Why Bitcoin Maximalists Are Also Hypocrites
Maximalists: The truth behind Bitcoin's knights in shining armor.
We all have heard the term Bitcoin Maximalist, someone who at one point or another adopted Bitcoin and the blockchain technology, but could not move themselves beyond that point.
These so called Maximalists are not always early adopters, and there is no evidence they hold any significant amount of Bitcoin.
So why do these Maximalists exist, and what is their job?
As the reason to their existence, whenever there is something gaining fame and reputation, there will definitely be someone who will pop up and try to latch himself to the scene, to gain popularity by association. There are no other reasons for the existence of such. Some might say an early adopter is a Maximalist, that is not necessary true, an early adopter is someone who accepted a new technology when no evidence this technology will ever work or gain adoption.
Early adopter is a description Maximalists like to credit themselves with, yet Maximalists refuse to accept any other technology that might come in and better the technology they already believe in, so they are a special breed of early adopters, if they can even prove they are early adopters, a fact which I really doubt.
Maximalists come from many backgrounds, and I have a strong suspicion this breed of adopters are those who bought bitcoin at all time high prices and are trying to recover or make profit. They live in fear of another blockchain technology coming in and taking over, which renders their judgment as that of a cult following.
What Job do these Maximalists have?
It seems they all come from an investing background, or so they claim, they are quick to jump on the "I told you so wagon" when Bitcoin price goes up, and quick to make accusations of improper foul act by some entity or some country when the price goes down. They provide technical analysis of how bitcoin will take over the world, but with their rush to credit this point of view, they claim they are experts in investing they ask you to do one thing all the time:
" Put all your eggs in one basket, bitcoin "
How many times have you heard an investment expert tell you, "Do not put all your eggs in one basket" ?
Yet these Maximalists whom are also experts in the field of investing have no shame in going against common sense investing.
Year after year, people have diversified their investments into many promising altcoin projects, with technology that bitcoin is unable to provide, and every year we see projects explode in value because of new technology they bring to crypto, but one thing these Maximalists repeat over and over " It's a scam ".
How can so many of these finance experts see returns of 100% to 20000% on some crypto projects year after year and dismiss it all with one sentence?
One thing for sure, these so called Maximalists are not coders, they are not early technology adopters, and the farthest that can be from financial experts. And while there are scams that hit the crypto scene, these scams are much smaller in comparison to the ones that hit Wall Street.
Bitcoin is the birth of blockchain technology on a wide scale, although it was not the first to utilize such technology. Bitcoin will not be the last to do that neither.
So how to invest in crypto?
The answer is simple be the early adopter yourself, look for projects that brings something new to the table. Something that was not done before. Do your own research, do not depend on a Youtuber to tell you where to invest your money. Read Read Read...
But be careful, once the hype breaks out for a certain project 99.99999% of the time you have missed your opportunity to make money, let the hype die and once the dust settles, if you still believe in the project then pick the right opportunity to get in. People who buy at the peak of a hype end up being a soar loser all the time. Being an early adopter requires research, and patience. There are other opportunities beyond the early adoption phase, so keep your eyes open all the time.
You can also make bets on projects that have nothing to show, I make such bets on a hunch, keyword for this is be conservative, I sometimes make a donation to a project for no other reason than knowing the dev is showing some potential.
What does Wikipedia say about Maximalists?
It can refer to anything seen as excessive, overtly complex and "showy", providing redundant overkill in features and attachments, grossness in quantity and quality, or the tendency to add and accumulate to excess.
Are those the type of people you want to take advice from?
Have you noticed that most if not all of these Maximalists will list their bitcoin address and blatantly ask you a donation for their advice? why do that if they are early adopters and Bitcoin hoarders? should they not make a Bitcoin Faucet instead and give away some of their fortune? They kind of remind me of this cartoon in a way:
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.