Does Bitcoin Still Deserve To Be In The Spotlight?
A Serious Question That Needs To Be Addressed
Introduction
Earlier this week, an intriguing article was released on CoinTelegraph. The overall premise of said article was that the most interesting innovations within the space are happening outside of Bitcoin. The author also listed the sectors where these innovations are taking place.
Something is brewing, and those with finely tuned noses can smell it. As traders have come to expect, Bitcoin (BTC) is doing “Bitcoin things” by bouncing around between the usual “key” support and resistance levels, and to be honest, it’s all starting to feel a bit boomerish…...Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) are hot, nonfungible tokens (NFT) are hot, play-to-earn gaming is hot, and metaverses are hot. - CoinTelegraph
With all of the recent BTC FUD, threats or regulation, and the price movements of altcoins being tied to the price movement of Bitcoin, it has led us to ask a very serious question. Should Bitcoin still be the star of the show or should we be looking at other crypto sectors? First, let it be known that this is not an indictment against BTC. Bitcoin is the reason that we’re all here today enjoying this glorious industry that we’ve been building. For that, we will forever be grateful to the King of Crypto.
However, things change and so do industries. Throughout history, we’ve seen plenty of Titans (both human and inhuman) fall or be forced to take the backseat to a greater force of nature. Sometimes we have to know when the signs of the times are upon us. Again, this is not an article to cause FUD. We’re simply here to make or break the case for BTC remaining the darling of the cryptoverse dance. Every so often, it’s healthy to reassess the space in order to understand where things are headed.
NFTs
If you haven’t been living under a pile of rocks for the last six months, you’ve likely heard the letter NFT more than you can count.
This year has been absolutely explosive for NFTs. We’ve seen them sell for millions of dollars. One monumental example is the digital artist named Beeple auctioning his NFT art piece – The First 5,000 Days – off at Christie’s for $69M.
We’ve also seen certain CryptoPunks sell for as high as $11M.
This has led some within the crypto community to come to the conclusion that NFTs may be a better store of value than Bitcoin.
It’s tough to argue against that fact when you have projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CyberKongz sitting at approximate floor prices of 38 ETH and 90 ETH - 100 ETH respectively.
Keep in mind that these two NFT projects have not been in existence for a full year yet.
CyberKongz holders even generate a passive income of $150k per year from the $BANANA currency that is allocated to them every day.
Now, is it a possibility that we’re in a hype cycle/bubble, and everything will eventually correct with most of these NFTs becoming absolutely worthless? It most certainly could be. I’d even go as far as to say that it’s inevitable.
However, the blue chip projects like the ones listed above will retain their value, and likely become more valuable. Which means that holding a blue chip NFT could be better than holding one Bitcoin.
Metaverses
This is probably the most anticipated sector of crypto. There have been talks of emerging metaverses throughout the industry. Major companies have even been getting in on the action.
Jack Dorsey – who happens to be a huge Bitcoin maxi – just announced that Twitter users will soon possess the ability to verify their NFT avatars on the platform. Whether intentional or not, he’s helping lay the foundation for a real world metaverse.
Metaverses are playing a huge role in mainstream adoption. Even the biggest celebrities in the media are starting to dive head first into the sector. Snoop just announced his partnership with The Sandbox Game, where he will have his own land inside of the metaverse.
The successful implementation of metaverses creates a bullish scenario for crypto regardless of the success or failure of Bitcoin. Again I ask, why should Bitcoin be the star of crypto?
DAOs
The importance of DAOs is a topic that we briefly discussed in the article: The Issue With Centralization In Crypto And How We Can Solve It. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.
DAOs are revolutionizing the way organizations, communities, corporations, foundations, and teams are run and maintained.
The legal structures of DAOs are currently being defined and mapped out.
DAOs also present the opportunity for the relationships between VCs and investors to be dynamically changed for the better. VCs oftentimes have a hard time finding the best startups, and startups have a tough time finding a good VC.
Venture DAOs can help facilitate better deal flow.
If BTC went away tomorrow, it can be argued that the space would be hugely impacted, but eventually we would recover and DAOs would continue to become a societal norm.
DeFi
It is no secret that DeFi is here to stay and continuously redefining everything we’ve come to understand about traditional finance. The projects in this sector take the blueprints of old school finance and completely reconfigures them in the most innovative ways.
At the time of writing this, the current TVL in DeFi is approximately $169B. Though that may be a far cry from BTC’s $808B, it’s still pretty early for this sector. Also, institutions are just now starting to build up enough courage to dip their toes into the DeFi pool.
Coinbase is currently on a mission to help institutions transition into DeFi. Once that happens, a TVL of $169B will more than likely be a thing of the past.
Even Kyle Samani of MultiCoin Capital – one of the largest VC Funds in the crypto industry – admits that he once used to believe that BTC had no competition. However, he recognizes that DeFi has a real purpose.
Edgar makes some valid points about Bitcoin Maximalism in this current climate.
P2E Gaming
Outside of NFTs, P2E gaming has been all the rage. Since Axie Infinity set the P2E gaming world ablaze this year, the enthusiasm around P2E gaming has gone parabolic.
Right now, this sector is extra hot and still extremely undervalued. We have projects like Star Atlas and Illuvium that have already achieved market cap valuations in the hundreds of millions even before the games have been released.
Axie Infinity, Star Atlas, and Illuvium are only a drop in the bucket when we look at the blockchain gaming industry in its totality. There will be bigger games that will emerge.
Also, none of these games were built on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Bitcoin
Here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. This is the part where we examine Bitcoin in an effort to answer the question that was asked at the beginning of the post. Does Bitcoin still deserve to be in the spotlight? Let’s see…..
Well for one, whales are buying every Bitcoin dip like it’s going out of style.
Bitcoin is also a household name. It is probably the most widely adopted cryptocurrency to date. Take a look at the numbers.
Now there are nuances to these numbers (which you can read about in the linked article), but these still are not numbers that are to be taken for granted.
Last but certainly not least, Bitcoin is at the center of both of the most monumental moments in crypto history, which are:
The creation of the first cryptocurrency (Bitcoin)
The adoption of cryptocurrency as legal tender when El Salvador adopted Bitcoin.
El Salvador could have chosen any other cryptocurrency, but they chose Bitcoin.
Actually, it doesn’t just stop there. Here are a few other historic events that have taken place.
Besides, let’s be completely honest. The majority of users in crypto are flipping altcoins to accumulate more BTC or ETH, not the other way around.
Jay Gould and Spencer Noon expressed their thoughts about the sentiment of Bitcoin being viewed as boring.
No other coin’s, token’s, or particular sector’s market caps comes close to the market cap of Bitcoin – which is approximately $808B at the time of writing. Is this likely to change? Probably, but we’re talking about the present moment.
Now, there are about 30 other facts that I can reference, but that would make this article extremely long. So, we’ll end it here.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve taken a deep dive into whether or not Bitcoin still deserves to be in the spotlight, what’s the answer? The truth of the matter is that despite what we may think, the ultimate decision maker is the market itself…..and guess who makes up the market? It’s you!
So, it’s up to you to determine how you ultimately feel about Bitcoin and its current state. If Bitcoin deserves to remain the star, then it will be just that. One thing is for certain, it will forever be etched into history as the coin that changed the world.
Will Bitcoin ever be dethroned? Only time will tell….but for now, I’m cool with it remaining on top. What say you? Lastly, I’ll leave you all with a quote from Peter McCormack that seems to put everything into perspective. Long Live Crypto!
