HODLing BTC for the long-term.
That was what it became, maybe not by design, but it will go to 10K.
The Bitcoin Whitepaper.
Sometimes I get trapped into conversations that come from a belief motivated: 'Bitcoin is to replace the financial transaction system.' There is no reasoning for this when looking into the Bitcoin Whitepaper for proof that should support these claims. It is like the joke: "How many Bitcoin purists are needed to renew a lightbulb?" Where the answer is a 101. One to actually replace the LED bulb, while the 100 surrounding the event will discuss how Nakamoto Satoshi would have done it. Where already the first mistake being made is that they claim that it is about a he. While the whole whitepaper is in plural form: we. And even that is being denied, because it collides with a belief system. Almost a religion where BTC is divine and has got even its own prophet.
Interpretations about what they really ment by the Bitcoin Whitepaper. It rubs me the wrong way, even though it seems I misunderstood some obvious retorics, to me, in a few conversations. Cognitive dissonance, somebody explained to me, that is like a religion, where almost nobody knows the written words, but just repeats their own most convenient belief system. It is almost a waste of time to try to come up with logic reasoning, providing scientific evidence, handing information that supports it all. Take the first sentence from the Bitcoin Whitepaper:
A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a
financial institution.
Nowhere it claims, throughout the whole document that it is going to replace the evil banking monetary governance system for instance. Where does that belief come from? Not from the whitepaper. As it is even aiming to offer solutions for the financial realm:
... the main
benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network.
And that is just in the first paragraph of the Bitcoin Whitepaper! Note the We there? How many times do you talk about yourself in the plural form?
... we propose a solution ...
No claim to replace the digital financial transaction system, just proposing a solution. To use a trustless system of direct payments. And that got the name Bitcoin. Coin, as in cash, easy to addept to I guess. But nowhere it states: "Though shalleth not fork this proposal and make it into code." Nor "Though shalleth only mine with CPUs." Even though that seemed to be the concept. But Moore's law went down on that one hard.
Them big blocks, again.
Nor could it replace the financial system, because in 1 MB (not even a real MB, that would be 1024KB), it only can fit about 3 transactions per second. With 400.000.000.000 transactions per year, that would need 12.675 transactions per second, or 4 GigaByte blocks. Now before the claim comes in a reply that the Unlimited group has already tested 1 GB blocks; If their claim is true, it was done so in a testing enviroment. And also the developer stated that the step from 10 MB blocks to 1 GB is not going to be tomorrow. Yes, everyday technology is not there yet, by far. We do not have quantum computers at home yet either.
So, in a controlled testing enviroment it is possible to get very close to absolute zero in temperature. Great for doing Quantum Mechanic experiments. And with the right equipment it will even be possible to do testing with 4 GB blocksize mining. No doubt about that. But before that could be done in our homes, that might take a few years, or more even when Moore is in a bad mood. 4GB blocks per ten minutes would mean 24 GB per hour added to the Bitcoin blockchain. Imagine that going back and forth over the current internet. Or the storage needed, even after only a day.
Therefore it looks that Bitcoin as presented in the Whitepaper was not really suited to replace the whole financial system in the first place. It was a concept, a proposal, a possible solution for a trustless financial transaction system. When I reread this 9 pages it became clear to me that a lot that is being claimed in the whole Bitcoin realm is based on people their own belief system. What could be done with it. Strange claims like 'Peoples money' or 'To get rid of the bankers fiat money system', those are all personal interpretations that are way off what is written in the Bitcoin Whitepaper. And no, I am not considering myself to be a Bitcoin purist, I just am getting more and more annoyed by groups that claim they are. While all they seem to spread is their own belief system, almost like a religion.
##_ Agenda 21_ million.
Do not know who came up with that number, but I came to understand I am not to joke about it, as agenda 21 is to be considered holy too. By the ones that believe they are called to rule the world, yeah right. As I can actually think for myself I can see the state life on earth is in. Thanks to those dangerous idiots that belief they are superior to others. And Bitcoin was not ment to replace them either. If you watch some videos about the so called Bitcoin Unlimited {BU} movement, than you can see that Australian entrepeneur, who could well have been part of the group 'Nakamoto Satoshi', go into one rage of anger after another. He sweares a lot, it is part of his trademark, or so it seems. And I can imagine why the group fell apart, where Adam Back moved on with Blockstream at some point.
Different ideas about what Bitcoin could develope into. As the whitepaper only does give a concept. It even states CPUs would be used. And the the size of the blockchain would only grow 1.2 GB per year. Which would make it 43 GB by now. And Moore's law was too conservative, as the Bitcoin blockchaisize is already close to 140 GB. That is almost a 100 GB more... So, yes, even the original idea was not really that spot on. Althought the banks praise the blockchain financial technology, they are using it, but they will do so in a private manor. Sure, also decentralized, but in a centrally controlled enviroment. But, not with Bitcoin anywhere near. Just ask that banker from JP Morgan Chase. He is telling the truth. They will be using the technology like it was proposed in the Bitcoin Whitepaper, but without one key issue: BTC. Imagine how many jobs the banks could dump, no intermediates needed anymore. Gone employees, that will cut the biggest costs ever for them.
And that is why that Australian entrepeneur, who is part of the BU group, raged on about getting Banks and Governments in too. Cursing and swearing all the way, making fun of the libertarians, ancaps and anarchists that created their own Bitcoin belief system. But I do believe the man speaking honestly. It sure was an eye-opener for me watching those videos of the BU conference in Arnhem , Nederland, in 2017. He is a strong believer in vertical developement, bigger blocks, where Adam Back is a fan of horizontal developement, sidechains and lightning network. Makes sense in understanding why the 'Satoshi' group could have fallen apart. Do not know if the BTC they mined was Multi-Sig, but if then it will be locked in forever, I guess.
It is Free and Open Sourced, all the way.
Now the man from Bitcoin Unlimited also claimed he will patent whatever he likes. Now, that is a bit weird. Never heard that come from the Bitcoin Core {BC} group. It even gets weirder when I read bcash, the roadmap for BU, propaganda claiming that Blockstream Incorporated is going for patents on the Lightning Network. While it is available under the Free and Open Source MIT license at GitHub. False claims, even getting stranger when somebody from the bigger blocks side, BU / bcash {BCH}, claims he wants to patent the Bitcoin Unlimited developements. And I do believe the man, he is very passionate about that and getting the banks and governements in. But, that is not that strange when you carefully, with an open mind, read the Bitcoin Whitepaper.
It was ment to offer a possible solution for financial transactions that at that time still were depending on intermediates. And with the concept of a blockchain, even without the so called bitcoin, used to create trustless transactions, this could lead to huge savings. Even to bigger cuts because a lot of intermediates could be let go. Put blunt, employees would become superfluous, as code is law. And banks and governments took the blockchain in. The JP Morgan Chase banker that could not care less about Bitcoin, BTC, does thank a divine being for _blockchain technology. And guess what? He is absolutely telling the truth. No better way to hide secrets than making them public...
On the bright side.
So, even though the original Bitcoin developement group, that called themselves 'Satoshi Nakamoto', created it for the excisting financial system and the blockchain is privately going to be used as fintech, does not mean all is lost. Reading the Bitcoin whitepaper over and over again, I could not escape the idea that this was not ment to be 'The Peoples Money' ever. Nor an alternative to_ the Banking Monetary Governance_ {BMG} system. It was to help, to support it, by offering a possible solution by creating a ledger, called blockchain, that made trustless transactions possible. Meaning getting rid off the intermediates. First when that sank in I was a bit sad and got angry after that reading all kinds of nonsens being claimed about Bitcoin that were like a belief, nowhere near to the truth.
But then I realized what it had become. Not as much as it maybe was supposed to. Even CPUs are not being used to mine BTC anymore, for years now. But it has created this thing, a realm of the Cryptos, almost unstopable, where code is law and those who try to rule over others are rendered numb, left clueless. Maybe not intended as such, when one reads the original Bitcoin Whitepaper. But it got humanity a tool for change. No matter what the intentions of the original group Satoshi Nakamoto were, it morphed into a unique substantial realm, to many already known as Cryptos. And this already has proven itself to be able to create more than an alternative to the Banking Monetary Governance system.
Bitcoin was the first crypto, BTC is still the champion holder of a lot of value and that was what it evolved into, not by design intent. Gone be the savings accounts and in came the open ledger of the public blockchain addresses. And this is moving forward fast, in may directions. And maybe it is time to start to talk about all of these as Cryptos, including Bitcoin, as one of them all. No more talk about so called Alts, because they are part Bitcoin too. They all can be seen as Crypto, with those that move on proving themselves of their worth to those who do use them. That is already an alternative, that is already disruptive. Maybe not by design as intended, but that is where it is going.
May the Cryptos be with you.
Maybe it is more important what it has become...
Image CC0 licensed by Tom Bark.