Hey guys, this is going to be kind of a rambling post but I had a few points I wanted to get out there and wanted to see your thoughts on them as well.
- It's not fair Bitcoin Forks maintain a high marketcap and they really don't deserve it.
I think many of these Bitcoin forks don't really have any promise, and don't do anything unique, yet they maintain a marketcap higher than other altcoins which actually have a valid use, which have a strong and active community and development team, it just doesn't seem right. I think just because they have the word "bitcoin" in their name they get more attention and more buyers. Also because there's a lot of controversy and speculation surrounding them whether people believe in them or like them or not people are going to trade them on the volatility because volatility means money so these coins artificially have their prices inflated and very high marketcaps.
- Bitcoin Forks do steal value from Bitcoin...but maybe not in the way that we think.
I'm a bit torn on this point but I think Bitcoin forks steal value from Bitcoin, but not in the sense that people believe they are the true bitcoin and split the community so much as that they take money people would otherwise spend on Bitcoin and divert it into other altcoins with the Bitcoin name. Now the reason I'm torn about whether this is really true is because at the end of the day if my thesis is correct these people are trading to make money and not holding because they believe in the forked coins so I suppose at the end of the day these people have to jump back into Bitcoin to cash out and the marketcap comes back to Bitcoin that way.
- Bitcoin Forks hurt the Bitcoin brand.
I recently got my father into Bitcoin and he bought his first Bitcoin. It's hard enough getting noobs to wrap their head around a "digital currency" or "internet money". It's confusing enough teaching them how to send and receive coins and about private keys. Then as soon as we do bring them on board they are freaking out every month about a new upcomming fork and how do they need to prepare and what do they need to do??? I most people like passive investments ie the popularity of Index Funds. While I agree that people can just let their Bitcoin sit and forget about it and even if they dont come back for a year they'll still have their Bitcoins and access to any forks as long as they control their keys, I still think it just puts a lot of confusion and uncertainty into the space and hurts the brand and hurts the ability to bring on new adopters.
That's my soap box, curious to hear your thoughts on these points.