by starkmonster » Wed Mar 03, 2021 4:25 pm
spitthedog, you are missing my point completely. Bitcoin is not a stock in a company that is judged on it's performance in the market place. It is a protocol, all crypto's are protocols, like HTTP or SMTP. They are a standard that defines how one or more devices on a network can communicate and what the rules of that communication are.
Bitcoin IS Sotoshi's whitepaper, as that is the definition of the protocol. Bitcoin is not the miners, investors or the price, it is the protocol. The same as the internet is not Yahoo, Google, the markets or their investors. The internet is HTTP, a protocol created by Tim Berners-Lee, just like Bitcoin. One protocol defines how to transfer information between two untrusted parties, the other defines how to transfer value between two untrusted parties.
The value add and innovation will happen above this base protocol, this is where higher level protocols, frameworks and companies will emerge. The next Google, Facebook or Amazon will emerge out of the wave of innovation that happens above the base protocol.
In the graph I posted above, if we were to compare the maturity of the value layer that currently exists above crypto, to the value layer that existed above HTTP since the birth of the interenet, then I would say that we are in the mid to late 90's.
The price today, tomorrow or yesterday is irreverent. This short term price speculation is not the bet the tech nerds are making (put Elon Musk in that camp). The bet they are making is that the "internet of value" will grow to rival the "internet of information" (what we currently just call the internet) in terms of innovation, traffic and global adoption.
As a thought experiment, imagine if HTTP had 23 million shares. Now imagine that in order for your higher level technology to be trusted and therefore be able to operate in the internet of information you needed to own some of those shares and offer them as security against transactions in your untrusted/unknown protocol, technology, framework or app, you literally can't compete online without them. How much would each of those 23 million shares be worth?
I can't say the number, but I think it's safe to say that the market cap of HTTP in that scenario would be unimaginably high.
HTTP doesn't have ownership, but Bitcoin does. And the bet being made by the people in the tech nerds (the hodlers) is that the internet of value will one day grow to surpass the internet of information in scope, reach and global impact.
The next question is why Bitcoin? Why not alt-coin X, Y or Z. The answer is simple, when it comes to protocols, first mover advantage is everything and once its adoption has reached a tipping point, it can't be caught. Most half decent programmers today could design a protocol for the exchange of information that is superior to HTTP (many have), but they will never gain mass adoption.
HTTP does what it needs to do, facilitate the exchange of information between two untrusted parties. And no protocol however much improved in terms of speed, functionality or ease of use will ever replace it because it's too deeply embedded already, it's lead is simply too great.
Bitcoin does what it needs to do, facilitate the exchange of value between two untrusted parties. And like HTTP its lead is too great, it won't be caught now. It's kinks, quirks and bottlenecks will simply be engineered around at a higher level in the stack.
Trying to explain the potential of the internet of value to most not tech people today, is like taking a time machine back to 1985 and trying to explain in the future there will be this thing called the internet that allows computers in different locations to talk to each other and it will change every imaginable aspect of our lives. Good luck with that.
spitthedog, you are missing my point completely. Bitcoin is not a stock in a company that is judged on it's performance in the market place. It is a protocol, all crypto's are protocols, like HTTP or SMTP. They are a standard that defines how one or more devices on a network can communicate and what the rules of that communication are.
Bitcoin IS Sotoshi's whitepaper, as that is the definition of the protocol. Bitcoin is not the miners, investors or the price, it is the protocol. The same as the internet is not Yahoo, Google, the markets or their investors. The internet is HTTP, a protocol created by Tim Berners-Lee, just like Bitcoin. One protocol defines how to transfer information between two untrusted parties, the other defines how to transfer value between two untrusted parties.
The value add and innovation will happen above this base protocol, this is where higher level protocols, frameworks and companies will emerge. The next Google, Facebook or Amazon will emerge out of the wave of innovation that happens above the base protocol.
In the graph I posted above, if we were to compare the maturity of the value layer that currently exists above crypto, to the value layer that existed above HTTP since the birth of the interenet, then I would say that we are in the mid to late 90's.
The price today, tomorrow or yesterday is irreverent. This short term price speculation is not the bet the tech nerds are making (put Elon Musk in that camp). The bet they are making is that the "internet of value" will grow to rival the "internet of information" (what we currently just call the internet) in terms of innovation, traffic and global adoption.
As a thought experiment, imagine if HTTP had 23 million shares. Now imagine that in order for your higher level technology to be trusted and therefore be able to operate in the internet of information you needed to own some of those shares and offer them as security against transactions in your untrusted/unknown protocol, technology, framework or app, you literally can't compete online without them. How much would each of those 23 million shares be worth?
I can't say the number, but I think it's safe to say that the market cap of HTTP in that scenario would be unimaginably high.
HTTP doesn't have ownership, but Bitcoin does. And the bet being made by the people in the tech nerds (the hodlers) is that the internet of value will one day grow to surpass the internet of information in scope, reach and global impact.
The next question is why Bitcoin? Why not alt-coin X, Y or Z. The answer is simple, when it comes to protocols, first mover advantage is everything and once its adoption has reached a tipping point, it can't be caught. Most half decent programmers today could design a protocol for the exchange of information that is superior to HTTP (many have), but they will never gain mass adoption.
HTTP does what it needs to do, facilitate the exchange of information between two untrusted parties. And no protocol however much improved in terms of speed, functionality or ease of use will ever replace it because it's too deeply embedded already, it's lead is simply too great.
Bitcoin does what it needs to do, facilitate the exchange of value between two untrusted parties. And like HTTP its lead is too great, it won't be caught now. It's kinks, quirks and bottlenecks will simply be engineered around at a higher level in the stack.
Trying to explain the potential of the internet of value to most not tech people today, is like taking a time machine back to 1985 and trying to explain in the future there will be this thing called the internet that allows computers in different locations to talk to each other and it will change every imaginable aspect of our lives. Good luck with that.
