If you spend time on Twitter then you might have seen a recent tweet from the CEO of MicroStrategy, Michael Saylor, declaring, “I am a Bitcoin Maximalist.”
This is no surprise, as Saylor has become one of the most vocal and persuasive advocates for bitcoin since making the decision, in August 2020, to acquire bitcoin for MicroStrategy’s balance sheet.
An influential but anonymous Twitter account known as Hodlonaut also tweeted something curious, stating:
“I’ve never seen more people turning bitcoin maximalists than right now. The Norwegian bitcoin-only scene has literally exploded last 6-12 months. And, most of these new bitcoin-only people were ‘crypto’ and ‘open minded’ before turning into maxis.”
All of which raises the questions of what exactly a bitcoin maximalist is, why anyone would take that route, and why more people might be joining.
What Is Maximalism?
Taken in a positive light, bitcoin maximalists tend to have a comprehensive understanding of the history of money, and of how money actually functions. They believe that bitcoin can serve as a superior replacement for fiat currencies and our current monetary system.
Maximalism includes the belief that other cryptocurrencies either cannot serve that purpose, or are not required since bitcoin already exists and is positioned as a digital sound money network.
There’s a related concept referred to as hyperbitcoinization, which, if it were to occur, would see the world shifting to a bitcoin standard, in which all goods and services are priced in bitcoin.
However, bitcoin maximalism doesn’t require the removal of all other currencies, and realistically, one would expect that there will always be multiple means and methods of transaction.
When it comes down to it, if we are focused on cryptocurrency as a kind of money, then bitcoin maximalists believe that bitcoin alone has a shot at replacing fiat currencies, and as such is the only cryptocurrency required and worth supporting.
Why Might People Be Turning to Maximalism?
One factor is that we’re in the midst of a bear market, following an enormous crash in which several major participants have been not just wiped out, but revealed as, depending on your perspective, recklessly mismanaged, hopelessly ill-prepared or outright sociopathic.
At times…
