There is a stunning amount of misinformation out there about Bitcoin. The majority of such has stemmed from several ‘experts’ in the crypto space who are seen to have certain technical skills (coding, developing, investing) and I find it frustrating to stand-by and watch.

These people have a large follower base and are leaders of large organisations. They all preach their love for Bitcoin and how it will change the world but seem to lack basic reasoning or unbiased views as to how.

Underneath this you have us, the general public, Individuals who have a passion for everything Bitcoin but are not necessarily technical experts, developers or investors.

Unfortunately passion in this instance does not mean being nice or smart or hard working. Passion by its nature is driven by intense emotion and as human beings we are intensely emotional. Unfortunately for most individuals (me included) the easy option is to follow these expert individuals with blind abandon when they preach the things that get us most excited — or passionate. It’s easy to jump on the ‘band-wagon’, join the cult and accept that the ‘experts are always right’ without taking the opportunity to step back, remove the emotion and look at things objectively.

Disclaimer. I am not an expert. I have no coding or developer skills and I am certainly not an expert when it comes to investing. I have no business associated with Bitcoin and I do not have a large follower base where I have an incentive to keep people engaged. What I do have is a basic understanding of economics and finance and what is required for Bitcoin to be adopted on a world stage. I have a passion for Bitcoin and believe it can change our world for the better.

My goal is to paint a high level picture of two competing sides in Bitcoin. I have been involved in the space since 2011 when I bought my first Bitcoins. I have witnessed two major chain forks and continuous arguments from different organisations and people in the space as to what’s best for Bitcoin. I have read countless blogs, articles and forums, listened to numerous podcasts and watched hours of content on you tube regarding Bitcoin and the crypto space in general. Over this eight year period I have developed my own thoughts and ideas on what’s most important for Bitcoin to be successful.

People in the crypto space (and entering) need to look at both sides of the story objectively and decide what they think makes the most sense. People in general need to stop being lazy. Take some time to do research and take what the ‘experts’ say with a grain of salt

Let’s split the crypto space into two, broad categories. On one side we have Bitcoin Core (BTC) which does not want to scale. For those new to the crypto space this is most likely what you would have heard about first. It is the most valuable and currently makes up approx. half the market cap of all crypto currencies. You will find most main stream media report about BTC and it is the focus of most expert analysis in the space.

On the other side you have Bitcoin SV (BSV) who wants to scale as quickly as possible. If you have heard anything about BSV it is most likely negative and most likely the negativity is being driven by those experts. If you haven’t done any research into this it would be very easy to accept the general consensus and assume that BSV is a fraud and will fail.

Scaling as quickly as possible should be the most important goal for Bitcoin. Scaling refers to a Bitcoin that can compete on a global level with the likes of Visa and MasterCard and has the ability to support all businesses and individuals. Whoever scales the fastest will win. There is no second prize. Winner takes all.

Unfortunately, BTC is no longer Bitcoin. It no longer resembles what Bitcoin was originally designed to do.

I imagined that Bitcoin would scale quickly and become a single ledger that could house the entire world’s data in an immutable and verifiable manner. Not a ledger that is slow, costly and limited in the information it can hold.

I imagined Bitcoin as a peer to peer digital cash — a medium of exchange to be used by businesses and individuals alike. Not an inefficient settlement layer that is worse than the current banking system.

I imagined Bitcoin as cheap and instantaneous, the greatest economic system the world had seen. Not a system that is expensive and slow and fails to compete with inefficient and costly third party services.

To re-iterate:

1. BTC is not used as a medium of exchange in the real world. No large institutions or business’s use BTC. Individuals do not use BTC in everyday life to replace fiat.

2. BTC cannot scale. It operates an unstable economic protocol which is detrimental to everyday use for businesses and individuals:

a) The average transaction cost on BTC for 2019 is over $1 USD. As use increases the transaction cost increases — a self-defeating model. In comparison the average for VISA is around $0.22. Visa does not increase in cost as the number of transactions increase.

b) BTC averages about 6.1 transactions per second due to a block size limit of 2MB — this is capped and won’t change. VISA in comparison can do 65,000 transactions per second.

3. BTC is not a store of value. The crypto experts would preach otherwise but for something to have a store of value it must also have a use case. Using BTC as a means to transfer from fiat to alt-coin or as speculation is not an economic use case.

You might ask how or why it has failed. Bitcoin worked back in the day. When it was released in 2009 it had so much potential. Unfortunately people with agendas got control and through the power of social media were able to spread lies and rumours through the space to support their selfish actions. These people don’t care about Bitcoins success; all they care about is maintaining a system that they can control and profit from — no different to the current system we live in.

I am not a socialist, nor am I a libertarian. I am a capitalist, but a capitalist that understands that the most value is created in an economic system when people are forced to play by the rules. A system that people can profit from by creating efficiencies and improvements in the way we live our lives, a system that is not controlled by central governments and a select few individuals.

All is not lost. Thankfully the vision of Bitcoin is still alive through BSV.

BSV promises a Bitcoin that is unaltered and unbounded, one that can scale immeasurably on-chain and give the crypto space a genuine chance of succeeding in a world dominated by lies and agendas.

Bitcoin transactions are simply data. In realising this very simple fact the team behind BSV has opened up the blockchain, this beautiful global database, to anyone who wants to use it. Be that peer to peer cash transactions or the storing of data and all the world’s information. It has opened the doors to scale and growth, providing all individuals and businesses an opportunity to build on top of it and be safe in the knowledge that all records stored on this global ledger are immutable and safe for as long as the blockchain exists.

BSV is Bitcoin:

1. BSV is used as a medium of exchange. There is a vibrant ecosystem that is growing on top of the BSV protocol. Numerous apps like Handcash, Centbee and Money Button allow people to buy, transfer and spend BSV.

2. BSV operates a stable economic protocol. The focus is on scale, to have enterprises adopt it and use it in their everyday business. For this to happen BSV needs to be cheap, fast and stable.

a) BSV has an average transaction cost of $0.0016 USD.

b) BSV is expanding the block size to 2GB and by early 2020 there will be no block size cap. This will allow the ecosystem to handle billions of transactions per second.

3. BSV is a store of value. It has a use case. People use it. I use it. With a use case you can associate a value.

My intention in writing this was to outline what has become obvious to me over the last eight years. My thoughts and ideas have grown and subsequently changed over this period of time and I am fortunate that I have experienced so much of this because it helps provide me with the ability to see through all the misinformation that has crept into the crypto space.

Don’t take my word for it though. I am sure with some appropriate due diligence and an objective mind-set free of emotion you will come to the same conclusion that I have.