I’m worried about Hackernoon, but I understand. As the most open and inclusive site in tech media, it’s bound to be inundated by altcoin talk. And I say “altcoins” because I’m an adult and I refuse to say “sh*tcoins,” but make no mistake: none of those coins are “alternatives” to bitcoin.
They are not even in the same ballpark, and in fact, they’re not playing the same game.
Bitcoin is NOT “crypto,” and one of this ongoing saga’s reasons-to-be is to explain why that is.
The mythical creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, famously wrote: “If you don’t believe it or don’t get it, I don’t have the time to try to convince you, sorry.” However, I do have time. And I declare myself the bitcoin ambassador to Hackernoon.
On this site, you’ll get endless theories and musings about Web3, NFT communities, and this or that coin’s tokenomics. It’s only fair that the bitcoin point of view is represented as well.
It will take time to get the point across, though. Bitcoin requires Proof Of Work, the student has to earn his or her stripes and pay for them with blood, sweat, and tears. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s a complex subject. Learning about bitcoin will take you from monetary theory, to network effects, to tech jargon, to societal change, to memes. And it’s all important. Essential, even. Invest a hundred hours and your life will change for the best, though. And that’s a guarantee.
There are endless distractions on the way there. The powers that be spin narrative after narrative to keep the population away from the only lifeboat that will save them from inflation. They control the media and they hire failed actors to write books and host shows about those silly stories. Because they desperately need the hidden tax, inflation, to keep their empire afloat. They won’t spare any of their printed-out-of-nothing money to accomplish their goal.
And still, bitcoin keeps going.
The Case Against Any Other Coin
And then, there are altcoins and their questionable creators. I might be alone in this among the bitcoin community, but I genuinely believe that most people that are invested in alts are not trying to scam the population. They are just confused. They can’t see bitcoin for what it is because there has never been a creature like it. An unstoppable monetary apex predator with the best of intentions does not materialize in our reality often.
Why do bitcoiners say that “bitcoin is NOT crypto”, though? Cryptography is a basic ingredient for all of the coins, right? And they all basically do the same thing, do they not? The technology behind might be similar, but bitcoin is much more than that. It’s an unique creature with irreplicable characteristics. The anonymous philosopher known as Gigi puts it best in his heartfelt “Dear Family, Dear Friends – A letter to all of you who still have no bitcoin”:
“Bitcoin is the undisputed king and the only serious contender for digital scarcity. It has the best network effects, the highest liquidity, and the highest security by many orders of magnitude. Nothing else comes close, and I don’t want to waste any digital ink naming any other coin. All I will say about Bitcoin’s copy-cats is this: do not touch them.”
As often happens in bitcoin, Gigi is just scratching the surface there.
One way to describe bitcoin would be: several miracles aligning perfectly to create perfect money that doesn’t belong to anyone and thus belongs to all of us. Lightning stroke several times in the same place for this decentralized living creature to emerge as humanity’s only hope. The world has a fighting chance to finally separate money and state for the first time in history, and we can’t afford to lose this opportunity.
How Will Bitcoin Save The World, Though?
In the “Why bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency you need” article, the author explains: “Bitcoin is the only truly decentralized cryptocurrency. No single entity or person runs or operates the Bitcoin protocol” This lack of center implies a lack of a single point of failure, which means that:
“The entire Bitcoin ecosystem is completely resistant to any counterparty risk. Politically and socially, this is extremely important to the overall value proposition of Bitcoin’s network because, with no single points of failure, governments and other powerful entities cannot target, coerce, or manipulate any individual or group into regulating or altering key components of the base protocol.”
Can any altcoin claim something similar? They can’t, because as we established, they’re not playing the same game.
Altcoins exist to generate fiat money for their creators (and, if lucky, some for the traders)
Bitcoin’s reason-to-be is to save the world from itself. To grant property rights to every person on the planet. To allow us all to transact with one another without interference. To put an end to inflation. To inspire the best memes. And much, much more.
We all need bitcoin, and this column’s plan is to prove it. Little by little. One article at a time.
This was a dispatch by Eduardo Prospero, bitcoin’s ambassador to Hackernoon.
Main image by Yegorpetrov.
Also published here.