I was wrong. Why I changed my opinion on Bitcoin in 2024.

If you’re a keen reader of CryptoSlate, you may have noticed that our editorial style avoids referring to Bitcoin as ‘crypto.’ This isn’t accidental, and the choice was not pedantic. We believe that Bitcoin stands apart from other digital assets we traditionally classify under the broad term ‘crypto.’

I stand behind this vision; however, it has not always been the case. My profile describes me as a “blockchain maxi,” and this was born, I now believe, from a critical misunderstanding of the intangibles of Bitcoin.

One of the first articles I wrote in this space promoted the concept that a new technology will eventually overtake Bitcoin. I compared Bitcoin to dot-com companies like Alta Vista, AOL, and Lycos. In July 2021, I wrote,

“The Facebook, Google, Amazon, and eBay of the decentralized ledger space haven’t been born yet! I want to watch out for the next game-changing tech projects… because they are coming, and it’s highly likely that it is not going to be the projects most people are betting on today.”

My central thesis back then was that we were earlier than many at the time believed and that decentralization was the key to our digital evolution, not Bitcoin itself. I even thought that Bitcoin had the potential to disappear completely.

“My point? We are earlier than you might think to this next stage in our digital evolution. Could bitcoin disappear completely? Absolutely. Do I expect that to be the end of decentralized ledger-based data solutions? Not a chance. We are at a tipping point.”

While I still believe we are at a “tipping point” and that we are still “early” in the evolution of Bitcoin, I don’t necessarily believe we are as early for “crypto.” Crypto adoption is happening, and digital assets are becoming integrated into an increasing number of FinTech applications. I see the path to the financialization of the internet through Web3 as fairly clear-cut from where we are right now. However, the path to reaching Bitcoin’s final form has a much longer timeline.

What made me change my mind? I’m not sure there was one thing, but several recent SlateCast guests significantly impacted my thinking. Margot Paez, Ryan Condron, Alex Fazel, Jason Fang, and Lee Bratcher all helped reframe how I see Bitcoin. There’s a saying at CryptoSlate that many of us have become “more of a Bitcoin maxi every cycle,” I certainly feel that right now as we approach the halving.

Bitcoin vs. Crypto

‘Crypto’ is short for…