Just looking at the title, you've probably already guessed it - it's time for another controversial topic. I usually try to stay away as far as possible from all the "my blockchain is better than yours!"-discussions. There's a lot of bad blood out there and there's not much anybody can do to really convince a member of another team. Nevertheless, with the huge success of noise.cash, we've seen a lot of people shilling the hell out of Bitcoin Cash in recent days. A lot of that is probably due to the authors trying to score a big tip from one of the BCH whales. I'm not opposed to a little shilling here and there, I shill Hive and Leofinance on other sites as well after all. What I don't like is the way a lot of these articles are structured, though, claiming things that are simply not correct and thus spreading misinformation.
To make one thing clear right away - I hold no grudge against BCH, I don't intend to spread FUD. I even feel like it's a solid coin, I have 2 BCH in my moon bag and I'm faithfully transferring all tips I earn on noise.cash to Nexo with no intention of selling any of it any time soon. Nevertheless, with all the articles shilling BCH, I feel like it's important to provide a different point of view on the whole matter. So what are the central claims these articles make? It's already in the article's title, but here they are once more:
- Bitcoin Cash is the real Bitcoin
- Bitcoin Cash is the future of cryptocurrency
So the former point is debatable at best. It is true that Bitcoin serves another purpose than what it originally was envisioned to be, at least in parts. Nowadays, it serves as a store of value and with more and more institutional money flowing in, this is going to be it's only purpose eventually. With the rampant fees and slow transactions, BTC certainly is no longer viable for everyday purchases or regular transfer of small values. So in that regard, BCH might indeed be closer to the original vision of Bitcoin than Bitcoin is itself. Ultimately, that's of little consequence, though.
Implicitly, the claim is that because BCH is the real BTC, it has to one day take over the number 1 spot from Bitcoin and well, that's not going to happen. Ever. Bitcoin is by no means the best blockchain out there, it can't be used as money the way other tokens can. But that doesn't matter, because it is established and there's so much money in it that this alone will ensure its spot at the top. That's not to say that there won't be another contender for that spot some day, it's just not going to be BCH. That's closely connected to the second claim - Bitcoin cash being the future of cryptocurrency. Where the former might be debatable, the latter is simply not true.
Long term, there are two deciding factors for the success of any given blockchain - the amount of money already available and the innovation the blockchain offers. That's why ETH still is king despite it's absurd fees - it's where all the money is, at least for now. At the same time, new, more innovative blockchains are seeing huge growth and one day they might indeed replace some of the established networks. But the truth is, BCH neither has a huge market cap nor is it especially innovative.
Yes, Bitcoin Cash can manage more transactions faster and cheaper than Bitcoin. But being better and faster than one of the worst offenders in these categories hardly is worth anything when there are blockchains out there with (near-)instantaneous transactions and zero transaction fees. It's like claiming that the Pentium II is the future of personal computers because it's 3 times faster than an Intel 80486. That's true, but it doesn't change the fact that it's still obsolete technology. If you want to compete in a market, you have to compete with everybody involved in the market, not just a single contender that you beat in certain categories. Nobody is going to look big picture and say "oh hey, BCH is faster than BTC, I'll go all in on BCH now!" They'll see that there are markets with way higher market cap (like, well, BTC) or markets offering way more advanced technology and they'll join either of them before going all in on BCH.
And really, that's what annoys me about all these BCH articles. It's not so much about shilling "your" coin, it's about advising people to go all in on BCH because clearly, it will eventually replace BTC as the leading blockchain. To be very clear here: Don't go all in on anything, ever! It's always best to have different eggs in different baskets, especially in a market as the crypto world. Again, that's not to say BCH can't moon, I hold some myself after all, but I also hold BTC, ETH, BAT, Hive, LEO, DOT, BNB, and what not. Don't focus on a single chain and if you do, well, it probably shouldn't be BCH.
I know this article is going to upset some of the people coming here from noise.cash and will probably even cost me some followers. But please, if you are still reading, ask yourself this simple question: "Why should BCH be the one blockchain to eventually replace Bitcoin?". Having Bitcoin in your name is not a valid answer, and honestly, what else is there that really sets BCH apart from its (more advanced) contenders?
And that's all from me for today, thank you all for reading and see you all next time! Well, unless you hate me now, in that case I'm sorry ;-)
