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If something ever overtakes Bitcoin in the same way that Facebook overtook MySpace it’ll disprove the entire Bitcoin thesis. Currencies have to be stable. I exp

If something ever overtakes Bitcoin in the same way that Facebook overtook MySpace it’ll disprove the entire Bitcoin thesis. Currencies have to be stable. I expect a winner take all scenario here and Bitcoin to be that winner.

chrisco255 6y ago
What "Bitcoin thesis"? Nakamoto had no such assertions in the original whitepaper that other cryptos would never outcompete Bitcoin.
- celticninja 6y ago
  The only way to out compete bitcoin now is on features. Which if successful in an altcoin can easily be integrated into bitcoin.
  - mikeyjk 6y ago
    'easily' seems quite an assumption. It would depend on the change. Some changes would require giant rewrites.
  - chrisco255 6y ago
    "if" successful? Ethereum has had smart contracts now on-chain for 5-6 years and they are producing new abstractions and value add to the crypto ecosystem like decentralized exchanges, derivatives, crypto collectibles, savings and loans, conditional execution logic of smart contract based on external data from oracles (for things like prediction markets, insurance, price feeds, etc), etc etc. Turing complete smart contracts on-chain are a game changing innovation and Bitcoin won't go near it. They have ossified the protocol around the digital gold paradigm while Ethereum is creating a whole new platform with distinct network effects and value add. There's no reason why Ethereum's market cap can't exceed Bitcoin's. You know, there's asset classes that exceed gold's market cap, after all.
    - celticninja 6y ago
      Ethereum is the most interesting altcoin I agree but it was always designed to be something sufficiently different to bitcoin, unlike most altcoins. However ethereums adoption is considerably below that of bitcoin, possibly because the use cases are so varied there is not one strong reason for involvement. There may be many minor reasons that small specific groups have an interest in it but that isn't sufficient for widespread adoption. The most important thing Ethereum is working on is PoS over PoW, and that technology, I expect, will transfer to bitcoin I'd Ethereum implements it successfully first
      - chrisco255 6y ago
        Bitcoin is never quitting PoW. The Bitcoin core maintainers and consensus are adamant about PoW. The ETH2 work is important but the app layer on Ethereum is where the action is at today. Decentralized Finance is growing at 30x rate per year: https://defipulse.com/ https://defipulse.com/ . I fully expect this development to eventually eat most of the financial markets. They are going after derivatives, lending, options, etc. It's an extremely fast moving and innovative field and Bitcoin is frankly getting left in the dust. They will not implement Turing completeness. A lot of Bitcoin will end up wrapped and deployed on Ethereum. There's already $7.7B worth on there today: https://defipulse.com/btc https://defipulse.com/btc https://defipulse.com/ https://defipulse.com/
  - lawn 6y ago
    Bitcoin couldn't even raise the blocksize. It's unimaginable that Bitcoin would ever include Monero's feature set which is magnitudes more disruptive.

chrisco255 6y ago

What "Bitcoin thesis"? Nakamoto had no such assertions in the original whitepaper that other cryptos would never outcompete Bitcoin.

celticninja 6y ago
The only way to out compete bitcoin now is on features. Which if successful in an altcoin can easily be integrated into bitcoin.
- mikeyjk 6y ago
  'easily' seems quite an assumption. It would depend on the change. Some changes would require giant rewrites.
- chrisco255 6y ago
  "if" successful? Ethereum has had smart contracts now on-chain for 5-6 years and they are producing new abstractions and value add to the crypto ecosystem like decentralized exchanges, derivatives, crypto collectibles, savings and loans, conditional execution logic of smart contract based on external data from oracles (for things like prediction markets, insurance, price feeds, etc), etc etc. Turing complete smart contracts on-chain are a game changing innovation and Bitcoin won't go near it. They have ossified the protocol around the digital gold paradigm while Ethereum is creating a whole new platform with distinct network effects and value add. There's no reason why Ethereum's market cap can't exceed Bitcoin's. You know, there's asset classes that exceed gold's market cap, after all.
  - celticninja 6y ago
    Ethereum is the most interesting altcoin I agree but it was always designed to be something sufficiently different to bitcoin, unlike most altcoins. However ethereums adoption is considerably below that of bitcoin, possibly because the use cases are so varied there is not one strong reason for involvement. There may be many minor reasons that small specific groups have an interest in it but that isn't sufficient for widespread adoption. The most important thing Ethereum is working on is PoS over PoW, and that technology, I expect, will transfer to bitcoin I'd Ethereum implements it successfully first
    - chrisco255 6y ago
      Bitcoin is never quitting PoW. The Bitcoin core maintainers and consensus are adamant about PoW. The ETH2 work is important but the app layer on Ethereum is where the action is at today. Decentralized Finance is growing at 30x rate per year: https://defipulse.com/ https://defipulse.com/ . I fully expect this development to eventually eat most of the financial markets. They are going after derivatives, lending, options, etc. It's an extremely fast moving and innovative field and Bitcoin is frankly getting left in the dust. They will not implement Turing completeness. A lot of Bitcoin will end up wrapped and deployed on Ethereum. There's already $7.7B worth on there today: https://defipulse.com/btc https://defipulse.com/btc https://defipulse.com/ https://defipulse.com/
- lawn 6y ago
  Bitcoin couldn't even raise the blocksize. It's unimaginable that Bitcoin would ever include Monero's feature set which is magnitudes more disruptive.