Why I still invest in Bitcoin

[Note: I'm reposting this on Steemit from my new blog on Minds]

Despite the rampant skepticism and doubt in the viability, I still choose to invest in Bitcoin. Here are my top 5 reasons why:

#5 — Bitcoin has the broadest world-wide, active support.

As of today's date (March 2nd, 2019), Bitcoin has 10,435 active nodes. Compared to the other 9 decentralized cryptocurrencies in the top 10, it is evident that Bitcoin has the most number of active supporters.

Ethereum (currently #2) has 8789 active nodes. Ripple lists 200 validator nodes for its token XRP (currently #3). Despite being one of the fastest growing blockchains, EOS (currently #4 on coinmarketcap.com) only has a few dozen nodes... 36 according to one website. With the 5th highest market cap, Litecoin has 1844 nodes, which is less than the 2120 nodes that #6, "Bitcoin Cash" (BCH) has. Tether (USDT, #7) doesn't run its own nodes, from what I could find... it relies upon the Bitcoin network (Omni layer) and the Ethereum network (for the ERC20 token). Stellar (XLM, #8) only has 133 active nodes out of 415 recorded. I didn't spend much time investigating, but from what I gathered in a cursory search, Binance (BNB, #9) is an ERC20 token, so it relies upon the Ethereum network. Finally, TRON (#10) has 1095 nodes.

Based on this brief analysis, Bitcoin appears to demonstrate the greatest resilience, and therefore is the most likely to outlast the other cryptocurrencies.

#4 — Bitcoin is still one of the most common trading pairs on exchanges.

When you explore the myriad crypto exchanges across the Internet, you will discover that most of them list BTC as a trading pair (often along with USDT and/or ETH). Considering reason #5 above, and the tainted past of Tether, I think Bitcoin remains a "safe bet" regarding longevity.

#3 — Bitcoin remains the most secure blockchain on the Internet.

Bitcoin was the first blockchain invented, so it has been around the longest. When priced in US Dollars, Bitcoin has nearly doubled each year since its creation in 2008, making it a lucrative target for hackers. While the easiest way to steal Bitcoin from others is by copying/accessing their private keys or tricking them into transferring their Bitcoin to your address, another way to steal all the Bitcoin would be to exploit a vulnerability in the protocol. It would be naive to think that the effort committed towards hacking the Bitcoin protocol has been negligible or insignificant. Considering that Bitcoin has withstood over 10 years of hacking and vulnerability exploration, and remained the #1 cryptocurrency is a testament to its security and resilience.

#2 — Bitcoin has the best chance of any cryptocurrency to become the standard currency of the Internet.

Founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, stated this on the Joe Rogan podcast (on episode #1236 of the JRE). With the rapid development and adoption of the Bitcoin Lightning Network (reaching 12k nodes last year!) providing nearly instantaneous off-chain transactions, the scalability of Bitcoin has increased dramatically since its inception. It may very soon become the preferred medium of exchange simple due to its speed, convenience, and transparent auditability. As more nations grow tired of having to empower the United States of America by trading in the US Dollar, they will look to any viable alternative common medium of exchange. The fact that Bitcoin is decentralized and trustless makes it a formidable replacement as a world reserve currency. Each of these add to the probability that Bitcoin will become the standard currency of the Internet.

#1 — My Bitcoin is under my control.

If you find yourself on the tragic list of wrongful convictions or indicted for an alleged crime, your assets will likely be frozen. This means you will have to rely upon your family to scrounge up money to pay for your bail, or you will sit in "pre-trial confinement" (i.e., jail) until you are acquitted or convicted. At least if you have a store of cryptocurrency on a hardware wallet, your have some funds that are untouchable by any government agents or agencies. This could prove to be truly invaluable to funding your case.

I have peace of mind knowing that I have funds that only I can access, and I can empower my trusted family members to support me with them if I am ever caged for ransom or extortion.

So, in the face of bear(ish) crypto-markets, I continue to invest in Bitcoin. Even if it is abandoned, hacked, or "goes to zero," I won't be devastated because I only invest an amount I am willing to lose.