Bitcoin maximalist position: There are two types of people in the crypto space. The first are those who believe that in 20 years, every other chain in the industry will eventually be tacked onto Bitcoin. The second is those who believe that’s nonsense, says Victor Fabusola of Ankr.
For many anti-Bitcoin maximalists, it’s easy to call Bitcoin maximalism a ridiculous position. In fact, it’s the going argument against Bitcoin maximalism; mockery. These anti-people believe that Bitcoin maximalists regard the coin as an article of faith and that the position is utterly ridiculous. But they could not be more wrong.
The Bitcoin maximalist position has some really solid premises and is certainly not an exercise in ridiculousness. It is not illogical to think that crypto starts and ends with Bitcoin. In fact, in many ways, that could be true. Most of the independent chains today are just aping the original bitcoin chain. Almost every important development or protocol is inspired by something on the Bitcoin blockchain, and of course, bitcoin is a lot more valuable than all other altcoins on the market.
The position of the Bitcoin maximalists is this. The robust design and network of Bitcoin mean that all other coins should end up as a derivative of bitcoin and that bitcoin will eventually completely replace fiat. Hence, if you are a bitcoin maximalist, you would probably see no reason to measure the value of your bitcoin in dollars.
That value would be irrelevant to you, as your main goal would be to acquire as much bitcoin as you possibly can. Of course, this does not mean Bitcoin maximalists cannot trade in other tokens. The only difference is that they plan on using those trades to maximize the number of Bitcoin they have.
Bitcoin maximalist position and misconceptions
One misconception that people have about Bitcoin maximalists is that they think every other project in crypto should be discounted. No, that is far from the truth. I have spoken to many Bitcoin maximalists who have been made very rich by Bitcoin. And a total of zero of them think that Bitcoin is the only important crypto project. However, they are all unified in the idea that Bitcoin is the most important, and all other chains should be attached to the Bitcoin mega-chain.
Those are big dreams, and as far as crypto ideas (which can be fantastic sometimes) go, it is not ridiculous. As I have stated before, Bitcoin has earned its right to be at the head of the pack. Some think that if Bitcoin had not kickstarted the crypto revolution, some other coin would have. That could be true, but again it is Bitcoin that did, and it is because of the success of that network that we even have a crypto future to dream of.
Bitcoin maximalist position: reasons
There are many reasons why Bitcoin maximalists claim to be Bitcoin maximalists. The first, and possibly the most important, is that Bitcoin has been proven to be secure. It has never been hacked, and the core code has never shown any flaws that could be exploited. And since Bitcoin is the biggest animal in the crypto space, its invulnerability is not because of a lack of trying. Thousands of hackers have tried to hack the Bitcoin code, and all of them have failed. Interestingly, these hackers have been successful with other chains.
Another reason why Bitcoin maximalists are who they are is that Bitcoin is truly decentralized. It is probably the only project with no CEO, and with thousands of nodes across the globe. Every major country, at some point, has tried to ban or regulate Bitcoin; they’ve all failed.
These two reasons are solid. Bitcoin has proven itself to be safe, and it is truly decentralized. In other words, it acts just like it is advertised and has the potential to be better than fiat in literally every way. But does that mean that the Bitcoin maximalists are right? Because they don’t just believe Bitcoin is a net good for the crypto space, they argue that it is the net good. Is that necessarily correct?
The answer is no. Bitcoin is a part of the future, but it isn’t the future. The future is multichained, and the evidence for that is simply unimpeachable.
Bitcoin maximalists often say that Bitcoin is the only truly secure project. But that’s false – Ether has also proved to be very secure. While it is true that security is an important issue that many chains need to solve, the existence of Ethereum means that security outside the Bitcoin blockchain can be achieved. It is not some elusive feat that cannot be done.
Let us assume for the sake of argument, that Bitcoin is the only coin that is both truly secure and truly decentralized. That only tells about what Bitcoin is today, and it says nothing about the future. The nature of technological innovation guarantees that over the next few years (or even decades), several chains will emerge that will have these qualities in abundance. These projects will be secure, truly decentralized, and will be truly anonymous. That, of course, is assuming that those chains don’t already exist today.
Aside from that, it is just poor planning to be maximalist at anything, especially when it comes to things like crypto. Being a maximalist means that you are, by definition, blinded to its flaws and have an incentive to simply not pay attention to things going wrong with it. That could lead to truly catastrophic outcomes.
Crypto market in general
That is why no viable crypto tech business can be built on a foundation of Bitcoin maximalism. It is simply not an accurate lens to view the future of crypto with, and the assumption that all other coins will eventually need to be tacked on the Bitcoin chain is rather presumptuous.
Ankr operate a truly free crypto market. The future is crypto, and it is better to allow a level playing field for all kinds of chains. So, it does not matter if you are building on Fantom, Avalanche, Polygon, Ethereum, Heco or Bitcoin. It is better to be completely chain-neutral and interoperable. All chains are important. For Web3 to truly surpass Web2, it needs to be built everywhere and it will take endless collaboration. The vision for the future, is to build on all chains, all day, every day, not just on the big chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin.
My Bitcoin maximalist friends, of course, do not agree with me. They think that it is a waste of time to invest heavily in a multichain future. But the goal is to create a free Web3 for everyone. The future is multichained.
About the author
Victor Fabusola is a freelance writer with a focus on Blockchain and Web3, a self-proclaimed philomath – he’s not only obsessed with mental models but also passionate about the mainstream adoption of emerging technologies. He loves to read good books, have intellectually stimulating conversations with friends, and listen to conscious hip-hop and classical music when he’s not writing.
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