Doc Brown explains the value of growing the Bitcoin pie by decentralizing it away from special interest control.
Marty: Hey Doc! I've been thinking about what you said yesterday about forks in the space-time, uh, capacitor and how Bitcoin United should make like Bitcoin Cash and fork a more scalable Bitcoin version before the, um, world ends...
Doc Brown: Hi Marty! Hey, come over here and hold these grounding clips in between those two battery jars. There's a small chance of arc-over when I drop in the plutonium...
Marty: Anyhow, Doc, I think I see a flaw in your plan.
Doc Brown: I haven't told you my plan yet, Marty.
'
Marty: Yeah, well, still... you're planning on trying to convince the BitShares community to make a light speed version of Bitcoin and, like, give it away to everybody who's already got some of the slow kind, right?
Doc Brown: That's right, Marty. Step back a couple steps there.
'
Marty: Well, I don't think that's gonna work! Some of my friends are already kind of pissed about it and I hardly told them anything!
Doc Brown: Why would they be pissed about getting double or even ten times what they've already got Marty, you're not making much sense! ... cover your eyes.
Marty: Aaack! Jeez Doc, give me a little more notice next time!
Doc Brown: Sorry Marty, that should have worked... Hmmm.
'
Marty: Anyhow, they think you're going to siphon off value from their Bitcoins, Doc! It's like you're stealing!
Doc Brown: Whatever we siphon off Marty is being 100% given right back to them on the faster chain.
'
Marty: Yeah, but they don't think so. They think no one's going to go over there to claim them. They think those new coins are going to just be ignored!
Doc Brown: So how is that going to siphon off any value then, Marty?
'
Marty: Well...uh, I don't know but a lot of them are saying they're just gonna dump them first thing!
Doc Brown: How are they going to dump them Marty if there aren't people who want to buy them?
'
Marty: Well...uh, some people will probably buy them up cheap hoping they will wind up worth billions like Ethereum Classic or something. I don't know.
Doc Brown: So when they dump them they'll have a little bit more money to buy more slow bitcoins, don't you think?
'
Marty: Yeah...but what if after they dump them, their price goes up or something. They just lost out!
Doc Brown: It's a free market, Marty, they should think things through.
'
Marty: They can't Doc. They're not being paid to think! They're sure no matter what they do, they're gonna get screwed somehow. There's no talking to them!
Doc Brown: OK Marty, look. You see those two battery jars there? Let's hook them up sitting on a couple of springs so they vary in height with how much weight is in each of them. Then we'll hook a hose between them so that the heavy water will flow between them as they move up and down. Water always seeks its own level between the two jars so the more water one has the more it sinks and draws more. Just like Sony vs VHS. Absent any other factors, the one with more value should always get more and wind up with the lion's share.
Lets pretend that the jars are the two Ethereum Blockchains (ETH and ETC) and the amount of deuterium in each jar represents their respective market caps. We'll simulate the value of Ethereum in each jar, er, blockchain platform.
...a few hours later...
Marty: Ok Doc, I've got it all hooked up, just like you said!
Doc Brown: Very good, Marty. Now pay attention. We'll use last year's Ethereum fork as an example. The fluid level in the right jar represents the market cap of Ethereum Classic - the original Ethereum - compressing the spring with its massive weight. Remember how that started?
Marty: Uh, well there was no new chain so ALL the deuterium, um market value, was in the right battery jar.
Doc Brown: That's right. Then the devs themselves decided to fork their own chain, and violate long standing ethics in the crypto community that "the blockchain is law". They took the name with them too and forced the original chain to adopt the name Ethereum Classic! You know what happened next!
Marty: Yeah, um, it was like putting their thumb on the scale. All the value started flowing to their new chain and only like ten percent was left in the original jar, um chain.
Doc Brown: Precisely! Why do you think that happened? It goes against all the conventional wisdom and ethics!
Marty: Well... probably because everybody thought that the chain with all the smart developers and the original name would be worth more in the long run, even if it was born under questionable circumstances!
Doc Brown: Bingo! People make a lot of fuss about philosophical considerations until it hits their bottom line. Then they vote with their wallets! Secular ethics is variable and people tend to adopt whatever ethics works out best for their net worth. Do you notice anything else?
Marty: Yeah, there seems to be more Deuterium overall... that's heavy, Doc.
Doc Brown: Heavy water. So how did anybody get hurt if they all now own more valuable assets than they started out with? The fork expanded the pie and created more value overall!
Marty: Yeah, it's like magic Doc. But how does that make you think value will flow from the two slow Bitcoin forks into Bitcoin United now? Bitcoin United has got none of those things going for it other than being eight orders of magnitude more cost effective. In fact, people hate having outsiders giving them free stuff. Its just not done! And BTC on the BitShares Platform, uh, BTC.BTS, which doesn't have the name, fame, or game of Bitcoin Classic developers to tip the scales for it. I don't care how many quantum leap, real time, industrial grade blockchains Dan Larimer has in the top twenty or how many billions combined market cap they have or how many transactions per day records they break over the rest of the industry combined. Nobody likes him for some reason.
Doc Brown: Is that true, Marty?
Marty: How could Bitcoin United possibly gain any value when facing all that entrenched opposition?
Doc Brown: Heh. I told you Marty, I have a plan...
Stan Larimer, President
Cryptonomex
The Godfather of BitShares, Bitcoin United, and the HERO
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Greatest Hits
Bitcoin and the Three Laws of Robotics
Engineering Trust with Charles Hoskinson
The Origin of BitShares
The Hero from BitShares Island