Expatriotic on Nostr: Interesting take. And a fascinating one because it seems to fit more in the NGU crowd ...
Interesting take. And a fascinating one because it seems to fit more in the NGU crowd narrative than anything else.
I see Bitcoin and Monero as a revolt against a broken monetary system and corrupt government.
Both SHOULD be being used to support local markets in a way that circumvents banks and dollars (or other government currencies).
I do agree that they are "competing", but I don't really see where the harm arises?
For the longest time (even as the use of paper dollars grew which was originally silver (NOT GOLD) backed, and then suddenly in 1970 backed only by government best wishes) we had staunch supporters of gold and silver coinage. A dollar BTW is technically a certain weight of silver (again, not gold).
Silver and gold are elementally different, yet both can be used in a market place... Silver being better for lower value goods whilst gold was better for higher value goods.
Monero arose from a group of people that noted that Bitcoin devs had no intention of improving base layer privacy. And so yes, they are distinctly and elementally different. Monero IS NOT a Bitcoin clone, it IS different. Yet, as you mention, it (sometimes) fills the same role.
I actually think you're more aligned psychologically with Monero users who are spenders and obsessed with privacy, like cash and gold coin users are. MAAAANY in my estimation of bitcoin "users" are actually holding IOUs, paper bitcoin, HODLing, investing, TradFi NGU bros...
So again, yes they can be competing for the same purpose of spendable money, but I don't see that as a bad thing. I save in Bitcoin (because it seems to store value better), but when I check out with a person or online vendor I am able to pay at any given moment in onchain/lightning bitcoin or monero... And I like that flexibility...
Plus I like how cypherpunk I feel spending onchain monero versus bitcoin, knowing that most of the transaction is obfuscated. Versus the 100% transparent onchain footprint of bitcoin. (let's face it, with AI, all it takes is one slip-up or unmasked home IP address and a home string of bitcoin transactions and wallets can suddenly be bagged, tagged and labelled as _________ (fill in Legal name here) and subsequent IRS fraud or evasion charges could be pursued...)
I see Bitcoin and Monero as a revolt against a broken monetary system and corrupt government.
Both SHOULD be being used to support local markets in a way that circumvents banks and dollars (or other government currencies).
I do agree that they are "competing", but I don't really see where the harm arises?
For the longest time (even as the use of paper dollars grew which was originally silver (NOT GOLD) backed, and then suddenly in 1970 backed only by government best wishes) we had staunch supporters of gold and silver coinage. A dollar BTW is technically a certain weight of silver (again, not gold).
Silver and gold are elementally different, yet both can be used in a market place... Silver being better for lower value goods whilst gold was better for higher value goods.
Monero arose from a group of people that noted that Bitcoin devs had no intention of improving base layer privacy. And so yes, they are distinctly and elementally different. Monero IS NOT a Bitcoin clone, it IS different. Yet, as you mention, it (sometimes) fills the same role.
I actually think you're more aligned psychologically with Monero users who are spenders and obsessed with privacy, like cash and gold coin users are. MAAAANY in my estimation of bitcoin "users" are actually holding IOUs, paper bitcoin, HODLing, investing, TradFi NGU bros...
So again, yes they can be competing for the same purpose of spendable money, but I don't see that as a bad thing. I save in Bitcoin (because it seems to store value better), but when I check out with a person or online vendor I am able to pay at any given moment in onchain/lightning bitcoin or monero... And I like that flexibility...
Plus I like how cypherpunk I feel spending onchain monero versus bitcoin, knowing that most of the transaction is obfuscated. Versus the 100% transparent onchain footprint of bitcoin. (let's face it, with AI, all it takes is one slip-up or unmasked home IP address and a home string of bitcoin transactions and wallets can suddenly be bagged, tagged and labelled as _________ (fill in Legal name here) and subsequent IRS fraud or evasion charges could be pursued...)