How did you first get into crypto?

Like many, I heard about Bitcoin in the early days but never gave it much thought. This all changed in early 2017 when some of my buddies began buying some as it crossed the 2013 high of $1,200. I completely wrote it off again and told them it’s a scam that’s not backed by anything.  

A couple months later I realized very smart people at the software company I worked at were talking about it and decided that I needed to take a closer look. Eventually, I decided to take the plunge and invest a small amount in Bitcoin and Ethereum in May 2017. It was this skin in the game that changed everything for me.

The rest of 2017 was absolute insanity. I couldn’t get enough. I should also note that I couldn’t get enough of the altcoins and absolutely fell for their over the top marketing. But I was making money so they must be brilliant teams and projects right? Hell, I was even calling Bitcoin Grandpa and the Myspace of crypto!

At this time I actually believed platform chains like Ethereum were of much greater value than Bitcoin. I was in the camp that believed decentralizing everything was more important than fixing the money. I was still buying Bitcoin but I couldn’t totally understand why a coin that people just held could be more valuable than a coin used to power a DeFi network.

Tell me about getting through the crypto crash:

Then the bear came. It’s during a crypto winter that you really learn a lot about yourself as an investor, but it’s also when you realize what truly gives Bitcoin its value. I watched all my altcoins trend towards zero against Bitcoin and the dev teams basically dry up.  I also watched the Bitcoin community never waiver. There was never pessimism. They just kept building. Some of them even seemed to enjoy the bear market more!

It was during this crypto crash and winter when I really started learning about money and what it is. This of course led me down Austrian economic rabbit holes and eventually to “The Bitcoin Standard” by Saifedean Ammous (a must read). It was then that I truly realized that fixing the money is more important than decentralizing ride-sharing apps. Once the money was fixed, all the other “problems” would fall into place. Fix the money, fix the world.

So which blockchain had the soundest monetary principles? Bitcoin. And it’s not even close. It’s the hardest, most secure, and most decentralized. Its community refuses to compromise on decentralization and security for things like transaction speeds. The base layer of Bitcoin isn’t meant to be sexy, it’s meant to be bulletproof and incorruptible.  Once the lightbulbs started going off it was clear to me that it’s Bitcoin that’s revolutionary, not blockchain.

What got me through the bear market was that my learning never stopped. It was during this time that I really focused on the developments in the space and learning about what money is and why it’s important to separate it from the state. Even as the price continued to plummet, I was getting all the more bullish as I continued learning. I also learned about past cycles and the 4-year halvings. I read the writings of vets who had been around since 2013 and it all started to become clear that this thing would be back and stronger than ever.

Tell me about the altcoins of 2017 vs. 2021:

Were the altcoins of 2017 similar to those today? Yes! Almost exactly the same! The only difference is that we have a new crop. Ever hear of NEO, IOTA, REQ, or OMG? Probably not. Well, they were the hot stuff of 2017! And guess what? 2013 had its own crop of coins that blew up and died during the winter. There’s a big, big reason why so many of us who have been through a previous cycle are so adamant against altcoins. It’s because we’ve been burned by them and learned from those who came before us, who were also burnt, to stay away. It’s a very common tale.

I reiterate, once you realize the money is the main thing that needs to be fixed, you really can’t unsee it. Then once you realize that all of this can be built on additional layers above Bitcoin. You begin to realize that even if some of the altcoins aren’t outright scams, they are at best, a testnet for Bitcoin. Bitcoin can and will absorb every sexy feature that the market likes from these other coins. But first, we need to fix the money.

If you will, emphasize the money problem for a moment:

In my opinion, Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million is the only credible fixed number in the space. It’s the only leaderless chain with no foundation or for-profit company behind it’s launch. It is the only truly decentralized cryptocurrency, which makes it far and away the most resistant to change. Bitcoin is the most credibly scarce, secure, decentralized, and immutable money on earth. It’s the best money the world has ever seen. 

Now think about DeFi. Would you prefer to use DeFi on a chain with a base layer whose monetary properties can be changed almost at will by its developers and foundations? Or would you prefer to use it on a chain with a base layer that’s 100% immutable? This is why I believe Ethereum has it exactly backwards. The baselayer has one and only one job, to be secure, immutable, and decentralized. All of the decentralized finance features can be built on various layers above the baselayer once it is built and cemented. Fixing the money must come first. 

I have no problem with Ethereum and its community. I think most have good intentions! But visiting their subreddits and reading the tweets it clear to me they don’t see the problem the same way that Bitcoiners do. ETH people seem more motivated to disrupt retail banking whereas Bitcoiners’ bigger focus is on disrupting the central banks.I believe the latter is far more important than the former. When all is said and done, Bitcoin will disrupt them both.