Five Years In Crypto (2017 to 2022) - From BTC and ERC20 Tokens To BCH

It was at the beginning of March 2017 I joined the crypto race with Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin, in the beginning, being my favorites.

Just a few months after I joined the cryptocurrency field in 2017, the Bitcoin fork took place. Bitcoin was upgrading, becoming Bitcoin Cash, and the maximalists and the media were onto it right from the beginning.

It didn't take me four years to recognize the whitepaper in Bitcoin Cash. Back in 2017, it was noticeable by everyone beginner or not, that BCH wasn't a fork of Bitcoin but the Bitcoin that proceeded with scaling.

My initial Bitcoin enthusiasm was based on the revolutionary technology and features of Bitcoin acting as a decentralized currency offering individual economic freedom and reaching the masses.

Bitcoin seemed like it was stuck not innovating further, but stagnating instead. As a beginner, I was told this was all propaganda and Bitcoin was working without any need for the code change.

The proof though didn't take long to appear right before our eyes.

2017 to 2022: The Quest For Answers

In short, this is BTC (and Ethereum to an extent):

This YouTuber (Touzoumoune) warned everyone with this funny approach, close to the top in December 2017, BTC was practically not working anymore. A broken network with failed promises and a shift of narratives into vague store of value features.

This is how I didn't envision Bitcoin when I first heard about it in 2013, but how it probably resulted after the corporate takeover of developments by Blockstream.

I had to visit the past and live it on my own to understand what happened, it is not easy but needs to have unlimited time at your disposal.

My skepticism was stemming from the approach of BTC advocates, especially those supposedly closer to the developers side.

I was expecting to find highly intelligent and skilled advocates for BTC, just like those early Bitcoiners (before 2013) in bitcointalk.

Yet, all of these intelligent people had long ago abandoned that forum, and only aggressive trolls were left.

Bitcointalk had absolutely nothing to offer when I joined besides a glorious past that was stained by the mistakes of its administration.

During my research in BTC, I tried to find reason within this BTC community and understand what exactly happened to drive this much adoption of Bitcoin in the past years.

I was expecting an outcry on the $50 fees in December 2017, but only found excuses.

It seemed something was very wrong with bitcointalk as half of the forum was attacking and blacklisting as scammers users that were simply expressing their point of view.

Bitcoin is an example where the fools won the argument. In the grand scheme of things, mistakes can survive for too long, but not forever.

BTC is now under the control of a private company that decides developments. It is not autonomous, there is no voting, and consensus is not working, as blockstream controls developments and one person alone controls almost all the communication channels, censoring constructive discussions.

It didn’t take me long to realize the censorship of BCH. It seemed dangerous to even express an opinion on scalability of BTC in bitcointalk.

My goals were incompatible with BTC and the $50 fees by the end of 2017 made me sell my BTC position.

I didn’t move immediately to Bitcoin Cash, though, and for several reasons, I didn’t support it until 2021.

All these years, I explored networks like EOS, Tron and Ethereum among others, yet always unfulfilled promises and lack of decentralization or scalability forced me to abandon them.

The Fiat Price Matters

I have hopes that in the next few years, Bitcoin Cash and smartBCH will find overwhelming support from investors. Nobody can ignore a robust network of payments for too long.

Although, I also feel there should be a change of mentality concerning marketing.

The early Bitcoiners made millions in fiat, but the rest of us weren’t that lucky all this time. I care about the BCH (fiat) price since I invest and will keep increasing this investment.

I would love to have a million in the bank and perhaps hold a thousand BCH as then I could overlook the market cap.

It's not about making a million dollars, though, I don't expect to suddenly acquire overwhelming wealth. It is mostly about the purchasing power of BCH and the sound money features.

The question everyone asks when investing in BCH is concerning the terms that will bring Bitcoin Cash to its previous ATH and even higher. Developments and utility are fundamentals, but newcomers don't encounter the Bitcoin Cash brand often. And when they do, it is probably with a negative approach presented by the side of the maxis.

There are strategies that can counter the rising anti-BCH sentiment and also send BCH into the top-5 in market cap terms: Cardano Can Set An Example For Bitcoin Cash Marketing. This is an example that can have a large scale effect for Bitcoin Cash adoption by new users and invstors. If this marketing strategy is not possible with BCH, then perhaps it could be utilized with smartBCH instead.

I accumulate BCH and spend some too by tipping other users on read.cash, or noise.cash, scanning QR codes of onboarded users and merchants, donate in flipstarters, and sent a few BCH sats around just to help in any meaningful way possible. I talk to people about Bitcoin Cash and ask them to accept BCH for donation purposes.

Investing in Bitcoin Cash today means investing in the future of sound money.

BCH is the cryptocurrency we can use for a small fee (usually less than a penny), with a fast network that allows scaling on a global scale.

Cover Photo: by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash (modified)

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