A Vision Unfulfilled
When Satoshi Nakamoto developed the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin, he envisioned it as the currency that the masses could use for online transactions. To be more precise, he envisioned it as a cheaper, faster, and a more anonymous alternative to traditional online transactions.
Did he succeed?
Yes and no.
Yes, Bitcoin can be said to have succeeded because BTC can now be used to pay for products and services online. No, because Bitcoin has major flaws that makes it impractical for online transactions.
One of Bitcoin’s major flaws was that it could only accommodate an average of 7 transactions per seconds which was very slow and limited compared to other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Cash which can accommodate more than 100 transactions per seconds.
Its other major flaw was the transaction fee. Currently, Bitcoin’s median fee hovers around $8.00 or even higher. This makes Bitcoin impractical for small transactions which actually make it unviable for the majority of online transactions since most online transactions were at the $10 range. Meaning, if you’re online transaction cost only $10 the fee alone would almost double that.
Bitcoin have other flaws but the two major flaws I’ve mentioned were what truly hindered Satoshi’s vision for Bitcoin as a viable digital currency for online transactions.
Bitcoin Cash, the “True” Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash is what Bitcoin was supposed to be: Anonymous, cheap, fast, reliable, and secure. If Satoshi Nakamoto was still active, even he would have to agree that Bitcoin Cash fulfilled his vision for Bitcoin.
Like its predecessor, Bitcoin; Bitcoin Cash’s transactions are anonymous and secure. But unlike Bitcoin; Bitcoin Cash is a lot cheaper, a lot faster, and more reliable. If Bitcoin have a median fee of more than $8.00, Bitcoin Cash’s median fee is just around $0.001.
$8.00 versus $0,001… The difference in transaction fee alone should convince you which one is the better digital currency. If we include scalability, and speed, then Bitcoin stood no chance against Bitcoin Cash.
In terms of market value, Bitcoin Cash would certainly lose to Bitcoin. With a market value of almost a trillion (as of time of writing), along with its popularity, Bitcoin is certainly dominating the crypto-market. But that’s only because people sees it a digital gold.
Like gold, Bitcoin was treated as a store of value. That’s very impressive and all but being treated as nothing but a store of value; Bitcoin is quickly losing its functionality as a currency. After all, you can’t spend gold when buying regular goods and paying for regular services, right? For example:
Can you buy groceries with gold? No, you cannot.
Can you go buy medicines at your local drugstore using gold? No, you cannot.
Can you pay for your haircut with gold? No, you cannot.
In order to use gold you must first convert it to cash. Certainly there were transactions that uses gold as currencies but those transactions has nothing to do with the mass market.
As I see it now, Bitcoin is slowly turning into gold – limited only for large scale transactions.
Bitcoin Cash on the other hand doesn’t have such limitation. Its scalability and speed makes it the ideal digital currency for online transactions. Its low transaction fee meant that you can buy goods and avail of services costing only a dollar or even less.
In most aspect, Bitcoin Cash trump over Bitcoin as a digital currency. Which begs the question: Which cryptocurrency deserved the title of king? And which "Bitcoin" deserved to be called the "true" Bitcoin?
I think we already know the answer to that question inside our hearts. So in my opinion, I think that it’s high time for Bitcoin pass the throne to Bitcoin Cash.
What do you guys think?
Thanks you for reading. See you all Again next time.
Image Source:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/blockchain-bitcoin-bit-coin-3041480/
The main critics of corporations for Bitcoin now are the slow transaction speed and high transaction fee, which is all solved in BCH.. Too bad BCH is less well-known. It need to scale more and only then in future these corporations can get to know what the true Bitcoin is.