be it. (obviously not that carelessly, but I’m trying to make a point here..ok)

With bitcoin, it’s the other way around.The protocol exists to support the currency.

So in this scenario you don’t want too many changes. You don’t want to change something in the protocol that might screw up the store of value that has accumulated thus far.

Changes, adaptations, adjustments, etc are all risks & they need to be carefully examined before they occur. Much more rigour needs to go into the process of agreeing to & making changes.

Think about it this way. Bitcoin is where u want to store your money & have your own sovereign ownership over it.

It’s your money.You own it.You don’t want anyone to touch it.

What you bought yesterday, last year, the year before should be the same (or basically the same) as it is tomorrow, next year & the year after.

Similar to Gold. A big part of it’s value derives from that fact that it was what it is , it is what it is & it will be what it is. It’s boring, yes, but safe.

Bitcoin’s similarities to gold (in that sense) can thus be view as a strength, except it obviously comes with a myriad of other attributes that make it so much more valuable, ie; transferability, portability, divisibility (and you could probably also argue superior homogeneity & fungibility).

So whilst there may be “scaling” issues with bitcoin, whist there may be slower transactions, whilst it may not be the cheapest & fastest network out there, it’s still the most secure network, it’s got the largest network effect, the largest community, the most infrastructure & it remains the cornerstone of this entire industry.

The argument that bitcoin is dead is just dumb. The argument that it’s not useful is also dumb.

It’s evolving into a store of value whilst becoming the reserve asset (or reserve currency) of the space.

We have options!

This is the best part about the new economy of money. We have options.

Don’t mind the coins..I just needed an image that looked cool..

If you want to make fast, small, “free” transactions, eg; $1 — $2, or $100 — $200 then you can use something like Dash, Litecoin, or Bictoin Cash.

If you want to build a new, decentralised application, you have Ethereum, Ubiq, Ethereum Classic, EoS, etc.

If you want private transactions, you have Zcash, Monero, PivX, Sumocoin.

If you want to store your money, and make sure it’s secure, you have BTC.

The point of the crypto “market” is that you have CHOICE.

Exchange is fast, easy & almost free (especially when compared with moving between fiat currencies) so in crypto land you have the ability to choose the coin (or currency) for the application (buy food, buy a car, invest in an ICO, tip someone, whatever) and you can always come back to BTC which will (or should) remain basically the same. And secure.

In Conclusion

None of this is a zero-sum game. We’re seeing the birth of a new field of governance, money, exchange, transactions & communication.

You have more choice, less fees, more use cases & definitely the force to transform the future. The most important thing we can all do is continue to learn about it, support it, use it & encourage others to do the same.

Hope you got some value out of this post.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

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If you did enjoy it, please show it some love, give it a clap (or a few) and pass it around to anyone you think should have a read.

Some of my stuff is a little rough around the edges, but it’s done that way to hopefully jolt people into think clearer / deeper into what they’re doing.

Hope you got value out of this post!

Aleks

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You can also follow me here:

• Aleksandar Svetski | Professional Profile | LinkedIn
• Aleksandar Svetski - Medium
• Bitcoin - Hacker Noon

Why Bitcoin should stay the ‘same’. was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.