Cryptocurrency
Here’s Why The Altcoin Is Bitcoin (BTC)
How BTC Stagnated And Diverted From The Original Purpose
The term altcoin was coined by the early Bitcoiners, at a time when the first alternatives to Bitcoin cryptocurrencies appeared.
The first one was NameCoin and after that, a wave of Bitcoin clones appeared. Litecoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum, Dash, and later on Stellar, XEM, and various smart-contract-related networks.
This “new” trend with developers creating blockchain networks with limited differences to Bitcoin (cloning Bitcoin) was named altcoins and later on “shitcoins”.
However, cryptocurrencies progressed and many of them have brought innovation beyond what BTC was offering. And BTC remained stagnant all this time.
Cryptocurrencies have formed an industry today, and while BTC is the frontrunner, innovation is flourishing outside of the BTC realm.
Meanwhile, BTC stagnates in terms of scalability, with its proposed solution (the Lightning Network sidechain) proving impossible to work in a decentralized approach.
The BTC community falsely advocates the blockchain is inefficient and can’t scale, but Bitcoin Cash proves Satoshi was correct and bigger (reasonable) block size was the right approach in order to pursue mass adoption.
Blockstream, a company backed by the same financial institutions Bitcoin was rendering obsolete (AXA, Mastercard), is the reason Bitcoin never scaled. This company promotes LN and its own Liquid Network as the solutions to BTC’s scalability issues.
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The 2017 Fork Resulted in Two Versions Of Bitcoin
Wikipedia has a messed up definition of Bitcoin Cash right at the beginning of the BCH dedicated page:
Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency that is a fork of Bitcoin. Bitcoin Cash is a spin-off or altcoin that was created in 2017.
An inaccurate description based on untrustworthy articles from mainstream media.
The branding wars were already over before they even started since the Bitcoin brand was effectively hijacked by Blockstream devs, the moment they denounced and revoked Gavin Andresen’s commit access at GitHub.
The centralization of BTC development was finalized with the ousting of various renowned early Bitcoin developers (Garzik, Mike Hearn, and more) by a team of devs that proceeded with the creation of VC-funded Blockstream.
However, an even worse centralization process was the decisive factor in the outcome of the scaling debate in 2015.
A single anonymous person in control of the top three media channels for Bitcoin information on the internet was the crucial element Blockstream’s leadership needed to achieve the corporate hijack of Bitcoin.
Theymos, an anonymous persona was somehow in control of the Bitcoin forum (bitcointalk), Bitcoin.org domain, and the Bitcoin subreddit (r/Bitcoin).
It is remarkable how a single person managed to amass such power in the Bitcoin community, and how he selected to exercise this power at the most decisive point in Bitcoin’s history: the scaling debate.
The censorship Theymos employed at Reddit was simply the most dishonest and despicable moment in Bitcoin’s history.
The Bitcoin fork of 2017, created two chains, and a hash-war broke out, but with a predetermined outcome.
The Blockstream side assumed absolute control of BTC developments and Bitcoin Cash proceeded with a different brand.
Bitcoin Core has been leading developments since 2015 and followed the path of stagnation. Any upgrade of the Bitcoin protocol didn’t involve radical changes in terms of scaling. Segwit was yet another overhyped development that didn’t solve these issues despite the hype and promotion by influencers.
Bitcoin Cash is one of the two different routes Bitcoin followed since 2017. The other one is Bitcoin Core, the developers that formed Blockstream, the team that holds the commit rights and control the Bitcoin brand.
BTC is the altcoin since it is a crippled network with centralized development unable to further innovate, and incapable of offering a useful alternative to fiat currency to the world.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin Cash is more Bitcoin than BTC, according to the whitepaper.
BTC Resembles An Unfinished Altcoin
- High fees
- Stagnating development
- Powerful individuals in control of the press and the narrative
- A VC-backed private entity in control of development
- Modern BTC evangelists in favor of regulation and Wall Street compliance
That’s not quite Satoshi’s intention for Bitcoin, according to all testimonies, previous comments, emails, and the whitepaper.
BTC has been running at a maximum capacity for years.
What happened?
Adam Back was stalling and not being transparent with this statement since the purpose of Blockstream was to block any attempts of scaling Bitcoin on-chain as a crippled Bitcoin would serve his company.
The historic chart of BTC fees from BitInfoCharts:
Just this chart alone suggests BTC is an altcoin that diverted from the whitepaper and the purpose of P2P Electronic Cash.
This failure is the expected outcome of stagnation and centralization of BTC development under Blockstream’s control.
Bitcoin wasn’t supposed to be under the control of a single entity, but a decentralized network operating and upgrading with the agreement of the overwhelming part of the community.
The side of Blockstream was not even a majority and had to resort to censorship of the voice of the overwhelming majority.
The fork, the Bitcoin that didn’t follow the whitepaper and lost its currency features is BTC. Certainly, BTC is the altcoin in this perspective.
However, In 2023, The Term Altcoin is Obsolete
Altcoin is a derogatory term that gives an absolute advantage to BTC and supports enriching the BTC narratives.
BTC maximalists often use the term altcoin to broadcast an innovational superiority that doesn’t exist.
It is a marketing ploy, but it only made sense when the term was coined. Is Ethereum an altcoin? According to BTC Maxis, every other cryptocurrency is an altcoin.
Is there a feature a cryptocurrency should have to escape the altcoin tag? The term is irrelevant today and used only by BTC maxis, or ignorant crypto influencers.
It only serves the BTC whales and a short-sighted fanaticism that, in a technological aspect, is unfounded. The purpose is to move forward and create new developments that contain utility.
BTC, in this aspect, is a useless altcoin, as the BTC maximalists refer to cryptocurrencies.
In Conclusion
“Altcoin” is a term the BTC maxis are delighted it is still used.
“Alt-season” is another term that helps the maximalist narrative expand further and proceed as a vindication of the BTC narrative.
According to BTC enthusiasts, all other cryptocurrencies are considered altcoins, implying that BTC is the sole asset worth investing in.
However, BTC contains no innovation and no utility, and more than half of the world can’t use BTC as the high transaction fees don’t allow that.
Everyone can use Bitcoin Cash, even in the most isolated part of the world. BTC is simply not working, though.
BTC is the altcoin in 2023.
BTC offers zero utility and only serves speculation.
These are the remaining features of BTC: speculation on the fourth halving (the final halving that matters to the price), and the entertainment value as a meme in a similar approach to Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
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Originally published at https://read.cash.
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