Some of the world’s richest have been known to make denigrating remarks on Bitcoin, comments that stem from their natural inclination to defend their turf, which is fiat. Kevin O’Leary of Shark Tank, also known as Mr. Wonderful, recently joined the long list of Bitcoin bashers, to the disappointment of many of his fans in the cryptosphere. Squaring off with Anthony Pompliano of Morgan Creek Digital on Squawk Box on CNBC, O’Leary tore into Bitcoin’s current bull run.
Kevin dipped into his bag of colorful words, lambasting Bitcoin as a “scam,” “digital game,” and “total BS.” He tried to corner Pompliano by asking him what the value of owning BTC as an asset class was, asking: “Tell me why this, which is basically a digital game, has any intrinsic value. And where is the long-term value? Just this idea that they’re going to cut the number of units in half is just a scam. That’s just total BS…. I think people should understand: today the hot digital is Bitcoin, tomorrow it could be whatever, right?”
But Bitcoin (BTC) is More than Currency
Pompliano took all the jabs like the Bitcoin champ he is, talking about the recent interest financial institutions are showing BTC. He told O’Leary,
“Everything that is new seems different in the beginning. And I think what you have got to realize is that with Bitcoin specifically, money is a belief system. So, the US dollar – the only reason why we use it is we believe it has value. Bitcoin has value because two people who exchange it believe it has that value. And what we’re seeing is the volume. Look at people using it. That’s ultimately what matters.”
Any other crypto user would be content with that Pompliano’s clap back, but real Bitcoin skin in the game diehards were disappointed that that’s all Anthony had to say of Bitcoin’s value. One disappointed Bitcoin fan tweeted to educate O’Leary that “It will be easy to create the “next Bitcoin,” if Bitcoin was just software, but it is not. Bitcoin’s network effect includes – Highest quality cryptographers – Incredibly high hash rate – Best brand recall – Passionate community – Passionate devs – HODLers of the last resort.”
It is Standard Setting
Amongst its many other strengths, Bitcoin’s platform has the highest hash power of all crypto, which makes almost impermeable to 51 percent attacks. And who has not heard of the king of crypto? In truth, most other altcoins ride on the king of crypto’s coattails, also falling when it does. As vain as popularity in face value might be, brand recognition can bring success. Bitcoin is globally recognized and is also very much accessible.
Today, Bitcoin ATMs are popping up all over the place globally, making it the most accessible cryptocurrency to deal with. The king is also the industry standard. There are tons of tech experts and innovators around the world, using the BTC blockchain to build solutions to real-world problems.
Roger Ver, also known as Bitcoin Jesus, turned to the Bitcoin Cash camp claiming that BCH has the correct Satoshi protocol. Not so, if all the issues surrounding it were to be considered. Recently during the BCH network’s upgrade, the platform temporary stalled due to a mem-pool related bug.
The glitch paralyzed the network’s block generating protocol filling it with 10 empty blocks consecutively. Bitcoin believers say that just as there has never been a ‘next Linux’ so will there never be a “next Bitcoin”.
