Just what the title says.
The vast majority of the talk surrounding Bitcoin, especially among those who don't run their own Bitcoin nodes (outrageous) is around 'price' or exchange rate. Which is fine. The Exchange rate of the Swiss Franc to the Dollar is important for example there's nothing wrong with discussing it.
However, if that's all people talk about then that's not acceptable long term.
It's obvious that Bitcoin is a great store of value. It's obvious and accepted that there will only be 21 million Bitcoin. Full stop. They (the Bitcoins) are generally-speaking rare. Certainly relative to the number of people and everything else in the world that exists or that people use to store value. And so Bitcoins 'go up forever' as fiat money inflates and there are only 21 million Bitcoins.
However if Bitcoin is forever just a store of value that 'goes up' then... what happens? What does Number-Go-Up really actually accomplish? Long-term, is Bitcoin just a number on the screen that people buy and when more people buy in' it goes up more? What does Bitcoin improve on? What does Bitcoin do better?
I believe that Bitcoin is better money. Bitcoin, in combination with Lightning, is:
- Better for spending
- Better for saving &
- Better for receiving
- And over a long time period, on average, is better for living
And what would Sats be worth, for example, if Bitcoin were actually used widespread and for transactional purposes? Where every business and most-every household had some sort of lightning node or at least tangential-connection to lightning? Social Media, their Home-PC, their Smartphone, their favorite app, something?
Would the exchange-rate of Bitcoin remain around 62K? (Would people really care at that point)?
In my opinion the transactional qualities around Bitcoin must exist alongside and supplement its scarcity in order for Bitcoin to survive long-term. No intermediaries, no bank required, full transparency, a vibrant fee market... the world's most secure computer network... these things make Bitcoin far more than 'digital gold'. Bitcoin is both scarce and self-sovereign and better Money.
You own your sats. They are yours they CANNOT be debased. You can take Bitcoin, sats and all, to anywhere in the world by memorizing 12 words... and these 'words' can be chosen at-random by a 50$ hardware wallet (Blockstream's Jade comes to mind). And then those Sats are yours forever to spend, to transact in, to save in, and pay for Life.
And the government cannot decide to arbitrarily 'print up more' Bitcoins whenever it wants debasing your savings - one of the reasons why Bitcoin is better money.
Now enter lightning:
Lightning is cheaper, faster, more sovereign, more transparent, and generally far more private than using a credit card which takes days to settle and is through a company-intermediary or gatekeeper. Lightning is inherent to the internet which anyone can use and it works everywhere.
In my opinion when people spend Bitcoin, even in very small quantities, for things they would spend the Fiat money on anyway, the transactional qualities of Bitcoin are allowed to grow far beyond its NgU which cannot go on forever. In other words, If people buy Bitcoin just for the number-go-up to "ride the elevator" and then 'sell the elevator' at some higher exchange for Fiat money -
- Where is the self sovereignty?
- The censorship resistance?
- The feeling of ownership?
- And most importantly the superior transactional-qualities of Bitcoin? How is Money Being Improved?
- What is Bitcoin's future?
In summary:
Bitcoin is better money. It is money for the private sector, money that cannot be dominated by the State. It is a check on the State's influence, both when used for Savings, Spending, and Transactionally. It is FedEx and UPS to the Government's Post Office and which one do you choose when it really matters?
Right now Bitcoin is being treated as a speculative digital store of value, a speculative digital commodity or gold. Buy it, hold it, sell it for fiat - Rinse and Repeat. But that cannot go-on forever as it robs Bitcoin of its monetary future. As the Block Subsidy decreases every 4 years, without transactions and monetary usage long-term, what is its future?
How do we bridge-the-gap between Bitcoin, the Savings and Investment vehicle (TM) and Bitcoin the money that exists parallel to the State and runs counter to its excesses?