As kids, we all learn that money doesn’t grow on trees. As a society on the other hand, we have become conditioned to believe that it’s not only possible but that it’s a normal, necessary and productive function of our economy. Before bitcoin, this privilege was reserved to global central banks (see here for example). Post bitcoin, every Tom, Dick %story% Harry seems to think that they can create money too. At a root level, this is the audacity of everyone that attempts to create a copy of bitcoin. Whether by hard-forking out of consensus (bitcoin cash), cloning bitcoin (litecoin) or creating a new protocol with “better” features (ethereum), each is an attempt to create a new form of money. If bitcoin could do it, why can’t we?
We sit here, in 2019, witnessing the monetization event of an economic good (bitcoin) on the free market for the first time in thousands of years (h/t gold). Rather than stopping to contemplate the weight of that reality or to understand how or why that is possible, many people skip right past it to focus on some derivative or some way to improve upon a problem they didn’t see in the first place. Everyone wants to get rich quick, and so long as there is money, there will also be alchemists. Those that attempt to copy bitcoin are our modern day alchemists.
“Everyone wants to get rich quick, and so long as there is money, there will also be alchemists.”
They tell us that bitcoin is too slow so they create a copy that is “faster”. Or they tell us that bitcoin does not have the capacity to handle the number of transactions required by the global economy so they create a copy that has “greater” scale. Then they tell us that bitcoin is too volatile to be a currency so they create a “more stable” version. It goes on and on. Next its that bitcoin is too rigid and that it needs to be more programmable so they create a copy that is “more flexible”. They often even tell us that their creation is not money but instead, it’s a vehicle for “payments” or a “utility” or maybe a “global computer fueled by gas”. They also try to convince us of a world that has hundreds, if not thousands, of currencies. But make no mistake, in each case, it is their own attempt to create money.
Bitcoin’s Value Function
If an asset’s primary (if not sole) utility is the exchange for other goods and services and if it does not have a claim on the income stream of a productive asset (such as a stock or bond), it must compete as a form of money and will only store value if it possesses credible monetary properties. With each “feature” change, those that attempt to copy bitcoin signal a failure to understand the properties that make bitcoin valuable or viable as money. When bitcoin’s software code was released, it wasn’t money. To this day, bitcoin’s software code is not money. You can copy the code tomorrow or create your own variant with a new feature and no one that has adopted bitcoin as money will treat it as such. Bitcoin has become money over time only as the bitcoin network developed emergent properties that did not exist at inception and which are next to impossible to replicate now that bitcoin exists.
“Those that attempt to copy bitcoin signal a failure to understand the properties that make bitcoin valuable or viable as money.”
These properties emerged organically and spontaneously as individual economic actors all over the world evaluated bitcoin and determined to store a portion of their wealth in it. As bitcoin’s value increased, it became decentralized and as it became decentralized, it also became increasingly difficult to alter the network’s consensus rules or to invalidate, or prevent, otherwise valid transactions (often referred to as censorship-resistance). There remains reasonable debate as to whether bitcoin is sufficiently decentralized or sufficiently censorship-resistant, but while this may be the case, there are other considerations less subject to debate:
Bitcoin represents, by far, the most decentralized and most censorship-resistant monetary system in the world today, whether compared to traditional currencies, other digital currencies or commodity monies like gold.
Bitcoin derives its value because it is decentralized and because it is censorship-resistant; it is these properties which secure and reinforce the credibility of bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply (i.e. why it is an effective store of value).
Bitcoin becomes increasingly decentralized and increasingly censorship-resistant as its value increases and as it scales at all levels of the network.
Repeat.
Monetary Systems Tend to One
Every other fiat currency, commodity money or cryptocurrency is competing for the exact same use case as bitcoin whether it is understood or not and monetary systems tend to a single medium because their utility is liquidity rather than consumption or production. When evaluating monetary networks, it would be irrational to store value in a smaller, less liquid and less secure network if a larger, more liquid and more secure network existed as an attainable option.
Apply a common sense test. If you worked for two weeks and your employer offered to pay you in a form of currency accepted by 1 billion people all over the world or a currency accepted by 1 million people, which would you take? Would you request 99.9% of one and 0.1% of the other, or would you take your chances with your billion friends? If you are a U.S. resident but travel to Europe one week a year, do you request your employer pay you 1/52nd in euros each week or do you take your chances with dollars? The practical reality is that almost all individuals store value in a single monetary asset, not because others do not exist but rather because it is the most liquid asset within their market economy.
Anyone with Venezuelan bolivars or Argentine pesos would opt into the dollar system if they could. And similarly, anyone choosing to speculate in a copy of bitcoin is making the irrational decision to voluntarily opt-in to a less liquid, less secure monetary network. While certain monetary networks are larger and more liquid than bitcoin today (e.g. the dollar, euro, yen), individuals choosing to store a percentage of their wealth in bitcoin are doing so, on average, because of the belief that it is more secure (decentralized → censorship-resistant → fixed supply → store of value). And, because of the expectation that others (e.g. a billion soon-to-be friends) will also opt-in, increasing liquidity and trading partners.
“Anyone choosing to speculate in a copy of bitcoin is making the irrational decision to voluntarily opt-in to a less liquid, less secure monetary network.”
Why Bitcoin Can’t Be Copied
Many individuals creating digital currencies neither accept or admit that what they are creating has to be money to succeed; others that are speculating in these assets fail to understand that monetary systems tend to one medium or naively believe that their currency can out-compete bitcoin. None of them can explain how their digital currency of choice becomes more decentralized, more censorship-resistant or develops more liquidity than bitcoin. To take that further, no other digital currency will likely ever achieve the minimum level of decentralization or censorship-resistance required to have a credibly enforced monetary policy.
Bitcoin is valuable, not because of a particular feature, but instead, because it achieved finite, digital scarcity, through which it derives its store of value property. The credibility of bitcoin’s scarcity (and monetary policy) only exists because it is decentralized and censorship-resistant, which in itself has very little to do with software. In aggregate, this drives incremental adoption and liquidity which reinforces and strengthens the value of the bitcoin network. As part of this process, individuals are, at the same time, opting out of inferior monetary networks. This is fundamentally why the emergent properties in bitcoin are next to impossible to replicate and why bitcoin cannot be copied or out-competed: because bitcoin already exists as an option and its monetary properties become stronger over time (and with greater scale), while also at the direct expense of inferior monetary networks.
One would likely never come to this conclusion without first developing their own understanding of the following: i) that bitcoin is finitely scarce (how/why); ii) that bitcoin is valuable because it is scarce; and iii) that monetary networks tend to one medium. You may come to different conclusions, but this is the appropriate framework to consider when contemplating whether it is possible to copy (or out-compete) bitcoin rather than a framework based on any particular feature set. It’s also important to recognize that any individual’s conclusions, including your own or my own, has very little bearing in the equation. Instead, what matters is what the market consensus believes and what it converges on as the most credible long-term store of value.
The empirical evidence (price mechanism %story% value) demonstrates that the market continues to determine why bitcoin is different, despite a significant amount of noise. Before speculating, try to understand why bitcoin works and why it’s unique. When someone inevitably tells you about a better bitcoin or some differentiating feature, remember that the market, which has come to this same crossroad over the last decade before you, has considered those trade-offs and chosen bitcoin over the field for very rational reasons.
The Minority Rule
Nassim Taleb writes about how a very small intransigent minority can force its preference on the majority, referring to it as the minority rule and explaining why The Most Intolerant Wins. Bitcoin (and monetary systems) are a perfect example of this phenomenon. If a very small minority converges on the belief that bitcoin has superior monetary properties and will not accept your form of digital (or traditional) currency as money, while less convicted market participants accept both bitcoin and other currencies, the intolerant minority wins. This is exactly what is happening in the global competition for digital currency supremacy. A small minority of market participants has determined that only bitcoin is viable, rejecting the monetary properties of all other digital currencies, while the majority is willing to accept bitcoin along with the field. Because of its intransigence, the minority is slowly forcing its preference on the majority. In the world of digital currencies, diversifying by picking the field is the equivalent of letting the crowd (or the intolerant minority) choose what your future money will be, while resigning yourself to only a fraction of what you otherwise would have saved. Evaluate the trade-offs and consider the minority rule before trading in your hard-earned value for a flyer. Money doesn’t grow on trees.
“Bitcoin is a remarkable cryptographic achievement, and the ability to create something that is not duplicable in the digital world has enormous value.” – Eric Schmidt (Former Google CEO).
Bitcoins are forgery-resistant because multiple computers, called nodes, on the network must confirm the validity of every transaction. It is so computationally intensive to create a bitcoin that it isn't financially worth it for counterfeiters to manipulate the system.
bitcoin аналоги
bitcoin froggy
bitcoin prune
free bitcoin bitcoin novosti bitcoin grant ethereum addresses cryptocurrency nem bitcoin widget bitcoin транзакции hack bitcoin bitcoin plus500
monero майнить flappy bitcoin bitcoin plugin
майн ethereum ethereum price xmr monero bitcoin gambling зарабатывать ethereum ethereum block To get the blockchain explained in simple words, it requires no central server to store blockchain data, which means it is not centralized. This is what makes the blockchain so powerful.ethereum вывод bitcoin converter бесплатный bitcoin difficulty monero добыча ethereum cryptonight monero ethereum алгоритм
продать bitcoin alien bitcoin cryptonator ethereum кости bitcoin bitcoin conveyor и bitcoin key bitcoin monero кран криптовалюта tether bitcoin conference bitcoin up casino bitcoin windows bitcoin валюта tether bitcoin деньги pos bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость суть bitcoin перспектива bitcoin 99 bitcoin bitcoin masternode зарабатывать bitcoin For merchants, the advantages of receiving bitcoin are obvious. Payments made using the virtual currency save substantially on processing fees and eliminate the risk of charge-backs. For shoppers, the advantages of paying with bitcoin include greater simplicity in placing the transaction, user anonymity, no interruptions from intermediaries, and very low transaction fees. (For example, your account being frozen as a result of a fraud alert). What factors affect bitcoin’s price?bitcoin virus In a cryptocurrency context, a 'scam' is a project which:Logan RossProtocol changes, also known as hard forks, can be 'planned' or 'unplanned'. A reason for a planned fork may be to adapt the system to manage new needs, introduce security protocols, or streamline the mining process, amongst other possibilities. Unplanned forks may be a result of discovered security flaws that some feel should not be patched, or other events that do not reach a consensus on how to address it. For example, a cyber attack may encourage network miners to adopt changes to the protocol while others want to keep to the old protocol and address concerns as needed. The largest example of this is the break between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.криптовалюта tether key bitcoin bitcoin валюты The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it has built a Clearing and Settlement Mechanism (CSM) based on the Ethereum distributed ledger and smart contract platform.free ethereum
bitcoin игры bitcoin video torrent bitcoin
bitcoin statistic monero faucet bitcoin key bitcoin bonus simplewallet monero 0 bitcoin pow bitcoin monero client bitcoin anonymous redex bitcoin book bitcoin download tether stellar cryptocurrency vizit bitcoin rx470 monero bitcoin список bitcoin lurk bitcoin иконка monero windows bitcoin хешрейт bitcoin update forecast bitcoin bitcoin etf
ethereum homestead bitcoin song coingecko ethereum dog bitcoin rotator bitcoin bitcoin шахты
bitcoin protocol анонимность bitcoin
bitcoin bitminer ethereum stratum 999 bitcoin bitcoin nvidia bitcoin прогноз chart bitcoin ethereum gold cryptocurrency calculator bitcoin покер
платформы ethereum best bitcoin bitcoin блок
описание bitcoin check bitcoin email bitcoin protocol bitcoin chaindata ethereum bitcoin аналоги bitcoin club chvrches tether bitcoin knots phoenix bitcoin bitcoin начало
space bitcoin usa bitcoin cryptocurrency ico mist ethereum bitcoin пул bitcoin biz bitcoin png bitcoin сделки ethereum википедия депозит bitcoin monero обмен
monero hashrate будущее ethereum
ethereum mine
claim bitcoin vps bitcoin bitcoin форум byzantium ethereum bitcoin future bitcoin tm btc ethereum
blocks bitcoin
600 bitcoin loan bitcoin bitcoin magazine cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin instagram bitcoin reserve view bitcoin dark bitcoin The plan was for investors in The DAO to receive tokens proportional to how much ether they invested in the project. With those tokens they could vote for which projects to fund. For selecting projects to invest in, it relied on the 'wisdom of crowds,' the idea that decisions made by a large group of people voting often leads to better outcomes than a single director, or even multiple directors making the decision.cryptocurrency gold cryptocurrency ethereum
ethereum алгоритм magic bitcoin bitcoin shop знак bitcoin bitcoin film bitcoin халява bitcoin рубли
calculator ethereum cryptocurrency tech обвал bitcoin easy bitcoin ethereum бесплатно bitcoin machine ethereum info 1080 ethereum programming bitcoin bitcoin like bitcoin сделки ethereum перевод monero minergate
avatrade bitcoin
bitcoin trust fasterclick bitcoin ethereum валюта bitcoin alert монеты bitcoin index bitcoin график bitcoin bitcoin 4000 перспективы bitcoin bitcoin xpub bitcoin easy bitcoin json ethereum видеокарты знак bitcoin bitcoin фильм bitcoin advertising bitfenix bitcoin hash bitcoin bitcoin freebitcoin bitcoin flapper bitcoin ann bitcoin видео bitcoin rpg
get bitcoin tether android Bitcoin was the first popular cryptocurrency. No one knows who created it — most cryptocurrencies are designed for maximum anonymity — but bitcoins first appeared in 2009 from a developer reportedly named Satoshi Nakamoto. He has since disappeared and left behind a bitcoin fortune.bitcoin hosting
monero биржи хардфорк ethereum dag ethereum bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin fun dat bitcoin робот bitcoin шифрование bitcoin Hardware Walletbitcoin stock bitcoin 99 кошелек tether bitcoin monero converter bitcoin bitcoin school сколько bitcoin chain bitcoin
bitcoin казахстан
connect bitcoin bitcoin btc
bitcoin майнить mooning bitcoin
обмен monero tether bootstrap bitcoin форки keys bitcoin ubuntu bitcoin криптовалюта tether
bitcoin security фото ethereum bitcoin com bitcoin steam
bitcoin статистика bip bitcoin 20 bitcoin avto bitcoin bitcoin pay monero dwarfpool pplns monero multiplier bitcoin india bitcoin ethereum pools tether майнинг
bitcoin cli wikipedia cryptocurrency
bitcoin машина сбор bitcoin uk bitcoin neo cryptocurrency fire bitcoin bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin ферма краны monero live bitcoin bitcoin cny сколько bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество ethereum telegram продать bitcoin исходники bitcoin bitcoin программирование удвоитель bitcoin ethereum web3 api bitcoin bitcoin easy buy ethereum платформ ethereum bitcoin maining bitcoin analysis майнить bitcoin cryptocurrency chart bitcoin xl
pay bitcoin bitcoin pay clicks bitcoin bitcoin лопнет space bitcoin bitcoin терминал captcha bitcoin bitcoin payment валюта tether withdraw bitcoin 600 bitcoin mining bitcoin bitcoin usa китай bitcoin биржи bitcoin bitcoin virus капитализация bitcoin ethereum bitcoin After people realized the barter system didn’t work very well, the currency went through a few iterations: In 110 B.C., an official currency was minted; in A.D. 1250, gold-plated florins were introduced and used across Europe; and from 1600 to 1900, the paper currency gained widespread popularity and ended up being used around the world. This is how modern currency as we know it came into existence.We looked at more than a dozen Bitcoin wallets all over the world and decided on the top hot and cold wallets based on factors such as security, costs, and customer reviews. Security is obviously a big consideration, so it’s important to use a wallet that is well used and has plenty of security protocols in place. It’s also important to choose a wallet that works well with some of the larger exchanges so that you can quickly complete transactions in the open market. создатель ethereum раздача bitcoin bitcoin майнеры bitcoin таблица monero algorithm bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin компьютер monero вывод prune bitcoin бутерин ethereum bitcoin etf
монета ethereum
shot bitcoin bitcoin demo bitcoin fake casinos bitcoin bitcoin блок монета ethereum ethereum обмен bitcoin подтверждение bitcoin de sberbank bitcoin tether coinmarketcap видео bitcoin хардфорк monero проект bitcoin bitcoin стратегия flash bitcoin bitcoin loto bitcoin работа лотереи bitcoin bitcoin uk перевод ethereum bitcoin auto уязвимости bitcoin transaction bitcoin bitcoin direct bitcoin покупка
surf bitcoin
dwarfpool monero
bitcoin atm bitcoin автокран email bitcoin bitcoin wiki bitcoin carding home bitcoin
bitcoin tor get bitcoin bitcoin это little bitcoin delphi bitcoin wei ethereum bitcoin skrill monero logo login bitcoin калькулятор ethereum асик ethereum
ethereum scan bitcoin работа The method of cold storage is less convenient than encrypting or taking a backup because it can be harder for users to access their coins. Thus, many bitcoin owners who use cold storage keep some tokens in a standard wallet for regular spending and put the rest in a cold storage device. This reduces the effort of digging out coins from the cold storage every now and then for everyday use. The practice of splitting the reserves is typically followed by exchanges that facilitate buying and selling of cryptocurrencies. These platforms deal with huge number of bitcoins (and other cryptocurrencies) and are often prime targets for hackers. To minimize the amount of loss in cases where security is breached, such platforms sometimes opt to keep a majority of their tokens in cold storage. These exchanges know the withdrawal trends and thus keep only that amount on the server to meet the requirements.bitcoin symbol
сколько bitcoin bitcoin script amd bitcoin ethereum rig bitcoin wordpress bitcoin tm polkadot stingray бесплатно bitcoin cryptocurrency charts вывод monero monero курс
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediabitcoin установка Decentralized exchanges are a popular way to trade Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without the restrictions of larger centralized platforms. They allow users to buy and sell cryptocoins from each other without the involvement of a middleman or a third-party.bitcoin bio bitcoin switzerland вклады bitcoin statistics bitcoin магазин bitcoin bitcoin миксер simple bitcoin bitcoin exchanges bitcoin golden zcash bitcoin
tether tools bitcoin blockstream bitcoin ann bitcoin сервисы reklama bitcoin bitcoin авито bitcoin top перспективы ethereum What's unique about ETH?ethereum кошельки time bitcoin tether кошелек ninjatrader bitcoin
ethereum валюта monero pools ротатор bitcoin code bitcoin bitcoin книга сайте bitcoin bitcoin lottery bitcoin capitalization trade cryptocurrency прогноз ethereum bitcoin png tether скачать альпари bitcoin бот bitcoin bitcoin exchanges
keystore ethereum blocks bitcoin
сложность ethereum bitcoin xpub bitcoin simple moneybox bitcoin roll bitcoin bitcoin unlimited ethereum биткоин bitcoin trading bitcoin настройка apple bitcoin bitcoin machine fork bitcoin ethereum casino bitcoin москва bitcoin links bitcoin обменники
торрент bitcoin monero asic
alliance bitcoin polkadot ico vector bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin cryptocurrency tech монет bitcoin пулы bitcoin bitcoin 4000 bitcoin курс bitcoin мерчант monero rur bitcoin торги bitcoin center explorer ethereum видео bitcoin fake bitcoin usb bitcoin KEY TAKEAWAYSbitcoin лучшие ann ethereum bitcoin download ethereum course bitcoin платформа transaction bitcoin bitcoin joker bitcoin рублей bitcoin вложить monero minergate
bitcoin asics
bitcoin carding зарабатывать ethereum bitcoin charts bitcoin список ethereum coin torrent bitcoin bitcoin транзакции Transactions can only be made when all parties involved are online.What is Staking?keystore ethereum data bitcoin top cryptocurrency excel bitcoin Thus the inclusion of seizure resistance (this is also sometimes referred to as ‘tamper resistance’ or ‘judgment resistance’). By this I mean the ability of users to retain access to their Bitcoin under duress, during times of upheaval or displacement, all in a peaceful and covert way.ConclusionThese are friendly names for versions of the core Ethereum software, a little like Apple’s OS X version names such as Mavericks, El Capitan, Sierra.ViaBTC2%-4% (depends on how shares are paid)0.1mBTCstratum+tcp://btc.viabtc.com:3333Large10000 bitcoin hd7850 monero 3 bitcoin блог bitcoin сервер bitcoin download bitcoin кредит bitcoin bitcoin iphone ethereum swarm msigna bitcoin tp tether таблица bitcoin all cryptocurrency get bitcoin hacking bitcoin китай bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin ann bitcoin network расшифровка bitcoin терминал bitcoin bitcoin rus blogspot bitcoin ethereum доллар simple bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные 15 bitcoin ethereum contract ethereum contracts bitcoin fast
buying bitcoin monero майнить bitcoin аналоги Speculation - As a novel, cryptographically-backed asset class with the potential for appreciation and high volatility, Bitcoin is perfect for speculators with a high tolerance for risk. HODL!!!bitcoin ваучер