pull down to refresh
0 sats \ 6 replies \ @SimpleStacker 6h \ on: The Bitcoin Paradox: Why Success Feels Limiting bitcoin
In my opinion, saying "the optimal strategy is to hodl" is still a fiat driven mindset. At worst, you are literally only in it for the growth in fiat denominated value. At best, you are only in it for the growth of your own purchasing power down the road.
If you really were excited about bitcoin's prospects for a better financial system, you'd feel some intrinsic value and desire to participating and trying to grow the ecosystem and the community.
So, in my opinion, this "dilemma" is only a dilemma if you're only interested in fiat-denominated growth or growth of your personal purchasing power.
Preserving purchasing power across space and time is the problem that money solves. Bitcoin does that with the nice additions of limited supply, low cost of self custody and censorship resistance.
If for chance apart from that we have the luck to be early adopters and experience a growth in purchasing power due to its expansion, even better.
Putting my salary into Bitcoin, self custodying it, running a node, running LN nodes, and sharing knowledge is something that comes naturally as the bare minimum and a nice contribution to its success.
The question of Bitcoin entrepreneurship is not so clear. For example, if I sell part of my stack to acquire or start a business, it only makes sense for the world, Bitcoin, and myself, if I expect to make even more Bitcoin than I spend from it. And there is where things get complicated.
Playing around with Bitcoin, LN, NOSTR, sure, happy to do so. But a serious commitment to an economic activity needs to be better than HODLing for it to make sense. And I haven't found such opportunity yet.
Forget about what I think or my motivation. Think about what's best for Bitcoin success better than just HODL. Which is perfectly compatible with participating to grow the ecosystem. The dilemma is that it seems that the best thing one can do for Bitcoin with their accumulated purchasing power is just HODLing. Fine. But less exciting than entrepreneurship in the new cleaned up financial system.
reply
So are you saying there is not enough ROI on building bitcoin apps relative to just hodling bitcoin?
reply
reply
I'd have to think about this some more. Maybe some examples on a spreadsheet of a few scenarios could help clarify:
- Working a fiat job, investing it into bitcoin and hodling
- Building a fiat business by spending fiat and earning fiat
- Building a bitcoin business by spending fiat and earning bitcoin
- Building a 100% bitcoin business by spending bitcoin and earning bitcion
Could project out a 20 year scenario based on different assumptions about fiat devaluation, bitcoin appreciation, opportunity cost, etc.
I don't have time to do this now, but maybe i'll return to it later!