As we all know the much anticipated Bitcoin fork took place in the beginning of August.
Prior to the fork everybody and their dogs had a prophecy of what might happen to Bitcoin. Some traditional investors prophesied that the fork would lead to a massive crash, I’m sure many of them were hoping that would be the case. Bitcoin remains highly misunderstood by far too many investment experts.
We have people like Howard Marks making ludicrous statements like “In my view, digital currencies are nothing but an unfounded fad (or perhaps even a pyramid scheme), based on a willingness to ascribe value to something that has little or none beyond what people will pay for it”
My personal view is that statements like these are not made out of ignorance, instead, I believe that they are made with ulterior motives. Marks is the chairman of Oaktree Capital, an investment company that has $99 billion of assets under management.
Bitcoin and Crypto, in general, are a direct threat to the traditional investment model. The bottom line is that for someone to create a single bitcoin now, the approximate cost would be over a $1000 when we factor in hardware resources and power consumption. This acquisition/mining cost gives it an intrinsic value, as the network grows and more people start transacting with Bitcoin the acquisition/mining cost will increase and so too will the value of Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin fork and split was a defining moment for Bitcoin. We now have BTC and BCH, both currencies are doing exceptionally well. Whilst I was not keen on a split and initially would have preferred it if BCH never existed.
The cards have been dealt and it is what it is, I have since embraced the change and am seeing the potential of having two separate currencies under the Bitcoin umbrella. Before the fork, I remained hopeful that Ether would become the currency people used for daily transactions or smaller purchases and Bitcoin would be used for larger purchases like cars, property, savings, etc. Now, with the fork and the birth of BitcoinCash (BCH), I wonder if it could become a case where BCH will be used for daily transactions and BTC used for larger purchases.
The split could very well be a massive evolutionary step for Bitcoin. I have been known to be blindly optimistic at times and this could be one of those times. Whatever the case may be, the remainder of the year is going to be undoubtedly very interesting for Bitcoin.
One of the gripes I have is there seems to be some confusion about the correct ticker to use for BitcoinCash, to the best of my knowledge BCH is the preferred ticker. Most of the main exchanges are using BCH for BitcoinCash but some people have been pushing BCC.
This can’t work because BitConnect already uses BCC as their ticker. . This has lead to a bit of confusion but hopefully, it will be cleared up in due time and there will be some conformity.
Disclaimer: The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.
Disclosure: The author has positions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
