Yes, Bitcoin is the top cryptocurrency, and as people say, the scarcest asset on the planet. As much as I want to be involved and hold Bitcoin, there are too many things that are driving me away from it. In this post, I am going to talk about my frustrations with Bitcoin (BTC) and my decision to leave it behind.
It's Not Usable For Average Dudes
First and probably the biggest reason is that BTC has lost its way as the 'peer-to-peer' currency that it originally set out to be. With the developers and miners deciding to stick with small blocks, they have made BTC unusable for most people. Now that's not to say that regular people can't buy and hold BTC, but try sending a transaction and paying nearly $40 for the fee! For someone like me that only had like 1.2 million sats, just to send that amount, it was going to cost 10% of my stack! Really, WTF???
If you want to wait 24 hours or more for your transfer you can set low fees and eventually it will go through, but ain't nobody got time for that!
BTC Cannot Scale
No matter how much maxis want you to think BTC is the only chain that matters, it's the one that cannot scale because the maxi cult will not bend and raise the block size. This is what caused the Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash fork in 2017.
Turns out that the BCH crowd was right all along. BTC cannot scale at a stern 1 MB block size. Especially now that people are trying to create ponzi schemes like tokens and NFTs on Bitcoin. That's the main cause of all of the network traffic issues. Honestly leave that stuff for Ethereum and other smart contract chains, that's my opinion.
But the centralized group of developers and miners that control the BTC chain do not really want people using it properly, if they really did, then they would have adopted varying block sizes like BCH did. So now the only people that can afford to use it are the big bag holders and institutions that are coming in and starting up their ETFs.
Lightning Network Is Centralized Garbage
Just putting it out there now, I am NOT a fan of the Lightning Network. It's basically a centralized second layer that you still have to pay the ridiculous netowrk fees to deposit or withdraw from.
I have tried to use Lightning multiple times and have had bad experiences everytime. Crap like closed channels and the network being backed up, just made for a very frustrating experience all around.
I know as much as people like the V4V app or Hive to Lightning, which has worked for me 2 of the 3 times I have used it. The other time there was something with the node or closed channel or something and the payment failed. But that is the nature of bridges and second layers.
The Cult of Bitcoin
I am honestly sick of the cult that is the Bitcoin maxis. They really make the space toxic overall, especially on CryptoX. They are an extremely annoying group of people. Hate to tell them, as yes, BTC has the most hashrate, and is the most secure, it's not the most usable by any means. There are projects like Hive that have a way better use case than to just let my funds sit in cold storage and watch the number go up or down.
I need to use my funds, and when they are in BTC, they are basically held hostage by the massive fees. But you say anything online, you get attacked by the maxi pad army. Needless to say, I am not really a tribalist. If I am an anything maxi, I am more of a Hive maxi than any other coin, as it is where I am building my businesses, and have my biggest amount of resources available! But I use what works and what alines with my principals. That being said, let's talk about how Bitcoin has lost it's way...
The Institutional Takeover of Bitcoin
We are watching the institutional takeover of Bitcoin in real time with all of the regulations and ETF talk that is hitting the space. Back 10 years ago, true bitcoiners were all 'Fuck the governement, Bitcoin is our money!'
Now the cult is all cheering on government regulations, centralized exchanges, and fucking ETFs! The excuse is we want number-go-up. That's really not the way to look at crypto anyway. The only time I look at the dollar value of my crypto is when I need to use it or when I am trading against USDT. Other than that, I look at how many coins I have. Firms like Blackrock coming in, launching ETF, and buying up mining company stocks is a dangerous combination for the whole 'decentralization' factor of Bitcoin.
And let's talk KYC mining pools! Seriously? What the ever loving fuck is a mining pool doing taking KYC? This is NOT CRYPTO! This is telling me the largest mining pools that control the majority of the hashrate, are bending over and bowing down to the regulators. Gross! And let's be real, you aren't going to make money mining as a smaller home miner unless you use these large pools. This is called centralization and regulatory control. PERIOD!
So by saying this, I am saying that BTC has been lost from the people and has been taken over by the institutions with a round of applause by the maxi pad cult.
Not Leaving The Space, Just Reallocating
Now, just because I am done with Bitcoin, doesn't mean I am leaving the space. Not at all! Like I just said, I am still in the Hive. You guys can't get rid of me that easily. If anything it means I get to spend more time and resources on this awesome blockchain. I am also reallocating to other Proof of Work chains that work just as well, if not better and CHEAPER than BTC. I sucked it up and paid the network fees and moved all my BTC into LTC currently, and going to put some funds over into Monero as well. I need to use the funds in the real world, so I need them in a form that I can use for either gift cards, or an easy, CHEAP transfer over to USDC to cash out through Robinhood for bills and expenses. LTC and Monero both fit that for me.
Both LTC and Monero are also Proof of Work coins, which in my personal opinion and analysis are stronger and more secure than any proof of stake chain, and yes, I include Hive into that, although I do love it. With Monero, ANYONE CAN MINE IT WITH THEIR HOME COMPUTER!!! That is huge if you ask me. Bitcoin and even Litecoin are mined with powerful, dedicated ASIC machines that are power hungry, loud, and extremely expensive. But with Monero, all you need is a CPU and you can put your machine on the network and earn some rewards!
LTC fills that whole scarce asset thing for me. There will only be 84 million coins vs BTCs 21 million. I am okay with that, because ratio wise, I already have the equivalent to 1 BTC as 4 (well more) LTC. Hell, for that matter, you can even go Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and get 1 BCH where there are only 21 million of those.
Both LTC and Monero also have privacy features which are huge for me. I am a true believer in the original fundamentals of the crypto space and believe that privacy is more important than ever. Monero has complete privacy by default, where LTC has the Mimblewimble features built in, but you have to use a Litcoin Core wallet to get the privacy. For this reason, I am shifting my "savings" that I used Bitcoin for into Monero, and my money that I need to use for expenses into LTC. All of which is earned though either Hive rewards, trading, and Monero mining!
What About Trading And Alerts
This is where I am still going to play around with the BTC ticker here and there. I am still planning on watching it in my watchlist, because if you are in crypto and don't watch Bitcoin's price and domination, you are really doing it all wrong. That is because the entire crypto space tends to follow BTC in market movements. I may still enter some good BTC longs if the alerts catch me right, but to be completely honest, there are alts that trade with bigger percentage swings, like LTC and MATIC. Those have become my favorite coins to leverage trade.
But when I am leverage trading, I am not holding the on-chain asset, as far as actual BTC. I am trading futures contracts on the price, so I am not subject to the ridiculous fees. I can actually make more USDT returns by trading other coins, again, because they are a bit more volatile and have bigger swings than BTC.
Bitcoin will always be on the watch list for trading purposes, but as far as regular usage, I am done. This is by no means financial advice, just me posting my frustrations with the Bitcoin space and why I am no longer going to be dedicating my time and money to that particular blockchain anymore.
I would love to know your thoughts in the comments!
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That's an interesting decision and way of thinking... While I do agree with certain points, IMO BTC is "too big to be ignored"... I do understand the "moving coins" way of thinking and BTC isn't for that for sure... But as a long-term saving, I can't see a better solution atm...
On the other side, I salute your decision to go into Monero... 😃 Sooner or later, privacy coins will become "the only way" of crypto and those who are developing them at the moment could work out very well... Btw, did you check DERO?
Everyone does what's best for him and nobody has the crystal ball... Respect your decision!
Cheers!
I don’t have enough money to think long term. We don’t have tomorrow so I live for today. My long term is my family farm. My kids have some BTC so as long as they still hold it, they will be fine.
But yes, I love me some Monero. I feel it is more what Bitcoin should have been. I am a fan of privacy. I haven’t looked too much into DERO yet.
I think if BigCorn increased the blocksize that would just be more room to put more stupid bullshit on it.
These large fees come in waves and vanish when FOMO dissipates.
I agree that BTC is not good if you need velocity.
This type of collateral no longer has much mobility.
And that's fine; it does what it does well.
And what it does is provide the highest security and the most censorship resistance.
This is something that only a small niche of superusers actually require.
Yeah, I am not sending a crap ton of money to anyone so I don’t need Bitcoin’s security. Litecoin and Monero have enough security for me. Monero more so because if it’s privacy features.
At least someone agrees, 😂
These large fees always tend to happen when I need to use it the most, so yeah, its really become unusable for me. Ordinals was the worst idea to happen to BTC in my opinion.
Oh man. You giving up hodling?
What’s the point in holding Bitcoin? I live on the stuff so I need the ability to use it if I need it. I don’t want to lose 10% of my stack just to move funds around. And I do not agree with ole Saylor there, 😂
To add to that, my kids both hold BTC, so if it does well, then they will be alright, but they arent involved in the space. For me, it just doesnt make sense when I have to use the funds for my businesses and living expenses.
I've been living on Bitcoin for +10 years and have no problem with the fee market. There is many ways to move, stack, spent Bitcoin and while I agree that the LN 2nd layer isn't great it's there for "spending" not for wealth storage like the main-chain.
Now, if anyone were to send me 0.1 BTC right now I'd swallow the fee and ask for the on-chain payment. If that person however wants to send me their weekly $50 "DCA" (lol) I'd ask them to zap it on the LN. Same goes for coinjoin, opening channels or consolidating wallet inputs.
Then there is BTC enabled debit cards which are literally accepted everywhere and I can fallback to those funds any time if I have to spend BTC for fiat purchases.
I think you just havern't found your way yet when it comes to the "how" to live on Bitcoin.
I found my way just fine. I have been in crypto for over 5 years and living on it full time for the last 3 years at this point, and honestly have lost more money in transaction fees than it has been worth.
I know all the ways in and out of Bitcoin and know all the arguments at this point. If you are okay with the fees, then cool, do you, but this is my personal opinion. I don’t need Bitcoin when I have things that actually work without giving up 10% of my stack.
you're obviously entitled to your opinion.
Yep, that’s the beauty of it all, I get to use what works for me.
It is a store of value and most of the time fees are pretty low and cheap.
There are plenty of “stores of value” out there. LTC and Monero are 2 of them that have more usability FOR ME than BTC.
Not to mention Hive/HBD is a store of value and is WAY more usable than BTC. Not only that, but it’s also a cash flow asset.
You need to do what's right for you man. I don't like high fees, but BTC is the best store of value imo.
And you may be right, but I need usable money more than a store of value.
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STOPFor regular people that are not BTC whales or have large amounts of BTC, it’s really not usable. I am perfectly fine focusing on Hive, Litecoin, and Monero.
By all means, hold onto to you BTC if you want. I am just telling people what I am doing and why. I can trade BTC futures and make just as much if not more than holding it.