Are Toxic Maxi's Poisoning Bitcoin?
It seems like whenever you got on the internet dealing with crypto; you will run into 2 groups of people. The Bitcoin Maxi's, who believe that Bitcoin is the best, and that people should only own bitcoin. They consider all other coins to be "shit-coins." The most hardcore Bitcoin maximalists are often referred as toxic maxi's. And then there is the group of people in crypto who are not like that. They tend to be more open minded to new projects, technologies and coins. Although this group does tend to veer toward being Degen, trying too find any method to make money. Be it through trading, NFT's, Airdrop hunting and the list goes on.
The fact is that both groups has its own positives and negatives with them. But today's question is if it is actually good to be a Bitcoin maxi, and are they even necessary in today's crypto market?
And that last sentence of if they are even necessary in today's crypto market is an important one. That's because big fans of bitcoin who identify as being a Bitcoin maxi view bitcoin as being separate from crypto. There is Bitcoin, and then there is crypto. They are not the same things in their mind. It's kind of similar to the dark side in Star Wars. You're either with us, or you're against us. That is where toxic maxi's come into play. While admittedly a small percentage of the actual bitcoin user base, they make up for it by sharing their opinions and often criticizing others who aren't living up to being a "real" bitcoiner. There has been a recent trend of having purity tests for being a true bitcoiner. This often involves only speaking good things about bitcoin, never being open to debate about validity of other chains, absolutely not owning any other coins, and the list goes on. As I just mentioned, you are either with them, or against them. If you end up on the wrong side of things, they will try to cancel you and have you exiled from the bitcoin community.
The thing that you need to understand about BTC maxi's is that they believe deeply in bitcoin's mission and the battle that it is trying to fight against. While they view other coins as just another get rich scheme, that have no real use-case or merit behind them. On the other hand, Bitcoin is on a mission to finally free the world of fiat currencies. To become the world reserve asset. A move that would finally allow everyday people to save their hard-earned money and not have it inflated away each year. A move that would make it possible for people to get ahead by just working hard and saving in Bitcoin.
And then there is the whole freedom aspect to it. Being the most decentralized chain out there, people would finally have control of their own money and not need to rely on a 3rd party to allow you to use your own money. A hard asset that cannot be seized if you have taken self-custody yourself. Unlike fiat money, real estate, gold and the list goes on. So to sum it up, BTC Maxi's feel that they are fighting a different battle.
A common complaint about Bitcoin maxi's is that they are toxic, and just add poison to the whole crypto market. Being unnecessarily rude and scaring people away from these markets.
I would argue that all of those things are true, but there is a reason for it. Bitcoin has been around longer than all other cryptocurrencies. Owners of BTC have therefore seen thing happen time after time and generally know they will continue to happen. New coins appear and rug pull on their users. There are pump and dumps everywhere. Crypto services and companies come and go that end up having been Ponzi schemes. And then there are the battles that bitcoiners have had to fight. They feel it's their responsibility to protect new people coming into the market, even when the way they go about it probably isn't best. During the early days of Bitcoin's life, it was a real possibility that you might go to jail just for owning Bitcoin. And then came the attacks on bitcoin with the forks of the chain, claiming to be the real Bitcoin. During that time, it was a matter of life and death for the BTC chain. And bitcoiners had to defend it with everything they had. Because of those bitcoiner's strong beliefs, they were able to defend Bitcoin. And there is little debate today about which bitcoin is the real bitcoin. During those days, bitcoin maxi's were needed; but that may not be the case anymore.
There haven't been any forks on Bitcoin for a few years now and Bitcoin's status seems pretty set in stone now. So why are people still toxic?
Part of the reason is because bitcoin had to essentially fight for its own survival; some users are always looking for that next battle. While I personally don't think the toxic nature is anywhere near necessary. I would argue that perhaps in some ways, bitcoin maxi's were needed in the past. Looking into the future, it is true that Bitcoin is going up against a bigger battle right now than most other coins. It is directly going up against governments by already becoming legal tender in 2 counties. The Bitcoin dominoes are beginning to fall and it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon.
As the famous saying goes, "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win." We are just entering the fighting phase, and the brunt of it will be much worse than many of us can even imagine. We haven't yet seen the full force of what governments may due to fight off Bitcoin. Having control of the money, keeps them in control of the people. Bitcoin will result in the governments losing a lot of their power. In that regard, there will be a need of true Bitcoin defenders in the future.
Here is where I stand. If you have followed me for any duration of time, you will know that Bitcoin is my preferred cryptocurrency. It's what I believe in the most, am the most passionate about, and also the topic that I talk about the most. I consider myself a strong supporter of Bitcoin, but I am not a toxic Bitcoin maximalist, or anywhere near that.
Although my portfolio is nearly all Bitcoin. I still do own other coins and find other projects interesting as well. I'm interested in the whole space. The key thing for me is that I prefer keeping an open mind. My opinion is not set in stone. If the Bitcoin protocol would change in a way that I'm not a fan of, I would leave it. I'm always on the lookout for something better, even though I'm not sure if that's even possible. It's critically important to be open to conversations and debates. Listening to each other's perspectives, without the need to become angry, almighty, toxic, or frankly just being an asshole. There is no need for purity tests on whether you are a true Bitcoiner or not. You are an equal bitcoiner if you own 100 BTC and nothing else, or even if you own 0.01 BTC and a few other altcoins. Owning Bitcoin, means that you are a Bitcoiner. As mentioned above, Bitcoin will be going up against some pretty difficult battles and challenges in the future. There is no need to cancel or exile Bitcoiners, just because they don't meet a small percentage of toxic maxi's idea of what a Bitcoiner should be, or needs to be.
To sum it up. I do believe that bitcoin supporters are greatly needed, but toxic maximalists are definitely not. It is very debatable on whether they actually cause more net harm than good.
How about you? What do you think about toxic Bitcoin maxi's? Are they needed?
As always, thank you for reading!
