RE: Another Wild Spike In Bitcoin Cash On Coinbase Addition + Atomic Swap - This Is Why You Keep Optimistic Limit Orders Active
Oh, yeah, maybe I wasn't clear. I don't really care which Bitcoin is the real Bitcoin.. I think they're both not the best cryptocurrencies. I think we're headed to a future where you can pay with whatever crypto you're holding, no matter if it's BTC, BCH or STEEM or ETH. So whichever is the real Bitcoin doesn't matter. Bitcoin (either one) only matters now, and will continue to matter as the biggest PoW coin or atleast one of them will.
Somehow I suspect (a feeling) that in the long run, PoW will survive and indeed be viewed in a more positive light than today. But using BTC for payments? Nope, not without significant upgrades. Using BCH for payments? Cheaper sure, but less trust in the longterm reliability of the network due to centralization risks. Some people will trust it enough to use it, and it will probably be safe (you'd have to be an idiot to kill your own goose with the golden eggs), and others will prefer to store it in BTC as 'store of value' and infrequently move it due to costs.
But even though I am a big crypto-enthusiast, I've learned to stay critical and I would still rather place (most of) my bets on crypto's that have a clear-cut value proposition other than 'it is money'. I know that we're all falling big time for the belief in crypto, and yes, fiat money is only belief too. But in the long run, if you have the choice between Crypto A which is 'like fiat' and Crypto B which has a clear value proposition... Well, it kind of ties back to our other discussion right now in the other post regarding fundamentals. A clear value proposition will be the fundamentals that keep it afloat when the belief in 'money like fiat' starts wavering, I believe.
So, that's why I said I'd rather put my money in a good alt than BCH. I feel like ETH is perhaps a less explosive bet, but a more safer bet. Even better is something like OMG, where there is a profit-sharing mechanism built into the token. It doesn't hinge on belief (=potential bubble) but is more akin to traditional investments.
Hm.. I think this discussion is inspiring a new topic for one of my next posts.
Edit: by the way, I think they should unify both Bitcoin communities. Let BTC be digital gold, or a digital 'savings account', and let BCH take care of payments. That's essentially what both communities seem to want anyway. Atomic Swap between the two, integrate the whole damn thing together and there shall be peace on earth
"That's essentially what both communities seem to want anyway."
Unfortunately, this is absolutely what the
snakesdevelopers of Bitcoin core want, who have publicly admitted they have restricted network speeds by preventing upgrades to increase fees to force users onto their "second layer, NOT decentralized" solutions like Lightning.The more I think about it though, the more I am starting to understand why indeed 2nd layer solutions are necessary in crypto. It was explained by a recent video of Boxmining where he interviews the Trinity developer (which is Lighting/Raiden, but for NEO). There they talk about the thousands of transactions per second that are required for running games, for each individual player, and how no scaling solution for the main chain can ever be enough to accommodate that many transactions. Of course this is more of an ETH/NEO discussion than a BTC one as BTC is purely a currency and not a platform as such. But it did make me view these second layer solutions in a different light.
As for the Bitcoin transaction fees, it turns out that Coinbase might in fact be the reason why fees are so high: they are spamming the mempool with individual transactions. Coinbase is taking measures now, one of which is finally implementing Segwit. It's going to be interesting to see how the fees develop once they do.
Also, the Lightning Network has arrived, sort of. It makes the fees practically zero, or will over time. I'm still undecided on the implications this has for decentralization and trust. I think you remain 100% in control of your own funds, and the only possible risk might be during a transaction, but otherwise everything should still be Bitcoin-secure. I could live with that, for the time being.