I have been waiting a LONG time to begin to see this start happening. Since 2014 in fact.
1. We are on the cusp of a much deeper interest in Monero from the wider cypherpunk community.
2. We are possibly also going to be regaining the community focus as Monero as a COMPLIMENT to bitcoin rather than a competitor.
This recording of a Twitter Spaces hosted by Guns N' Bitcoins after they announced the intent to start to accept Monero (for obvious reasons) is worth a listen.
Behold the beginning of the beginning...
https://twitter.com/sethforprivacy/status/1455510248349962255?s=20-edit avoiding multiple posts in a row for our mods-
So it gets juicy at about minute 52. A listener states they do not understand why someone would be 100% Monero and reject bitcoin. And another listener gave a good reason, and one that I think is fairly new-ish in the Monero community. The answer was: Bitcoin has been co-opted.
Now. I believe that person believes that. Earlier in the talk someone brought up Blockstream and how they have programmed us to believe in small blocks etc. Maybe the same person.
THIS is what I mean when I say the Monero community is using BCASH arguments now.
I am also aware that people in this thread probably agree with the assertion that is being made there. But I think this is a really bad line. Because there is a better way to bring people INTO an understanding of Monero without forcing them into an adversarial position with Bitcoin.
Let's use Michael Saylor as an example. Anyone notice how he's often said he does not think Bitcoin challenges the US dollar? If you have listened to him for more than 45 seconds you know he is smart enough to get that Bitcoin ABSOLUTELY challenges all fiat currencies. But he is focusing on the "better at being gold than gold" angle.
His reasons are simple, in my humble opinion. It's what Bitcoin needs to do FIRST. And it's
ALL bitcoin needs to do FIRST. Because once it has basically replaced gold (not a trivial boss-fight in itself) then becoming a worldwide transactional currency is something that CANNOT be stopped.
But if Saylor was prancing around talking about how it is going to "destroy the dollar" then he'd be painting a target on it. Not only is the approach sensible it's honest. Because again, that is all Bitcoin needs to do right now. Become the premium store of wealth.
Likewise Monero does not need to replace Bitcoin. It just needs to COMPLIMENT IT. And for those who truly believe Bitcoin has been co-opted? Well don't use Bitcoin then, for sure. But it will be in your best interest to work in a way that will make monero attractive to as many people as possible. And you can coexist with the Bitcoin community and disagree with them. Or even believe that Monero should and/or WILL replace Bitcoin in the end.
It is like the famous Hayek quote:
don't believe we shall ever have a good money again before we take the thing out of the hands of government, we can't take it violently out of the hands of govt, all we can do is by some sly roundabout way introduce something that they can't stop
We don't need to replace Bitcoin. We just need to keep pointing out that there are some things Monero does that Bitcoin not only does not... but CANNOT.
My final point. This street works both ways. There are tremendous advantages to an open transparent blockchain. Bitcoin is better at certain things. And it will eat all the other shitcoins features over time. But one thing it can NEVER do is have an obfuscated base layer.
Selah.