Exactly four years ago today, I bought my first Bitcoin. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into at the time, or how profound an impact it would have on my life, but the more I started to learn, the more I realized how important this new technology truly was.
The truth is I wasn’t a Bitcoiner for very long because soon after my purchase came the BTC/BCH split. Not only did this historic event force me to learn how to make a transaction and split my coins, but it also forced me to read up on the block size debate and hear all the arguments from both small blockers and big blockers alike. In the end, I was convinced that Bitcoin Cash supporters made the most sense.
To me the entire value proposition of Bitcoin is that for the first time in history, we have a tool that can act as both an excellent store of value as well as a medium of exchange.
If you don’t know what I mean, think of gold as being a great store of value because it’s pretty much inflation proof. The only way to produce more gold is to mine it, which is both difficult and expensive. On the other hand, gold is a horrible medium of exchange because it isn’t easily divisible or portable. You can’t walk into a store and expect to pay exact change with a gold bar. This is why paper money was created. Not only is it easy to carry around but you can have different bills to represent different amounts so coming up with exact change is fairly simple. But the flip side is that since paper money can be printed out of thin air, it serves as an inferior store of value because the supply can be hyperinflated at any time.
And to me, this was the problem Bitcoin was always meant to solve. The problem of creating a form of money that could be relied upon as both an excellent store of value as well as a medium of exchange that’s faster and more efficient than any other form of money that existed before.
Once I learned that Bitcoin was only focusing on only being a store of value and pretty much abandoning its pursuit to become a reliable medium of exchange, I hopped on the Bitcoin Cash bandwagon.
I saw the people behind BCH as being focused on improving the cash-like properties of Bitcoin. The team at Bitcoin ABC had a solid roadmap for how to achieve the kind of scale that would be necessary for Bitcoin Cash to serve every human on the entire planet. They also had ideas on how to improve the usability of the chain so that fees would always stay low and confirmations would be nearly instant.
The only problem was that in order to execute, Bitcoin ABC needed help. They needed to hire more people to ensure that the project had enough hands on deck to be able to properly complete the roadmap. They even put together a detailed business plan laying out approximately how much would be needed and for what purpose. I donated to their cause because I believed in what they were doing and the amount being asked for appeared more than reasonable. In fact, it seemed downright cheap for everything they were trying to accomplish. But rather than offering to help, most in the BCH community scoffed. Instead of rewarding the people doing almost all of the work, the majority of the money raised went to teams that either had unproven track records, or teams that had only proven time and time again that they couldn’t be relied upon whatsoever.
This is when Bitcoin ABC finally decided to take matters into their own hands and changed the rules for good. They announced that they were introducing a new funding mechanism that would allocate 8% of the block reward to an address under ABC’s control in order to fund protocol and infrastructure development. While many BCH holders were convinced that Bitcoin ABC was only looking to enrich themselves, I disagreed.
Having used BCH as much as I have, I knew the protocol was far from ready for prime time. Anyone who looked closely enough could see a lot of work was still needed before the project could be taken seriously as an alternative financial system. Presenting Bitcoin as digital gold was one thing. If all you ever wanted the network to do was serve as just another asset class for the rich to invest in, that was one thing, but in order for it to be used as money for the world was an entirely different story.
I supported Bitcoin ABC’s decision to implement the new coinbase rule because it aligned with my beliefs. I didn’t see this as a tax but as a voluntary payment for services rendered. I believe in a world where people should be able to profit from their work, not one where people are forced to work for donations or not work at all. In addition, I saw the new coinbase rule as a way to properly align the incentives of holders, miners and developers to work together towards the same goal.
If it had been any other team, I can all but guarantee that this project would have been dead on arrival. The market would have rejected the 8% rule and the chain would have likely been worthless. But enough people saw the value of ABC’s vision to keep their work alive.
For me, the differences between these three chains is vast. While the eCash project is starting small, I believe this is more of a reflection that most people in crypto today have no idea what the value proposition really is.
I believe that buying into eCash isn’t about hoping to get lucky or buying low and selling high, it’s about buying into the idea that there’s a better way. I like to think that’s what’s always been at the core of the cryptocurrency movement from the days of Satoshi. The never ending search for something better, and I believe that eCash embodies this spirit more than any other project.
This project is not a protest movement. It’s not about taking down. It’s about building up. It’s about making technological breakthroughs by leading the way, not by following others. It’s about iterating until you finally get it right rather than just giving up and saying something is good enough.
I’m invested in eCash not because I’m afraid of missing out. I’m invested in eCash because it’s my way of opting in. For a better life, for a better world, one that is built on a strong foundation that emphasizes freedom and can withstand any storm that may come our way. If this sounds like something you want to support, buy eCash today, not because you want to get rich quick but because you want to help redefine what being rich really means.
(Bonus clue 3: I can’t tell if I do this too much or not enough)