It's not you, it's me

Wednesday, August 5th, 2020

Yesterday I woke up, turned on my computer, and started tweeting in anger. I wasn't even 100% sure I agreed with some of the things I was writing, but I didn't care.

I also didn't even know exactly what the source of my anger was. Maybe it was related to the 30% crash in BCH prices on Saturday night. Maybe I was angry with the anti-ABC people because I thought they were to blame. Maybe it was Jonathan Toomin's latest article, or what happened in the last DAA meeting. In any case, I was pissed off, and I wanted to vent.

But it's now a day later, and I find myself no longer angry. I remember on one of the more recent Coinspice podcasts, I learned that people tend to get angry when reality doesn't meet their expectations, so I guess that meant my expectations for BCH hadn't matched up with reality. This begged the question, what were my expectations for BCH?

I suppose I could answer that any number of ways. For example, I never expected 1 BCH would be worth less than three quarters of 1 ETH. I never expected we'd face another situation like the BCH/BSV split. And I never expected a large portion of BCH supporters would have a different way of seeing the world than I did.

I think it's the last point that I was most angry about. As someone who wants BCH to become p2p digital cash for the world, and is of the opinion that Bitcoin ABC represents our best chance at achieving that goal, I saw those who oppose ABC as being evil, or at the very least a hindrance to our community. But now I've come to understand that is not the case. One benefit of my tweets yesterday was that by reading through the various replies, it helped me to see things from a perspective different from my own. I will try to write another article laying out those differences, but for now, all I want to say is that I'm no longer angry about the situation because I've changed my expectations. I've accepted a split will occur in November. I've accepted that many of you have a different way of seeing things than I do, and that it's okay. If anything, I see this upcoming split as a good thing. It means we will have two separate teams running separate experiments to try and deliver p2p digital cash for the world.

I've seen some people mentioning how they are going to dump all their coins on one side of the split to get more of the other, but that's not my plan. I will be holding some amount of both coins, though most likely I will be adding to my position of the coin led by ABC.

I also realize that read.cash will probably not stick with the chain I'd prefer, but unlike when Yours.org abandoned BCH for BSV, I plan to continue using this platform because it's about using whatever works. I see the future as being multi-coin, and though I don't agree with how the anti-ABC faction sees the world, it doesn't mean I have to hate them, or act as if they don't exist.

Before 2020, conservatives and liberals in the US lived harmoniously for the most part. And I suppose that's how I'm choosing to see this situation. I know people who voted for Trump as well as people who despise Trump, and I am friends with all of them. I don't believe those who don't agree with me are evil. The world will never be a place where everyone shares the exact same values, but that doesn't mean we can't all coexist and benefit from our varying viewpoints.

Another thing my anger made me realize was how passionate I really am about the Bitcoin Cash project. And even though I am 100% behind Bitcoin ABC and what they're trying to accomplish, it doesn't mean that I can force anyone else to see things the same way.

What I can do is continue writing with the hope of improving communication between the two sides and help others understand where I' m coming from.

I included this in my previous article but here it is again, because I think it exemplifies how I view Bitcoin Cash. It is a quote from "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand:

"How do you propose to force your ideas on them?"

"I don’t propose to force or be forced. Those who want me will come to me."

I hope we can have an amicable split come November, and that after the split both sides will have improved their chances of delivering on the promise of Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision. Best of luck to everyone, and thank you for reading.