I don't understand the fear of alts. I'm into Bitcoin because it's better money, in our history it's the best yet.
Competition is what will make it better. Alts can out innovate Bitcoin on every metric except one, the Network Effect, and this is what makes it useful as a SoV.
I think this significantly underestimates the threat of alt coins and why Bitcoin is not a given (I'm saying this as someone who believes/hopes in the project)
For example what if the US government created a USDollarCoin that:
1) has all of the benefits of programmable money, you can have your own wallet and spend it through computing devices
2) has the _perceived_ benefits of centralized control including the ability to "recover" lost coins and "reverse fraudulent" transactions (possibility a majority of people prefer this based on Bitcoin's detractors' views). This could be accomplished with forced use of multisig where the FED has co-control.
3) has significantly easier tax implications to deal with (meaning no tax implications) compared to bitcoin where EVERY transaction is a taxable event
4) launches with mass adoption through automatic bank account conversion
5) was legislated as the only legal currency
Maybe that doesn't scare you, but it scares me. The first wave of alts were simple clones, it was almost a given that network effects would hold them back here. However the next wave of alts are going to
a) come with real innovations and then
b) come with government sanctioned force
Network effects & Bitcoin's programmable nature will probably keep a) at bay, however network effect might actually work against Bitcoin if b) ever came to pass.
I'm not saying this will happend, and it may seem far fetched today, but it is in the realm of possibilities. The US government lives off of the inflation tax and
if Bitcoin ever becomes a real threat, the state will definitely try more and more attempts to maintain control of the money supply. It's possible the proposal above would be a last ditch attempt to save itself.
1934 Gold Reserve Act 2016 Bitcoin Reserve Act with a diminishing peg!I'm only interested in investing in creating a world with a hard money supply. I don't actually need the hard money to be Bitcoin the fact it can be and it is and I'm invested in it is a bonus, I just want a sustainable self regulating world and Bitcoin seems to be the most efficient way to get there. I'll stick my neck out and say it's the best shot we've had in over a 100 years and if we fail the results would be devastating. I have spent an inordinate amount of time probing and investing in many of the alt coin sachems, none in my opinion are a threat to Bitcoin, and now they are growing at a rate too complex for most to understand let alone comprehend.
For Bitcoin to succeed it just needs to be a store of value, it doesn't need to compete with the Bitcoin 2.0 Turing complete ideas to stay relevant, its not better services or better trust in institutions but trust in a better money will drive this revolution, Bitcoin is that, and it doesn't have any competition yet.
I for one welcome all forms of competition the more the better, it just makes Bitcoin more relevant, the more complex the situation becomes the more valuable a simple solution is. We have to stay vigilant, and pay attention, your Bitcoin profits are not guaranteed.
the state is just a bunch of people doing what they know to be good, a little education and an investment in Bitcoin will help align self interest with public good and heal any perversions we see today.
