RE: Why Bitcoin Maximalists Are Also Hypocrites
Honestly, I've never really understood the large investments into Bitcoins. In fact, I've never really understood why everyone believes that the tokens themselves have any value. The value is in the blockchain - the network itself, not the actual tokens. The tokens are simply a unit of account for transferring existing, converted currencies across the network.
You really can't even monetize a blockchain or its tokens. You have to build apps or services that can use it.
This is one of the reasons why I joined Steemit but never bought BTC. The way that Bitcoin is treated and hyped makes no sense to me. It has largely proven to not be what everyone had thought it would become. Even after eight long years in the digital world, which is an eternity, it has failed to achieve any widespread adoption or use, especially as a transactional currency. All of the hype about anonymity, speed, and no or low-fee transfers is now proving to be inaccurate as well.
I think a lot of the hype for Bitcoin was a direct result of the market sentiment and the overall economic conditions at the time it went public. And a lot of people now just refuse to believe that the scared cow of crypto may not have been as great as everyone initially thought. Perhaps they think that, if Bitcoin falters or crashes, then no cryptocurrency can succeed. Other than that, I really can't think of any legitimate reason why the maximalists exist.
Or maybe they simply don't understand business/economics/investing?
All three of those properties could have been maintained had the governance of the project and the network itself not fallen apart in the last three years. Nakamoto proof of work consensus has turned out to be inadequate, in my view.
Currencies don´t work that way. If a majority believes in them, they are working. And obviously a majority does, otherwise BTC would have collapsed in the meantime, like so many other cryptocurrencies. The "token themselves" have no more value than the individual US dollars. The trust in the system builds the value. And this particular system prevents an easy de-evaluation which is since centuries applied to fiat money by printing money as wished directed by a small group of influencers.