BCC#12: What we value

As the world battles the coronavirus pandemic, I've been thinking about what we value as a society.

I can only speak for myself, but living in LA, the entertainment capitol of the world, what I see is everyone spending way too much energy worshiping celebrities and their lifestyles, instead of the things that really matter.

We're all too busy trying to get rich quick and buy that dream house, or that flashy car, and never have to work again.

I admit I'm guilty of thinking that way as well. It's why I bought my first Bitcoin. I was told it would reach $1M by 2020 or John McAfee was going to eat his own member. Who knows, maybe he's right, I thought.

But as they say, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Eventually someone has to pay. And whether you're main street or wall street, it seems we are all paying for it now as the global economy implodes.

Could this have been avoided? I don't know. But I do think the reason the situation is as dire as it is is because we didn't put in the necessary work to prepare ourselves for this crisis. Instead of allocating more resources to improve our global infrastructure like our healthcare systems, or supply chains, or emergency response teams, we as a society focused more on things like creating yet another TV show to be binged on yet another streaming platform. But that's how capitalism works. If there's money to be made by producing a given product, people will find a way to make that product.

But what about something that doesn't produce profits, only mitigates potential future problems? I suppose that's what the business model is for insurance companies, but there are no insurance companies that issue policies in the event of a global pandemic, or even say the erosion of the sewage system of a medium sized metropolitan city.

The link above takes you to an interesting comment that was posted on Reddit. It describes what happens when a community refuses to fund necessary infrastructure costs up front and choose to ignore the problem by kicking the can down the road for future generations to deal with.

There are some obvious parallels to be drawn between what happened in Louisville and what's happening with BCH. But there are key differences as well. In the case of Louisville, we're talking about a city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. In contrast, the user base of BCH is still minuscule, and so far there aren't enough users to put a real strain on the network. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be investing in infrastructure. In order to attract more users, BCH needs to be able to demonstrate it can handle them.

So the question remains, how do you fund BCH infrastructure?

Before I try and answer that, let me go back to my original point about what we value as a society. While many of us obsess about making easy money, of gaining clout rather than actually doing the work required to produce something more valuable, we are fortunate enough to have people that dedicate their lives to building something other than their follower count.

The world still has plenty of engineers, and scientists, and entrepreneurs, who are thinking of the next technological advancement that can 100x humanity. Humans discovered electricity, and invented the internet. We have learned to fly, and go to the moon, and see inside a living human body. But what's going to be the next invention that truly moves our species forward?

I believe the answer is Bitcoin Cash. It's true that BCH still has a long way to go before the network can handle all of the world's financial needs, but I think BCH has the potential to get there. I use it in my daily life, and the privacy and control you have when using BCH is not something you get with traditional fiat. It's better than cash because it's easier to hold and send, no matter the amount, and I haven't even mentioned that it can't be censored by any government or institution. Try sending a quarter to someone you know in Venezuela from the US using any other method and see how that goes.

Unfortunately, most of the world doesn't see the potential of BCH and cryptocurrencies in general. To many, Bitcoin is either seen as a tool for illicit commerce, or that thing one of their friends invested in and lost a bunch of money.

But that's to be expected. Because no cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin Cash, is ready today to become money for the world. We have yet to scale to those levels. But in my opinion, BCH is already the closest to achieving that goal and has the best roadmap to get us there.

BCH has come a long way since it forked from BTC back in 2017, but it still has a long way to go. This is why the Infrastructure Funding Proposal was put on the table. To fund the developers that can make it happen. It turned out the plan was too controversial for some and has seemingly been put on hold for the time being, even though the funding problem remains.

But if BCH is going to scale, and scale quickly, it's going to need developers who are dedicated to the protocol full time. People who know the code inside and out, and can come up with the necessary solutions that will enable BCH to handle 50 transactions a day, for 10 billion people on the planet.

Currently, I am eagerly waiting for the launch of the flipstarter campaign for each of the various node teams. I don't expect whatever raised to be enough to completely solve each team's funding problems, but I plan on donating what I can with the hope that the project I choose will be afforded some additional time. And the project I plan on donating to is Bitcoin ABC.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful to any of the other node teams out there. I applaud the efforts put forth by the people who are behind BCH Node as well as the other implementations. These people aren't just waiting for number to go up, they're actually building. But as an investor of BCH and someone who believes in the idea of peer to peer electronic cash, my fervent desire is to see what the Bitcoin ABC team can do with proper funding for a change.

No matter what you think of the lead developer of Bitcoin ABC, or their handling of the IFP, one thing that's hard to deny is that Bitcoin ABC has succeeded where others have failed. Despite an aggressive upgrade schedule, and all the negative PR that has faced BCH since its inception, the network's up-time has been remarkable.

Every day, it seems like I hear about some celebrity or wealthy businessman donating millions of dollars to fight this coronavirus pandemic and help those most in need. Even before this crisis the rich have always donated money to their favorite causes, whether it be a university, or a hospital, or a museum. In exchange for their noble act, they gain notoriety and recognition, and maybe even get to have their name inscribed on the side of a building. But I think those people are thinking too small.

What if you had the opportunity to play an integral part in what could be the next technological revolution? I'm thinking of all the silent BCH whales out there. Those who stand to benefit the most from BCH becoming world money. I'm hoping you can see the promise of Bitcoin Cash and want to see it come to fruition as much as I do. I wouldn't be interested in getting my name inscribed on a building, but I would be interested in having it be a part of history. Everyone's heard the name Satoshi Nakamoto for a reason. Imagine seeing your name in the same chapter of history because you played a pivotal role in ushering in this new technology that changes the world for the better. That's what I value.

In conclusion, if you're reading this and believe in the idea of peer to peer electronic cash, of banking the unbanked, and giving people a chance to stand up against central banks and the governments that back them, please consider donating what you can in the upcoming fundraiser to the team that has dedicated themselves to making all of that a reality.

As always, thanks for reading.