I'm again very bullish and leaning toward Bitcoin maximalism again
The more I think about it, and discover about new Bitcoin innovations, the more I start doubting my altcoin positions again. Yes, many altcoins have improvements over Bitcoin, but what if Bitcoin can match those improvements? It sure looks like it may be on the horizon.
FEES ARE DOWN
The Bitcoin fees are currently very low. Even free transactions are (sometimes) getting through now due to the size of the mempool decreasing, and the slow but steady adoption of Segwit.
LIGHTNING NETWORK
The Lightning Network is already starting to get used despite still being in the testing phase. The first results are spectacular, people are reporting insanely (instant) high transaction speeds at a fraction of the cost of a normal transaction. There are now already almost 2000 Lightning Network Nodes operational.It is very likely that Lightning Network channels will enable both free and instant transactions, as some of the 'third generation' blockchains promise or have.
PRIVACY
Some coins like Monero have privacy as their highest feature, but Bitcoin is going to have privacy also! With so-called Schnorr Signatures transactions are bundled and this adds a layer of anonimity, but I've also recently learned of the MimbleWimble Protocol which will both decrease the size of transactions (increasing total tps and decreasing costs), but also make Bitcoin private.SMART CONTRACTS
Bitcoin already has some scripting capability, did you know? Ethereum is the real smart contracts platform, but there is actually a project in the works called Rootstock which aims to increase Bitcoin's smart contract capabilities. By adding a sidechain to the Bitcoin network, there would be smart contracts capabilities akin to other platforms.If all these improvements succeed and are succesfully implemented, I'm left to wonder if Bitcoin should fear altcoins, or wether it's truly the other way around. Is there any feature that Bitcoin won't have??
The pendulum swings both ways for me. At times I'm all about altcoins and see their future clearly and brightly. But other times, like now, I think about everything on the horizon for Bitcoin and it's huge network effect, and wonder if altcoins have any chance at competing at all. Surely some of them will remain in use, but many 'one-trick-ponies' could end up being steamrolled and made obsolete if Bitcoin succeeds.
This is why I'm holding on dearly to my Bitcoin, even though I've got my largest position in altcoins. I dare not diminish my Bitcoin stack, and dare not underestimate the king of crypto.
Any idea about Bitcoin's vision on their Proof Of Work? Do they have plans to switch to Proof Of Stake? I can't support POW, the energy consumption is getting ridiculous.
As far as I am aware, they are not planning to switch to Proof of Stake. And yes PoW costs a lot more energy than PoW, but it is the only consensus mechanism where people actually lose value in the 'real world' and tends to be the safest.
If PoW is needed in order to have the most secure store of value and currency (possible with the innovations @pandorasbox is talking about) in one, then I think it is still a good idea. It could replace things that are currently much more inefficient.
The current financial system is using multitudes of power to do the same thing and extracting gold from the ground isn't exactly cheap either.
@cryptotem is correct as far as I know!
PoW is wasteful in a sense, but so are 'the internet', airplanes and lightbulbs. And like @cryptotem said the current financial system is using a lot more energy non stop. Just think of all the office buildings and data centers and whatnot that's powering the old financial sector.
Bitcoin will always be the main coin, i am always bullish on it, no matter what problems it may face, true bitcoiners will do whatever it takes to fix them
Haha, I like that one :)
And yes, these Bitcoin developers are very smart. And I don't think we should underestimate the Bitcoin whales' ability to increase the price either. They've been playing this game for a long time.
Hey pandora! It's been a long time! I wish to invite you to my community:
We are looking for undervalued authors.
Discord link: https://discord.gg/GSUcxq
I would be honored!
I have actually started getting more involved with communities in 2018, so I would gladly look into this invitation of yours! I will join the discord later today and see what's up! Have to make some dinner first!
Thanks!!
failed a second time at a 9k rally. double top. If BTC doesn't break 9k right now its going much lower.
hourly chart w shaped might break through next round
nah we are retracing to 6k support now.
May be, but long term I am still very bullish on Bitcoin. Short term we may go down, or up, or up and then down some more. Been there, done that. I know the eventual outcome :)
Bitcoin is most likely here to stay. Like you say, bitcoin has the opportunity to change a lot of it's usage, but it'll take time to adapt. The question is if it can survive long enough for bitcoin to catch up with the technology of the newer altcoins. In my opinion it's all about time at this point. If Bitcoin can't lower its TPS in let's say a year, it loses it's functionallity and people will start to look for altcoins as a currency. Of course now, with the crash, bitcoin can catch up again and the processing probems aren't such a big deal anymore, but if we see a massive surge in price again we'll have exactly the same problems as 2 months ago. Big fees and extremely low TPS. If BTC can't overome that hurdle soon, and people aren't able to purely see it as a store of value instead of a currency, I wouldn't be surprised to see bitcoin fall from grace.
Possibly, but I think there is also the factor of Bitcoin whales who are able to make or break markets. Regardless of tech, it's still the token valuation and appreciation that initially brings people to a cryptocurrency and encourages adoption.
I also think Bitcoin will probably be able to get very far in 2018/2019, which may be fast enough. I'm not sure what I should hope for as I am mostly in alts. But I guess being diversified is the best and most sane path.
What's your take on the flippening? Do you see it happen in the near future, and if so, do you think it wille have big consequences for Bitcoin?
I think a flippening is possible! but I don't think it will kill Bitcoin.
I'm tempted to say we're going to fluctuate back and forth between Bitcoin being more, or less dominant.
I've got about as big of a position in ETH as I have in BTC.
Did you see the infamous Richard Heart interview who publicly abandoned his bitcoin maximalism? Just wondering...
I did! And found it very interesting. I never quite liked Richard Heart but thought he had interesting things to say. But now seeing him switch and do a 180 , and judging from his previous statements, I think his current stance is mainly because it makes sense from a marketing perspective with regards to his own cryptocurrency that he is launching (something to do with computing). It doesn't make sense to be a Bitcoin maximalist and still do that. I think Richard is savvy enough to take this position as a way of strategy. He's also admitted in the same interview of 'trying his utmost best to pump Bitcoin' or something along those lines. So it makes sense that he'd do the same with his current projects (and thus oppose opposing stances).
Great interview as well! For such a young man, @ivanli is a remarkable interviewer: polite, knowledgeable & probing.
I'm also losing unterest in alts and feeling exactly what you describe about bitcoin. Bitcoin Core is version 0.15.1 - we have a long way to go and bitcoin hasn't showed us his best yet! Bullish and hodling mostly btc from now. They wanna trick us into selling it. There will only be so many of them. Once we sell and institutions buy, we are fked. Hodl brothers and sisters !
Very true, also about the 0.15.1 version!
I do believe the markets are heavily manipulated by many parties. I don't try the fight the whales, or play their game by trying to trade BTC anymore. Instead I just hodl and wait them out!
i don't think bitcoin will last as number one for much longer... i mean even if it will have better smart contract the amount of companies that are already build on the alt platforms is crazy! and it will have to be really really something else in order to attract all this great minds back. and also to get the real world industry that have already sign with alts to resign with bitcoin will be even less realistic... or am i reading the map all wrong?
Yes, I agree for some platforms like ETH there is a huge amount of development going on. But... the same could be said for Bitcoin. We're so used to it that we don't notice, but Bitcoin is still the one with the widest adoption and biggest network effect.
It doesn't have to be better than other platforms... If Bitcoin is worse, but it's still the same one everybody else uses, then thats the one we use and not a better/faster/cheaper one. It's the same way with many tech stuff, like universal standards, etc. It's not per se very often that the best protocol/product/etc is also the most widely adopted.
This post has received a 2.47 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @pandorasbox.