Bitcoin is one of a kind and has no competition. There are no competitors in it’s quest for digital gold.

Bitcoin is a one-of-a-kind cryptocurrency that has no competition in the digital currency space. Despite the emergence of other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin remains the most popular and widely adopted digital currency in the world. This can be attributed to a number of factors, including Bitcoin’s network effect, superior monetary policy, and decentralized architecture, which make it an unbeatable force in the cryptocurrency market.

One of the biggest debates in the cryptocurrency space is between Eth killers and btc killers. Eth killers, such as Cardano and Solana, seek to replace Ethereum as the go-to platform for decentralized applications, while btc killers, such as Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, aim to dethrone Bitcoin as the top cryptocurrency. However, despite the emergence of these projects, Bitcoin’s dominance remains unchallenged. This is because Bitcoin has been the number one cryptocurrency since its inception, and since the ICO failures of 2017, no one has been able to compete with its network effect.

Since the initial coin offering (ICO) failures of 2017, no cryptocurrency has emerged that can compete with Bitcoin’s network effect. The network effect is a phenomenon where a product or service becomes more valuable as more people use it. Bitcoin’s network effect is strong, and it has become a “if you can’t beat them, join them” situation for many cryptocurrencies. Instead of trying to compete with Bitcoin, many new cryptocurrencies are built on top of Bitcoin’s blockchain, using it as a foundation.

Bitcoin is less like Myspace or AOL, and more like the internet itself, but for money. A base layer value transfer protocol, like TCP/IP. While other cryptocurrencies come and go, Bitcoin remains the most stable and secure digital currency in the market. This is because Bitcoin has a decentralized architecture that makes it impossible to manipulate or control. Additionally, Bitcoin’s network effect is too strong for any other cryptocurrency to challenge.

Anyone who is in crypto knows that Bitcoin is one of a kind. Sure, there are stablecoins for less volatility, and faster transaction coins for a better medium of exchange, but these aren’t trying to compete. They have different value propositions. Other cryptocurrencies are PoS or straight up scams, and they aren’t even trying to compete with Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the money.

Bitcoin’s competition is actual gold, fiat currencies, and CBDC’s, all of which are flawed. While gold has been used as a store of value for centuries, it is not easily transferable or divisible. Fiat currencies are subject to inflation and government manipulation, and CBDC’s are centralized and subject to government control. The world would prefer neutral Bitcoin to Chinese CBDC Yuan.

One of the biggest reasons why Bitcoin has no competition is that any improvement in one characteristic of Bitcoin, such as improving its speed or scalability, leads to a reduction in another characteristic, such as Bitcoin’s level of decentralization or security. This tradeoff is known as the blockchain trilemma, and it is something that has yet to be overcome by any other cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin has the highest liquidity of all cryptocurrencies, meaning that it is the easiest cryptocurrency to buy and sell. Additionally, Bitcoin has the greatest number of users amongst all cryptocurrencies, giving it the largest network effects. This means that as more people adopt Bitcoin, its value will continue to increase.

Unlike every other cryptocurrency, there is no central point of failure with Bitcoin. Bitcoin has no Vitalik Buterin, no Ethereum Foundation, no Deltec bank like Tether, no fancy offices in San Francisco, no team of lawyers, no governance token, no VC-backing, no pre-mine, no small council, and no whales able to manipulate the system. This decentralized architecture has already insulated Bitcoin from attacks at the highest levels. No matter how much Bitcoin you own, you can’t change the rules, print more, censor, steal or prevent others from using the network.

Because of Bitcoin’s network effect, programmability, and superior monetary policy, direct alternatives have slowly faded away in importance. Bitcoin’s shortcomings have been accounted for within the Bitcoin ecosystem, such as scalability lightning/liquid, privacy lighting/taproot, interoperability wallets/exchanges, and energy usage mining council/education. It’s now commonly understood that Bitcoin is built for one thing, incorruptible value storage, and other crypto projects have moved on to other use cases.

Bitcoin is often hailed as the king of cryptocurrencies, and there are several reasons why it is considered one-of-a-kind and without any competition. From its inception to its current status, Bitcoin has weathered many challenges, including the emergence of new cryptocurrencies and their potential to surpass Bitcoin’s dominance. However, Bitcoin has remained the undisputed champion of the cryptocurrency world. In this article, we will discuss why Bitcoin is one of a kind and doesn’t have any competition.

Different Value Propositions

Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency and is built for one thing: incorruptible value storage. Other cryptocurrencies have different value propositions, such as faster transactions or more stable prices. However, these cryptocurrencies are not trying to compete with Bitcoin; they are offering different solutions to different problems. For example, stablecoins offer less volatility, and faster transaction coins offer a better medium of exchange.

Other Cryptocurrencies are PoS or Straight Up Scams

Many new cryptocurrencies claim to have improved on Bitcoin’s design by using a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism instead of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism. However, PoS is untested at scale, and it is unclear whether it can provide the same level of security as PoW. Additionally, many new cryptocurrencies are straight up scams, preying on people’s FOMO (fear of missing out) and taking their money without delivering any real value.

Bitcoin’s Competition is Actual Gold, Fiat Currencies, and CBDCs

Bitcoin’s competition is not other cryptocurrencies but actual gold, fiat currencies, and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Gold has been a store of value for thousands of years, but it has several limitations, such as storage and transport costs. Fiat currencies are subject to inflation and government manipulation. CBDCs are a new form of digital currency that is controlled by central banks, and their effectiveness is still untested.

The World Would Prefer Neutral Bitcoin to Chinese CBDC Yuan

CBDCs are a new form of digital currency that is controlled by central banks. China’s digital yuan is the most advanced CBDC, and it has raised concerns about the government’s ability to monitor transactions and control the economy. Bitcoin, on

n. Bitcoin is the most secure and immutable blockchain in existence. Its proof-of-work consensus mechanism has been battle-tested for over a decade and has proven to be incredibly resilient against attacks. In contrast, many other blockchain projects use untested or experimental consensus mechanisms that are prone to vulnerabilities and exploits.

o. Bitcoin has the largest developer ecosystem of any cryptocurrency, with thousands of developers working on its core protocol and a vast array of third-party applications and services being built on top of it. This ensures that the Bitcoin network will continue to evolve and improve over time.

p. Bitcoin has the potential to become a global reserve currency, much like gold was in the past. It’s decentralized nature and limited supply make it an attractive alternative to fiat currencies that are subject to inflation and political interference.

q. Bitcoin is the most widely recognized and accepted cryptocurrency, with a growing number of merchants and businesses accepting it as a form of payment. This trend is likely to continue as more people become familiar with Bitcoin and its benefits.

r. Bitcoin’s open and transparent ledger provides unprecedented levels of accountability and auditability, making it an ideal platform for businesses and governments to conduct transactions and manage their finances.

s. Bitcoin is a truly global currency, with no barriers to entry or restrictions on who can use it. This makes it an ideal platform for cross-border transactions and international trade.

t. Bitcoin has a passionate and dedicated community of users and supporters who are committed to its long-term success. This community provides a valuable source of support, development, and innovation for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

o. Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins, which makes it a deflationary asset. This is in contrast to fiat currencies, which can be printed at will by central banks, leading to inflation and a loss of purchasing power over time. Bitcoin’s fixed supply, combined with its increasing demand, has led to a significant increase in its price over time.

p. Bitcoin is increasingly being recognized as a legitimate asset by institutional investors. In recent years, large financial institutions such as Fidelity, BlackRock, and JP Morgan have entered the Bitcoin market, providing institutional-grade custody and trading services to their clients. This has led to a significant increase in demand for Bitcoin, and has helped to solidify its status as a legitimate asset class.

q. Bitcoin has a global reach, with users and nodes distributed all over the world. This means that Bitcoin is not subject to the whims of any single government or jurisdiction, and is truly a global currency. This makes it particularly attractive to people in countries with unstable or oppressive governments, who may not have access to traditional banking services.

r. Bitcoin is becoming more user-friendly over time. While it was once difficult for the average person to buy and use Bitcoin, this is no longer the case. There are now numerous exchanges and wallets that make it easy to buy, sell, and store Bitcoin, and there are even Bitcoin debit cards that allow users to spend their Bitcoin at merchants that don’t yet accept it directly.

Bitcoin is the Manhattan project for human freedom

It’s an enormous, globally coordinated research and development initiative:

An open source software project aimed at building an unstoppable internet-native monetary system.

A tech stack – which implements fair, neutral money and protects human rights for 8 billion people.

Fighting back against authoritarianism and the encroachment of a digital Orwellian surveillance state.

There’s a lot more to bitcoin then you might realize.

Nostr

CivKit

AI

Lightning Network

Fedimint

Cashu

Whirlpool

Bluewallet

Mynode

In order to understand what bitcoin is, you have to understand what money is.

Money is a technology to move value across space and time. Money stores your time and energy to be used in the future.

For example you can build cabinets and trade that for a day at a spa.

Money allows for complex exchange, trade specialization, and is fundamental for civilizations with advanced economies.

Money is in fact one of the oldest inventions of civilization itself, it even predates writing. In fact the first forms of writing were credit spreadsheets, of who owed what to whom. Money was so important in society we had to invent writing to keep track of it! it’s such a primal tool that we have even taught animals how to use it.

And it’s so ubiquitous that many of us take it for granted. 

Money is by far the most important good in an economy. It’s half of every single transaction. Not only is it extremely important on an individual level, but it’s one of the fundamental technologies in the development and sustainability of society itself.

Everyone intuitively understands that it’s always about the money. Always has been.

Money is a store of value, a medium of exchange and a unit of account. You save dollars in your wallet to buy something for dollars which has it’s price listed in dollars.

This definition is good for telling us which things are used as money but money is also a spectrum. It’s location dependent, just because you can’t buy a soda in Pittsburg with Mexican pesos doesn’t mean they aren’t money. And money sometimes specializes in one of the three functions (think of gold as a store of value and Pesos as a medium of exchange).

There are two types of money – money can either be physical, like a coin, seashell, salt, cigarette, necklace bead, or paper bill. Or it can be a list of transactions and debts owed like a bank account, clay tablet, or credit card. 

On the internet, money HAS to be information, since it’s the informational realm, and therefore money has to be a ledger.

The very nature of information is that it can be copied indefinitely, and before bitcoin there was no way to limit someone from just counterfeiting digital money without repercussion.

Sure you could trust a 3rd party like a bank or a corporation to keep track of your digital money, but debasement/counterfeiting of money has always been commonplace…and it’s the reason bitcoin was invented in the first place.

The true innovation of bitcoin was inventing a way for digital money from being spent twice in an automated system without human control. Replicating the scarce nature of physical matter within cyberspace.

This makes Bitcoin a form of digital property.

Property where you can build applications because it is programmable. One where you don’t need permission to launch an application. Where there are no gate keepers or barriers to entry, and where ingenuity is financially incentivized, and an open market of ideas will flourish.

Bitcoin is programmable money, with so many use cases we haven’t even thought of yet, due to its open source, permissionless nature, it will inspire innovation at the edges and the free marketplace of ideas will flourish innovation

Bitcoin is commodity money

Bitcoin is designed money

Bitcoin isn’t just any money, it’s the best money ever made

It’s sound money, it’s powerful money, it’s unstoppable money.

It’s a payment tool, like visa, venmo, or paypal. It’s an electronic peer to peer cash system.

It’s bank, but it’s more than that, it’s a banking system.

You can think of Bitcoin as a kind of clock, it keeps track of time across the tens of thousands of computers that make up its network. A decentralized clock if you will, keeping track of which transactions came first. Ticking away for eternity.

Not only does bitcoin tell time, but Bitcoin is an invention of a new kind of time.

Blocktime.

Consider each new block added to the blockchain as a tick or a tock. The nodes within the bitcoin network come to a consensus of what the blocktime is and what transactions are included in each block.

Bitcoin facilitates this decentralized variable time in a trustless manner, i.e. there’s no one ‘keeping time’ the computers do this algorithmically without interference.

Obviously the problem of timekeeping is a big deal when dealing with a ledger, the order of who sent money to who is extremely important. If someone has control over the order of transactions they can literally control who has what money.

It must be stressed that the impos­si­bility of associ­ating events with points in time in distrib­uted systems was the unsolved problem that precluded a decen­tral­ized ledger from ever being possible until Satoshi Nakamoto invented a solution.

Gregory Trubet­skoy

The fancy term for this is Bitcoin is a distributed timestamp server, mitigating disputes in the order of transactions, completely autonomously, through a complex interplay of physics and game theory.

Bitcoin is automatic and can’t be shut off. No one controls the bitcoin time chain, it’s a computer system that exists beyond the control of humanity.

It exists as permanently and beyond human control as time itself.

Refrences:

https://dergigi.com/2021/01/14/bitcoin-is-time/

Bitcoin is a global interconnected computer network made up of tens of thousands of nodes.

A computer network comprises two or more computers that are connected—either by cables (wired) or WiFi (wireless)—with the purpose of transmitting, exchanging, or sharing data and resources. 

IBM

A node is a connection point inside a network that can receive, send, create, or store data. A node is essentially [a computer] that can recognize, process, and transmit information to any other network node.

IBM

The nodes [computers] that make up the bitcoin network all run the same free open source software. This software is a language that allows these computers to interact with each other, and it governs the rules of the system.

Specifically, bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network, where every computer can communicate with any other computer directly. There’s no central server processing all of the data, and every computer is the same in the eyes of the network. There are no hierarchies, there are no master nodes that have any more power than any other nodes. Peer-to-peer means that bitcoin has a flat topology, every node is equal.

The nodes constantly pass around verify transactions, and importantly, all of these computers have the same copy of the ledger. When someone makes a bitcoin transaction all computers in the network update their ledger together. Therefore bitcoin is on all of the computers in the network at the same time.

Because all nodes run the same software, all members of the network must adhere to the consensus rules and monetary policy in order to send and receive transactions. This makes it impossible for one single person or group to cheat the system or adjust the rules like they can with fiat money.

You can think of the bitcoin network kind of like a big mushroom, where there’s not really a brain. It’s all just one big blob. Or you could even think of Bitcoin as the brain itself, with electricity pulsing throughout the network to build one self-sufficient, autonomous, system.

And to confuse you even more, bitcoin is also the name of the software that the nodes are running on the network.

So to recap: bitcoin the currency, is sent over Bitcoin the network, by computers running Bitcoin the software.

Bitcoin is the next evolution in money. It’s a 21st century monetary technology that will outlast our fiat currency system. Bitcoin is money for a type one civilization.

Bitcoin is not just a currency, it is a complete reworking of our global monetary system.

It is the first digital system of money that is completely decentralized.

Decentralized means its spread out, it exists everywhere, and no one is in control. This is the biggest differentiator between bitcoin and everything else that has ever existed.

Bitcoin is a decentralized P2P transaction technology. It’s Peer-to-peer because there’s no one in the middle of the person you’re transacting with. Bitcoin is self running computer code which facilitates transaction automatically. It’s an independent third party software which holds no allegiances, and runs completely on its own.

Bitcoin is an electronic peer-to-peer cash system based on a distributed digital ledger called a blockchain or timechain. The ledger includes transactions approved by the peer-to-peer network instead of a central authority.

Bitcoin Magazine

But bitcoin isn’t just money, it’s isn’t just a digital asset, and it’s not just a software.

Bitcoin is a network. An internet protocol, and a technology stack. It’s layers upon layers of different apps, software, hardware, networks, companies, services and tools, which together form unstoppable globally public monetary infrastructure. It’s a global bank, a global monetary system and a global financial system.

The reason bitcoin is so revolutionary is because it’s so unique. There’s never been a money that’s both digital and uncontrollable. Engineered from the ground up to have all around superior monetary properties, and exist within an entire network of trustless protocols facilitating payments and contracts all running on their own.

Bitcoin is a reinvention of money itself.

Because bitcoin is just an internet ledger, bitcoin is pure information.

Bitcoin is a broadcast network where the message is the money. It’s is a software program for sending and receiving text messages (transactions).

It’s technically just 1’s and 0’s computer code, and cool math! There aren’t even any coins, it’s just a list of transactions and units.

You can send a bitcoin transaction via QR code…or in a picture. You can store billions of dollars worth of bitcoin in your brain by memorizing 24 words.

If you think about it from an adversarial perspective, this makes bitcoin extremely difficult to censor. You can send someone money with a meme!

You can text a bitcoin transaction with emojis, you can send it via satellite, you can send it over radio, you can save the file on an SD card, or mail it hidden in a love letter.

And once a bitcoin transaction is sent it can’t be undone.

Being digital also makes bitcoin extremely portable, frictionless, and easily integrated into our digital world.

Bitcoin is also programmable and can be designed around without permission. You can program money in countless of innovative ways with smart contracts and new complex financial infrastructure can be built on top of it.

Multi party custody solutions, payment channels, atomic swaps, batch transactions, time locks, vaults, prisms, micropayments, in-game currency integration, money streaming, insurance and options smart contracts, layer three web browsers, social networks, encrypted messaging…. and so much more that hasn’t even been invented yet.

Also with bitcoin, robots, self-driving cars, drones, refrigerators, smart homes etc. can all hold and use bitcoin between themselves, a whole robot economy independent of ours.

This isn’t possible within our current credit based monetary system, since that requires passing of personal information and creditworthiness, a regulatory and security nightmare. Bitcoin on the other hand can be settled instantly with cash finality, zapped around at the speed of light anywhere on earth.

Think of bitcoin like an ultimate google doc, a shared spreadsheet in the cloud which is just a list of transactions. That’s literally all bitcoin is, it’s just a ledger, a list of who sent money to who.

At the most basic and fundamental level, bitcoin is just a ledger.

But instead of existing on the computers of banks, it exists on hundreds of thousands of computers all around the globe.

They all have the same ledger and everyone is in complete agreement with who sent money to who. 

If you’re having trouble putting an image of bitcoin in your head just think of a long digital excel spreadsheet, a calculator that keeps track of everyone’s money.

So when people say, bitcoin isn’t real, it’s the same as saying your money in the bank isn’t real.

Except of course the bitcoin ledger is the most powerful and secure supercomputer on earth, can’t be hacked or shut down, and you have full autonomy over your savings.

When we’re talking about digital dollars or Zuckerberg bucks, the money ledger is stored on a central server. Basically the bank has a private computer that they keep all the records of everyone’s money.

The big difference is that Bitcoin’s ledger is a decentralized server. It’s hosted on tens of thousands of computers across the globe. Every bitcoin computer has a full copy of the bitcoin blockchain, for a fully transparent system. Bitcoin’s ledger is everywhere, its in the cloud.

It’s the great excel spreadsheet in the sky.

Bitcoin is like an unstoppable PayPal, beaming digital super-gold around the world at the speed of light. It allows you to send and receive value, to and from anyone in the world, with nothing more than a smartphone and an internet connection.

The software operates on it’s own. All of bitcoins functions are facilitated by computer code. There’s no customer service you can call, no corporation that can change the rules, and no government that can stop your payments.

And anyone can access it, no exceptions.

Bitcoin is the first and most popular cryptocurrency, it is the invention of digital scarcity i.e. digital property. It’s a new form of money and an independent global monetary network. It was invented by a person or persons under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, and is an enormous breakthrough in computer science and cryptographic systems.

In simple terms bitcoin is digital money.

But then again so are dollars, euros, and yen. We have PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, Kohls cash, Credit Card reward points…heck you can even send money over Facebook messenger!

So while digital money is technically correct! It doesn’t really tell us anything…

What about digital gold? I’m sure you’ve heard that term tossed around, and honestly I do like it a lot better.

If I was explaining bitcoin to a 5 year old I would say that bitcoin is just gold that’s on the internet. In the same way that email is just internet mail, bitcoins are gold coins on the internet.

I like this comparison because calling bitcoin digital gold tells you it’s one of a kind, rare, and desirable. However bitcoin is more than just digital gold, its an evolution of gold. Where gold is great at moving value across time, its not great at moving value across space.

Bitcoin is better than gold because it was specifically designed to fix all of its shortfalls. Including verifiability, portability, and divisibility.

But still this definition of “digital gold” is underwhelming. It is extremely simplified and doesn’t really explain why bitcoin is so revolutionary.

To steal another line from Andreas Antonopoulos:

Saying bitcoin is digital gold is like saying the internet is a fancy telephone

It’s a question everyone asks but no one seems to have a good answer for.

John Oliver host of Last Week Tonight, said it best:

Usually, the nerds will give you the technical definition:

Bitcoin is an open monetary transmission protocol…blah blah blah

They’ll tell you what it does and how it works…but I heard these jargon filled definitions repeated for years and they never helped me, in fact they all made bitcoin seem boring and underwhelming.

Because of all of these boring definitions, Bitcoin is very misunderstood, I can tell you it’s not what you think it is.

It’s a totally new invention, revolutionary invention, and yet it’s shrouded in complex terminologies and elitist jargon.

Wow what a difficult task you have. At a very basic level you have to try to understand what is bitcoin. I can answer that question in for words. Bitcoin is digital money. But that doesn’t really capture it. It’s more like the Internet of money. But really it’s a consensus decentralized network based on Blockchain technology and proof of work algorithm that allows a digital token to act as a reward system for a game theoretical competition between decentralize minors to validate…and oh my it immediately goes off a cliff….

Andreas Antonopoulos

The only things we have to explain what bitcoin is, are analogies of already existing technologies. But like the old saying goes, some analogies are helpful, but all are wrong.

Some of my personal favorite bitcoin analogies are:

• Bitcoin is digital gold
• Bitcoin is gold that you can send from one phone to another…or from one BRAIN to another.
• Bitcoin is digital Super-Gold! Flying around the world at the speed of light, in an unstoppable PayPal
• Bitcoin is not just a bank account, but a full Swiss bank in your pocket
• Bitcoin is not just money on the internet, it’s the “Internet of Money”, a programmable monetary base layer internet protocol like TCP/IP or HTTP
• Bitcoin is the world’s largest, most secure, and most powerful supercomputer
• Bitcoin is like putting a calculator in charge of a global monetary and financial system
• Bitcoin is like beanie babies, except for ending human slavery
• Bitcoin is a global anti-authoritarian political movement and a peaceful technological revolution
• Bitcoins are “magic internet tokens” that you can store inside an app on a smart phone!!
  • Silly little made up internet points, that for some reason people pay tends of thousands of dollars for…

Bitcoin is the Manhattan project for human freedom. An escape hatch from our monopolistic fiat-capitalist global economic system.

My personal favorite analogy for explaining bitcoin goes a little like this:

Imagine there’s this huge elephant, and a group of blind monks all walk up to it and start feeling it up to try and make sense of it.

Right so one monk is petting it’s head, another is on its back feeling it’s ridged spine, there’s a monk clinging to one of its tusks, one pulling on it’s ears, another is tossing around it’s testicles, and yet another is rubbing on its toes.

The elephant of course is bitcoin in this analogy, there’s so many different pieces, it’s impossible for any one of us (the blind monks) to get a sense of it fully.

What makes it even more difficult to explain to new people is that there is no good elevator pitch for bitcoin, it truly depends on where you’re coming from, your prerequisite knowledge, and personal values.

Ask three strangers what Bitcoin is, and you will probably get three very different answers. Any answer is necessarily shaped by past experience, political and economic beliefs, and an individual understanding of the world. Your personal set of ideas, your world view, defines where you are on the landscape of ideas.

Gigi

Explaining to the monk touching the elephant’s tusks what the testicles feel like is totally a lost cause.

My job of course is to lead you little monks all around the elephant, feeling all the parts to get a sense of something totally new. This of course requires a bit of commitment from the student, however I can promise you that you will find it very rewarding if you stick around.