I have been pondering for a while now why Bitcoin maximalists are so centered on the first and currently most valuable implementation of blockchain technology. I find it odd that in an burgeoning technological space there is an incessance on the first iteration of said technology.
I think people immersed in the space forget that we are all early adopters. Most people do not wish to hold a volatile asset. Most people do not know how to invest or understand how their 401K or Roth IRA works; frankly I am not sure that they really want to know. I say this to mean that Bitcoin is never going to be for the average consumer without layers of abstraction. Stability always reigns supreme and it is a hard pill to swallow that centralization and governments are not going away anytime soon.
At the end of the day, Bitcoin cannot function as a stable trade of value and it never will. It is not coincidence that there has been a rapid rise in stablecoins that replicate a stable currency. This is from necessity. Bitcoin may be the best long term investment asset but, like the stock market, if you need to cash out for retirement and a crash hits you are left high and dry. Because of this simple fact, the beloved first iteration of monetary blockchain technology fails. There are projects being worked on by intelligent, passionate, and smart people. To dismiss these projects as fads is to make the same error individuals made with Bitcoin. The market does not care about your feelings no matter how strong they are.
The Maximalist investor class within the cryptoverse may be right about Bitcoin as the underpinning of and potentially most valuable part of blockchain technology to date, however that does not necessitate the future of a young field. At the end of the day, the consumer drives the market in the capitalist system we all live in and the consumer does not care whether the blockchain technology that improves their life is Bitcoin or something else. All the average person cares about is things getting a little bit easier.
Based on this, I believe that Maximalist are suffering from the now classical social media echo-chamber. They are screaming about the first successful implementation of monetary blockchain technology, while other people are building technology that will allow the consumer to breath easier. Allow stable and generational wealth to be built. Allow the march of society to continue on. Titans always fall. Forests always burn. Nothing reigns supreme forever and Bitcoin will not be the exception.
