There seems to be a lot of drama these days around scaling Bitcoin, the decentralized (or centralized) nature of a cryptocurrency when it comes to hard forking, the reputation of various celebrities in the Bitcoin ecosystem including core and non-core developers.
I've been around Bitcoin for over 4 years now, and all this noise just seems like the exact same debates people were having back then but just with more volume. People worried about what would happen to Bitcoin given all the threats of altcoins, or what if the core developers became corrupted, whether Bitcoin could keep up with the demands of growth, and who could be trusted.
And all the answers are the same as before.
Bitcoin grew the fastest, because it came first. It has many advantages for that reason, but this obviously provides no guarantees for the future.
The cryptocurrency market (and in fact, the whole currency market in general) works because people will naturally choose the best currency for their needs. And there are many, many needs in the currency market. This includes things such as:
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Limited number of coins.
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Low transaction fees.
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Decentralization of nodes and miners.
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The principles underlying the currency's development.
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Ability to scale.
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Technology that enables advanced features.
In a healthy cryptocurrency market, there are numerous threats against the leader. This will either make the leader stronger (because the leader adapts to the demands of the market) or will replace the leader with a new superior one. These threats are good. They are not evil. In fact, they are necessary in order for things to thrive and become better as a whole.
There are many people, however, who have a vested interest and/or centralized mentality that ends up doing nothing but create a lot of noise in a system that does not need noise at all.
There are people who were not happy with the direction or speed at which Bitcoin was innovating and saw it as a "huge problem" rather than a "huge opportunity". They wanted to simultaneously secure their investments in Bitcoin while taking advantage of Bitcoin's existing popularity in order to fix "a problem". But that's simply not how a free cryptocurrency market works. Perhaps the mindset of "central governments" and "central corporations" plague their ability to think like a true free market individual.
With regards to things such as the blocksize limit, the right thing happened in the end. And really, it should have happened with far less drama. And certainly, without the whiny sounding names like "Bitcoin Classic" and "Bitcoin Unlimited". The whining seems to have continued with whiny sounding names like "Ethereum Classic". All of this whining should just be competitive altcoins, preferrably without the whiny sounds.
Those who whine the most are probably invested more into Bitcoin and locked into Bitcoin more than they should have, particularly if they didn't agree with the ethos of the core developers in the first place. And if it wasn't clear before, it should be clear now: decentralization is more important than transactions per second. If that's an ethos you don't agree with, either in principle or implementation, you are free to create an altcoin. That's not to say Bitcoin shouldn't innovate or hear what the community has to say, but rather, that if in the end, it's not what you want, you should switch to a different currency.
If nobody ever switched, that would either mean:
- Bitcoin is perfect. (Can't be true, since it's ethos and implementation is subjective)
- Market is unhealthy. (People are locked-in against their will)
So altcoins are healthy. Swiching is healthy. Even the unfortunately whiny-sounding names are healthy. All of them work to keep Bitcoin honest. And if Bitcoin fails to provide for the needs of the market in general, the market should (and will) change to adapt.
There's no need to attack other developers for their competing ideas. State your case, in a civilized manner, show technological proof, evidence, tests. And let the organic nature of the free market run it's course. There is a lot of anger, frustration, and general discontent around here that is totally unnecessary. If you have a case for something better, and nobody is listening to you, then build it and let it prove itself.
That's what Satoshi did. Nobody gave him permission to revolutionize the financial system. He didn't have to ramble on and on about how "the current system sucks". He obviously didn't like the current system and make subtle suggestions to that fact, but certainly didn't kick up a lot of dust and noise picketing in front of the Federal Reserve. He knew it was unnecessary. He knew the markets would decide. That adoption would prove what is the best or not.
The resolve of the core developers have given me even more faith that they would do the right thing as they have done so far. They seem to know that centralizing the idea of who owns what coins, and politicizing, and exercising that type of control would be against the very principles that attracted it's early adopters and more faithful holders. Have some holders changed their mind? Sure, perhaps. Or maybe some are still thinking about it. But personally, as someone with no reason to be "locked-in" to Bitcoin (I don't own a Bitcoin company or anything like that), and could and would happily switch to a better thing if it came along, I have yet to see a better thing come along.
And I think there is a very massive non-vocal majority who are happy with Bitcoin (if they haven't been rattled by the annoying whining yet). And the proof is in the adoption.
Cool features are great, but not at the sacrifice of the principles of decentralization. More transactions are great, but not at the sacrifice of the principles of decentralization. Smart contracts and programmable money are great, but not at the sacrifice of the principles of decentralization.
If Bitcoin ever seems 2nd rate to another cryptocurrency that is provably better at being more secure and less centralized, while providing a set of features that I find useful, then I'd be happy to switch. The thing is, nothing I've heard from all the noise seems to be significant enough to warrant such a switch. I think we're very far from it. But that's just my free opinion, and hopefully you'll be free enough to make yours. Without whining, of course.
I'm quite happy with Bitcoin. And I think it's worth stating that, these days.
Submitted July 25, 2016 at 03:02PM by anon515 http://bit.ly/2aF1ieA
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